Sublette County (LST-1144)
1955-1960
A county in the state of Wyoming.
(LST-1144: displacement. 3,960; length 328'0"; beam 50'0"; draft.11'2"; speed 11.6 knots; complement 119; troop capacity 147; armament 8 40 millimeter, 12 20 millimeter; class LST-542)
LST-1144 was laid down on 3 February 1945 by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., Seneca, Ill.; launched on 2 May 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Evelyn B. Adams; and commissioned on 28 May 1945, Lt. Theodore R. Hopkins, D-V(G), USNR, in command.
LST-1144 (q.v.) loaded supplies at New Orleans, La. ; moved to Mobile, Alabama, three days later; and sailed for Galveston, Texas, on 7 June 1945. Her shakedown cruise was held in Galveston Bay, from 10 to 20 June, and she returned to the yard at New Orleans for five days before moving to Mobile for further drydocking. Ready for sea, LST-1144 departed, on 4 July, with three other LSTs en route to the Territory of Hawaii.
LST-1144 transited the Panama Canal on 12 July 1945 and arrived at Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, on 1 August. She was there when hostilities with Japan ceased. Following the war, LST-1144 was assigned to the Service Force, Atlantic Fleet, for which she operated on training and logistics missions into 1954. She was decommissioned on 11 February 1955 and assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
On 1 July 1955, the ship was redesignated Sublette County (LST-1144). She was stricken from the Navy list on 1 June 1960, never having performed any active service under that name. Sublette County was transferred to the Republic of China in September 1961 where she served the rest of her days as Chung Yek (LST-231).
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
5 March 2024
