USS Spartanburg County (LST-1192)

History
United States
Namesake:	Spartanburg County, South Carolina
Ordered:	15 July 1966
Builder:	National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
Laid down:	7 February 1970
Launched:	7 November 1970
Commissioned:	1 September 1971
Decommissioned:	16 December 1994
Struck:	16 December 1994
Motto:	Ready
Fate:	Sold to Malaysia, 16 December 1994
Malaysia
Name:	KD Sri Inderapura (L1505)
Commissioned:	31 January 1995
Decommissioned:	21 January 2010
Fate:	Destroyed by fire while in harbor on 8 Oct 2009
General characteristics
Class & type:	Newport class tank landing ship
Displacement:	5,190 long tons (5,273.3 t) (light),; 8,792 long tons (8,933.1 t) (full);
Length:	Lua error in Module:Convert at line 272: attempt to index local 'cat' (a nil value). overall, 500 ft (152.4 m). at the waterline.
Beam:	Lua error in Module:Convert at line 272: attempt to index local 'cat' (a nil value).
Draft:	19 ft (5.79 m)
Propulsion:	6 diesel engines, 16,000 brake horsepower, two shafts, Twin Controllable Pitch Screws; Bow Thruster – Single Screw, Controllable Pitch,;
Speed:	20+ knots (37+ km/h)
Troops:	Marine detachment:360 plus 40 surge
Complement:	14 officers, 210 enlisted
Armament:	4 × three-inch/50 caliber guns in two twin-barrel mounts; 1 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mount.;

USS Spartanburg County (LST-1192) was a United States Navy Newport class tank landing ship.

Spartanburg County (LST-1192) (q.v.) was named after a county in South Carolina. She was laid down on 7 February 1970 at San Diego, by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company; launched on 7 November 1970; sponsored by Mrs. Neville Holcombe; and commissioned on 1 September 1971, CDR P. R. Royse in command.

Following commissioning, Spartanburg County transited the Panama Canal to her new home port, Little Creek, Virginia, where she was assigned to the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet. Here, the tank landing ship commenced an operating cycle consisting of amphibious training exercises along the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean interspersed with scheduled deployments to the Mediterranean. Spartanburg County maintained this cycle into 1980. She served as part of Marine Amphibious Forces Desert Shield/Desert Storm August 1990 – April 1991.

Fate

Spartanburg County was decommissioned and struck 16 December 1994. She was disposed of through the Security Assistance Program (SAP), transferred, cash sale, ex-US fleet hull foreign military sale case number assigned, to Malaysia as RMN KD Sri Inderapura (L-1505) on 16 December 1994.

Malaysian Service

The Spartanburg County was acquired at a cost of RM 48 million and commissioned into the Royal Malaysian Navy as the KD Sri Inderapura on 31 January 1995. Its first commanding officer was Captain Noor Azman bin Othman. The KD Sri Inderapura caught fire while berthed in Lumut Naval Base on 16 December 2002] and was damaged. She was subsequently rebuilt and continued serving RMN which included deployments to Somalian waters on September 2008 as part of the international anti-piracy efforts.^[1] On 8 October 2009, while the ship anchored in the Lumut Naval Base, a fire broke out on board that destroyed the ship.^[2] KD Sri Inderapura was officially decommissioned from the Royal Malaysian Navy on 21 January 2010.

Gallery

Spartanburg County returning from Operation Desert Storm, 1991.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.