From Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,
Vol. V (1979), pp. 190
A county in Wisconsin.
(LST-1073: dp. 1,625; l. 328'; b. 50'; dr. 11'2", s. 12 k., cpl. 112;
a. 8 40mm; cl. LST-511)
Outagamie County (LST-1073) was laid down 20 February 1945 by Bethlehem
Hingham Shipyard, Hingham Mass.; launched 22 March 1945; and commissioned
17 April 1945.
At New York she loaded cargo consisting of three LCMs on the main deck and
mortar shells and smoke pots in the tank deck, and, on 4 June 1945, departed
for islands in the Pacific by way of the Panama Canal, arriving Pearl Harbor
7 July. From Pearl Harbor she went to Eniwetok, Saipan, Guam, back to Saipan
and then on to Nagasaki, Japan, arriving 24 September.
From September 1945 to January 1946, LST-1073 operated between various
ports in Japan and the Philippines. She departed Manila 17 January for San
Francisco, stopping enroute at Guam and Pearl Harbor, and arriving San Francisco
27 February. On 5 August she decommissioned and was put into the Reserve
Fleet at Astoria, Oreg.
After Communist forces invaded South Korea, LST-1073 was towed from
Astoria, Oreg., to Bremerton, Wash., on 10 October 1950 for reactivation
and recommissioned 3 November 1950, Lt. Comdr. B. F. Poduska in command.
On 11 February LST-1073 departed Long Beach, Calif. on her second
tour of duty in the western Pacific, arriving Yokosuka, Japan, 23 March
1951. On this tour she visited various ports including Kobe and Sasebo,
Japan, and Pusan, Kojo Do, and Inehon, Korea. On 4 April 1951 she transported
Army Signal Corps units from Camp MeGill, Jnpan, to Inchon, Korea. During
May and June LST-1073 helped to carry 17,366 prisoners of war from
Pusan to Koje Do. On 29 October LST-1073 departed from Yokosuka,
Japan, for San Diego, Calif.
LST-1073's third tour of duty in the western Pacific began 3 January
1953 when she departed San Diego enroute Japan. After brief stops in Yokosuka,
Kobe, and Sasebo, she proeeeded on to Inchon for west coast island resupply
work. She took part in the Marine landing exercises at Inchon from April
to June and spent June and July redeploying the 187th Regimental Airborne
Combat Team and the 24th Infantry Division from Japan to Korea. In August
the ship assisted in the evacuation of Cho Do Island, Korea, and in operation
"Big Switch" transporting North Korean POW's between various Korean
ports. On 23 October the ship departed Yokosuka, Japan, for a return voyage
to San Diego.
During the next decade, the landing ship operated on the West Coast and
made four West PAC deployments. She was named Outagumie County 1
July 1955.
In early 1963 she conducted oceanographic survey operations in mid-Pacific.
In March 1964 Outagamie County transported troops between Oahu and
training areas on Hawaii itself. During a four month tour to Adak, Alaska,
in mid-1965, the ship aided a large freighter, Liberian ship Hadjitsakas,
which had run aground on a small island in the Aleutians.
In late January 1966 Outagamie County arrived at Da Nang, South Viet
Nam to begin nine weeks of intra-coastal logistic operations. After an upkeep
period at Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, the ship returned to her coastal
shuttle runs. The ship returned to San Diego 9 September. The rest of 1966
and the first half of 1967 was spent operating off the West Coast of the
United States.
Outagamie County departed San Diego 9 June 1967 and steamed via Subic
Bay to Viet Nam arriving Saigon 26 July. For the next four months she shuttled
troops and supplies between Japan, the Philippines, and Viet Nam, and returned
to San Diego 21 December. Operating on the West Coast until departing San
Diego 1 November 1968, the veteran landing ship returned to the war zone
late in the year and supported allied operations until arriving Guam 18
April 1969.
Outagamie County received four battle stars for Korean War Service.