Lafayette County (LST-859)
1955-1958
Named for counties in the states of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, and Wisconsin, and a parish in Louisiana.
(LST-859: displacement 1,625; length 328'0"; beam 50'0"; draft 14'1"; speed 12.0 knots; complement 119; armament 8 40 millimeter, 12 20 millimeter; class LST-511)
LST-859 was laid down on 26 September 1944 at Seneca, Ill., by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.; launched on 15 December 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Elsie M. Marcum; and commissioned at Algiers, La., on 6 January 1945, Lt. Daniel D. Kipnis in command.
After shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico, LST-859 departed New Orleans on 17 February 1945 for the Pacific. Steaming via San Diego and San Francisco, Calif., she reached Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 31 March and during the next six weeks took part in amphibious training. Between 12 and 24 May she steamed to Seattle, Wash., where she embarked U.S. Army troops, thence returned to Pearl Harbor on 20 June. Three days later, she sailed in convoy for the western Pacific.
LST-859 touched at U.S. bases in the Marshalls and Marianas before reaching Okinawa on 28 July 1945. After discharging troops and cargo, she sailed for Saipan on 5 August and remained in the Marianas during the closing days of the war in the Pacific. She departed for the Philippines on 3 September; and, after embarking Army troops at Batangas Bay, Luzon, she sailed on 20 September for Japan.
LST-859 arrived Tokyo Bay on 29 September 1945, and during the next two months she supported occupation operations along the Honshu coast from Yokohama to Shiogama. Between 24 October and 19 November she sailed to Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, and back with additional troops. Departing Tokyo Bay on 29 November, she steamed via the Marianas and Pearl Harbor to Seattle where she arrived on 12 January 1946.
Following an extended overhaul, LST-895 departed on 15 May 1946 for training along the California coast. On 31 July she departed San Diego for Pearl Harbor; and after arriving on 11 August, she sailed on the 18th on a cargo run to American bases in the Hawaiian Islands. During the next four years she carried men and supplies to far-flung American bases in the Pacific. Cargo and passenger runs took her to the Marshalls, the Solomons, American Samoa, the Aleutians, and Midway, as well as to the nearby islands of the Hawaiian chain.
After the outbreak of Communist aggression against the Republic of South Korea in June 1950, LST-859 departed Pearl Harbor on 18 August for the Far East. She arrived at Kobe, Japan, on 5 September and there embarked elements of the First Marine Division for the scheduled invasion at Inchon, South Korea, which was designed to spearhead the American counteroffensive against Communist troops from North Korea.
Assigned to Task Element (TE) 90.32, LST-859 sortied in convoy on 10 September 1950 and arrived off Inchon on 15 September while a combined air-sea bombardment blasted enemy defenses. Late that afternoon, the tank landing ship closed Red Beach; and, as lead ship, she came under heavy mortar and machine gun fire. Despite the concentrated fire, she debarked assault troops and unloaded vital support equipment. In addition her guns wiped out enemy batteries on the right flank of Red Beach. She completed unloading and cleared the beach at high tide early on 16 September. For daring bravery and heroic performance of duty on Red Beach, the gallant and aggressive landing ship tanks of TE 90.32, including LST-859, received the Navy Unit Commendation.
LST-859 departed for Japan on the 17th; and, after reaching Sasebo on 20 September, she sailed 6 days later for Pearl Harbor, where she arrived 13 October. After undergoing overhaul, she resumed her cargo runs in the Pacific. Between 20 January and 21 June 1951 she shuttled cargo among bases in the Marshalls, the Gilberts, and the Carolines. During December she carried supplies to Guam and Iwo Jima; thence she sailed via the Philippines to Sasebo where she arrived on 22 January 1952.
For almost two and a half years LST-859 served in the western Pacific in support of U.S. peacekeeping efforts in the troubled Far East. Operating primarily out of Sasebo, she bolstered the seaborne supply line to U.S. forces in South Korea and carried vital military supplies to ports on both coasts, including Chuminjin, Ulsan Man, and Inchon. In addition, she shuttled cargo along the Japanese coast; and, following the end of conflict on the Korean peninsula, she continued her important supply runs until departing Yokosuka on 18 May 1954 for Pearl Harbor where she arrived on 3 June.
LST-859 resumed her pattern of cargo runs to Pacific bases on 20 June 1954, and during the remainder of the year steamed primarily between Pearl Harbor and Midway. On 24 March 1955 she again deployed to the Far East, reaching Yokosuka on 11 April. During the next four months supply runs out of Yokosuka and Sasebo sent her to ports in South Korea, Formosa, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. Named Lafayette County on 1 July 1955, she returned to Pearl Harbor on 31 August to resume cargo shuttle runs among the Hawaiian Islands.
Lafayette County served principally in the Hawaiian chain during the next three years, although from 3 March to 13 April 1957 she carried out cargo runs to bases in the Marshalls. She was decommissioned on 15 August 1958 at Pearl Harbor and was transferred to the custody of the Republic of China under the Military Assistance Program, being renamed Chung Cheng (LST-224).
LST-859 received one battle star for her World War II service and six battle stars for Korean service.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
16 July 2024
