USS LST-528

LST-528 Unloading at Thule, Greenland, 1952
History
Name:	USS LST-528, later USS Catahoula Parish
Namesake:	Catahoula Parish, Louisiana
Builder:	Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Company, Jeffersonville, Indiana
Laid down:	13 November 1943
Launched:	11 January 1944
Commissioned:	29 February 1944
Decommissioned:	21 December 1956
Renamed:	USS Catahoula Parish (LST-528), 1 July 1955
Struck:	21 November 1960
Honours and awards:	1 battle star (World War II)
Fate:	Sold and converted to a bulk cement carrier, 1960
General characteristics File:LST 3.jpeg LST-528
Class & type:	LST-491-class tank landing ship
Displacement:	1,780 long tons (1,809 t) light 3,640 long tons (3,698 t) full
Length:	328 ft (100 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Draft:	Unloaded : 2 ft 4 in (0.71 m) forward 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) aft Loaded : 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m) forward 14 ft 1 in (4.29 m) aft
Propulsion:	2 × General Motors 12-567 diesel engines, two shafts, twin rudders
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried:	2 LCVPs
Troops:	Approximately 140 officers and enlisted men
Complement:	8-10 officers, 100-115 enlisted men
Armament:	1 × single 3"/50 caliber gun mount 8 × 40 mm guns 12 × 20 mm guns

USS Catahoula Parish (LST-528) was an LST-491-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

LST-528 was laid down on 13 November 1943 at Jeffersonville, Indiana by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Company; launched on 11 January 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Madge Medlock Watt; and commissioned on 29 February 1944.

Service history

During World War II, LST-528 was assigned to the European Theater and participated in the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944. She returned to the United States and was placed in reserve in Florida until the outbreak of the Korean War. During the war, she was part of a six-ship flotilla which took supplies to Thule, Greenland, where the US Air Force was building a base. LST-528 was under the command of Dallas Grenley at that time.

File:LST 4.jpeg

Bow doors open.

File:LST 7.jpeg

Unloading onto pontoon.

File:LST 5.jpeg

Unloading onto pontoons to cross a shallow beach.

LST-528 was decommissioned in March, 1954. The ship was named USS Catahoula Parish (LST-528) on 1 July 1955. She was struck from the Navy list on 21 November 1960, and sold to the Marquette Cement Company for conversion to a bulk cement carrier.

LST-528 earned one battle star for World War II service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

See also

• List of United States Navy LSTs