USS SUFFOLK COUNTY

USS Suffolk County at Pier 5 at the Boston Navy Yard in 1957.

Boston National Historical Park, BOSTS: 14324-131

Type: DeSoto County-class Landing Tank Ship
Laid down: July 15, 1955
Launched: September 5, 1956
First Commissioned: August 15, 1957
Decommissioned: August 25, 1972
Fate: Sold March 31, 1999

USS SUFFOLK COUNTY (LST-1173): "Tank landing ship USS Suffolk County (LST-1173), with the Second Fleet in the Caribbean, offloads tanks and vehicles, while US Marines storm ashore on the island of Vieques during LANTFLEX 66, a major Atlantic Fleet exercise."

Naval History and Heritage Command, L45-271.05.02

With the peak years of World War II ending, shipbuilding in the Charlestown Navy Yard slowed. During the post-war years, the Navy Yard constructed only one ship, USS Suffolk County (LST-1173), a De Soto County-class landing tank ship (LST). It launched on September 5, 1956, after being christened by Mildred O'Neill, wife of congressman Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr., whose district represented the Yard.

During World War II, workers of the Charlestown Navy Yard constructed and commissioned 44 other LSTs. These ships served in both the Pacific and Atlantic Theaters of conflict, designed to transport tanks, vehicles, cargo, and troops directly to shore in amphibious operations. The Navy Yard constructed USS Suffolk County to be both larger and faster than the LSTs constructed a decade earlier. Workers created newer models and further designed them in Charlestown, however, private yards constructed these ships. This highlighted the technological innovations part of the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhauls, which dominated the majority of work done in the post-war period.

USS Suffolk County operated throughout the Atlantic during the Cold War, participating in the Naval blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The US Navy decommissioned the ship in 1972 and eventually sold and scrapped it in 1999. During its service, USS Suffolk County was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.

Selected Biography

Division of Publication National Park Service, Charlestown Navy Yard, Washington D.C., National Park Service Handbook, 1998.

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