The ship was named after the DeKalb County located in six different U.S. states, including Illinois. Most LSTs, Landing Ship tanks, were not given names.
It was laid down 7 June 1944, at Jeffersonville, Indiana, by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Company and launched 20 July 1944 (in 43 days). Commissioning took place 15 August 1944.
Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater, the ship was at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. It performed Occupation duty until September 1945 and was decommissioned 17 April 1946 in the Philippines and transferred to the U.S. Army on 28 June 1946 where it was commissioned USAT LST-715.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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