USS ''LST-1079'' was an in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. Unlike many of her class, which received only numbers and were disposed of after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she survived long enough to be named. On 1 July 1955, all LSTs still in commission were named for US counties or

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

; ''LST-1079'' was given the name ''Payette County'', after

the county ''The County'' ( is, Héraðið) is a 2019 Icelandic Melodrama#Film, melodrama directed by Grímur Hákonarson. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. Cast * Arndís Hrönn Egi ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

Construction

''LST-1079'' was laid down on 30 March 1945, at Hingham, Massachusetts, by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard; launched on 27 April 1945; and commissioned on 22 May 1945.

Service history

After

shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...

, ''LST-1079'' loaded pontoons and cargo at

Davisville, Rhode Island Davisville, Rhode Island is a village in the town of North Kingstown in the U.S. state of Rhode Island that was formerly the home of the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center, which housed the United States Navy's SeaBees. Village descri ...

, embarked

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

and took aboard ammunition at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and sailed 7 July 1945, for the Canal Zone. She arrived at Coco Solo 16 July, and then proceeded to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

where she was lying at anchor in West Loch when the war ended. On 21 August, she sailed for

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

via

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

and off loaded cargo and passengers on arrival, sailing again 22 September, for

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

. From Leyte she went to Subic Bay and then returned to Guam 6 November, to embark troops for " Magic Carpet" passage to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. She arrived San Francisco 28 December, was assigned to the 19th Fleet and subsequently made preparations for inactivation. ''LST-1079'' decommissioned in March 1946, and was placed in reserve, berthed with the

Columbia River Group Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

of the

Pacific Reserve Fleet The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and ...

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

. Because of fleet requirements brought about by the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. ''LST-1079'' was recalled for active service and moved to the East Coast. She recommissioned in October 1950, and joined the

US Atlantic Fleet The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Stat ...

. Her first assignment took her to Goose Bay, Labrador, in conjunction with services for the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. During this voyage she had a close brush with an

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...

which tore a hole in her bow. She was saved from sure disaster by the intentness to duty of her forward lookout during conditions of extremely heavy fog. Sighting the iceberg dead ahead he quickly gave the alarm, and enabled his ship to avoid a head-on-collision. She later moved to a more hospitable climate, operating off in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in shuttling general stores between

Green Cove Springs Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 6,908. The city is ...

and

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

. During 1954–1955, in addition to her normal operations, she was involved in innovative exercises such as LST-helicopter operations, and the use of an LST as a rocket launching platform. On 1 July 1955, she was named ''Payette County'' (LST-1079) and operated with a civil service crew until 1 November 1959, when she was placed out of service and struck from the Naval Vessel Register. She was sold 18 May 1961, to

Zidell Explorations, Inc. The Zidell Companies are a group of family-owned companies based in Portland, Oregon. They include Zidell Marine, a ship construction company which, from 1961 until 2017, specialized in the building of barges, and Tube Forgings of America Inc. ...

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corne ...

In Popular Culture

The ship can be seen in close-up in the 1958 film ''

The Naked and the Dead ''The Naked and the Dead'' is a novel written by Norman Mailer. Published by Rinehart & Company in 1948, when he was 25, it was his debut novel. It depicts the experiences of a platoon during World War II, based partially on Mailer's experiences ...

'' about 10 minutes into the picture.

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Online resources * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:LST-1079 LST-542-class tank landing ships Payette County, Idaho Ships built in Hingham, Massachusetts 1945 ships World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Pacific Reserve Fleet, Astoria Group