From Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,
Vol. V (1979), pp. 189-190
A county in Arkansas.
(LST-1071: dp. 1,625, l. 328', b. 50', dr. 11'2", s. 12 k.; cpl. 112;
a. 8 40mm., 12 20mm.; cl. LST-511)
LST-1071 was laid down 13 February 1945 by the Bethlehem-Hingham
Shipyard Inc., Hingham, Mass.; launched 14 March 1945; and commissioned
9 April 1845, Lt. W. C. Scott in command.
Following shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, LST-1071 steamed north to
New York where she took on pontoon gear, LCT sections and LCT personnel.
On 27 May 1945, she departed the east coast for the Panama Canal and Pearl
Harbor where she exchanged her LCT cargo and passengers for one complete
LCT and Army troops bound for Guam. There, at that Marianas island when
World War II ended, she took on 139th Construction Battalion personnel and
sailed for Saipan and Okinawa. On 14 September she steamed into Tokyo Bay
from the Ryukyus, with 5th Air Force units enroute to occupation duty on
Honshu. She completed another Okinawa-Japan run for the Air Force, then
steamed to Leyte, whence she carried 9th Corps units to Aomori, Japan. Army
cargo shuttles in Japanese waters were followed in December by orders to
Saipan. From there, on the 27th, she headed back to the United States.
LST-1071 arrived at San Diego 5 February 1946. On the 10th she moved
north to San Francisco, and on the 25th to Portland, Ore., for inactivation.
There the LST decommissioned 10 June 1946 and joined the Pacific Reserve
Fleet.
LST-1071 recommissioned 3 January 1951. Following shakedown and cargo
runs along the California coast, she sailed for the east coast, arriving
at Norfolk 15 June. The LST then commenced operations out of Little Creek
as a unit of LST Flotilla 2, Atlantic Fleet. For the next four years she
conducted amphibious exercises along the mid-Atlantic coast and at Puerto
Rico, and carried Army personnel and supplies to Labrador and Newfoundland.
Named Ouachtia County 1 July 1955, she returned from her last voyage
in Canadian waters in September and, in November, steamed to Brooklyn for
inactivation overhaul. With the new year, 1956 she steamed south to Green
Cove Springs, Fla. arriving 31 January and decommissioning 15 February.
She remained there, berthed as a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until
struck from the Navy List 1 November 1959.