USS ''Comstock'' (LSD-19) was a of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. She was the first navy ship named in honor of the

Comstock Lode The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the U ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, discovered in 1859, which was one of the richest deposits of

precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high Value (economics), economic value. Precious metals, particularly the noble metals, are more corrosion resistant and less reactivity (chemistry), chemically reac ...

s known in the world. The ship later saw active service with the

Republic of China Navy The Republic of China Navy (ROCN, Chinese, 中華民國海軍) , colloquially known as the Taiwanese Navy ( Chinese, 台湾海军) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Navy ( Chinese, 國軍海軍) ...

as ROCS ''Chung Cheng'' (LSD-191), until it was retired in 2012 and intentionally sunk as an artificial reef in 2015.

USS ''Comstock'' (LSD-19)

''Comstock'' was launched on 28 April 1945 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.,

Newport News, Va. Newport News () is an independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the fifth-most populous city in Virginia and 140th-most populous city i ...

, sponsored by Mrs. H. O. Redue, Jr.; and commissioned on 2 July 1945.

1945 – 1950

''Comstock'' sailed from

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

on 6 September 1945 and after calling at

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 Reci ...

en route, arrived at

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

October 20 to join in the occupation activities of amphibious forces in China and Japan. She served in the Far East until 1946, then returned to the west coast, entering

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted ...

on 26 May for conversion to a boat pool ship. After operating along the west coast, ''Comstock'' trained in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

from July 1947. Between 28 November 1947 and 31 May 1948 she furnished boat pool services to Joint Task Force 7 for

Operation Sandstone Operation Sandstone was a series of nuclear weapon tests in 1948. It was the third series of American tests, following Trinity in 1945 and Crossroads in 1946, and preceding Ranger. Like the Crossroads tests, the Sandstone tests were carried o ...

, the atomic weapons tests at

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; , , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people (as of 2021) forms a legi ...

. After calling at

Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 373,797, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th-most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city i ...

, Japan, she returned to San Francisco on 17 June and alternated local operations on the west coast with six brief tours of duty in the western Pacific until the outbreak of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

1950 – 1955

''Comstock'' sailed for the Far East 7 July 1950 and arrived at

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is the second-largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. , the city had an estimated population of 230,873 in 102,670 households, and a population density of 540 per ...

, Japan, 12 August, to support the United Nations operations in Korea. She joined in the initial invasion at Inchon, 15 September, and remained there as a repair and salvage vessel until 4 October. She also saw action during the invasion of

Wonsan Wonsan (), previously known as Wonsanjin (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwon Province (North Korea), Kangwon Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital. ...

on 26 October. In January 1951 she was assigned as flagship for Mine Squadron 3, and furnished gunfire cover and logistic support during

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of removing explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that purpos ...

operations along the east coast of Korea. On 2 February 1951 she rescued the survivors of ''Partridge'' (AMS-31) which had been mined and sunk. She also furnished landing craft for the use of British

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

in their

commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

raid south of

Chinnampo Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is a major city in North Korea which is the country's fourth-largest by population. The city is an important seaport in the country as it lies on the northern shore of the T ...

on 20 May. ''Comstock'' returned to her

home port A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull. In the cruise industry the term "home port" is also oft ...

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, on 15 June 1951. ''Comstock'' sailed in Korean waters on three more deployments during the war, serving for most of each with Mine Squadron 3. On her next tour to the Far East, she sailed from Yokosuka 14 August 1954 as part of the task force engaged in

Operation Passage to Freedom Operation Passage to Freedom was a term used by the United States Navy to describe the propaganda effort and the assistance in transporting 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist No ...

, the evacuation of Indo-Chinese civilians from

Haiphong Haiphong or Hai Phong (, ) is the third-largest city in Vietnam and is the principal port city of the Red River Delta. The municipality has an area of , consisting of 8 urban districts, 6 rural districts and 1 municipal city (sub-city). Two o ...

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

. She returned to Yokosuka in October and sailed 7 November by way of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

n waters for the west coast. In May 1955 she joined the Surface Support Unit for

Operation Wigwam Operation Wigwam involved a single test of the Mark 90 "Betty" nuclear bomb. It was conducted between ''Operation Teapot'' and '' Project 56'' on May 14, 1955, about 500 miles (800 km) southwest of San Diego, California. 6,800 personnel ...

, an underwater atomic test off the coast of southern California.

1956 – 1976

Between that time and December 1960, ''Comstock'' returned to the Far East and the islands of the western Pacific for duty in 1956–57, 1957–58, 1959, and 1960. While on the west coast, she frequently operated in amphibious exercises with

marines Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...

. ''Comstock'' served in several campaigns in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

between 1965 and 1969. ''Comstock'' was decommissioned in the early 1970s. She was struck from the

Naval Register A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

on 30 June 1976, and title was transferred to the

Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issu ...

(MARAD) for lay up in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of Ship, ships of the United States, mostly Merchant ship, merchant vessels, that have been Reserve fleet, mothballed but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during nationa ...

. Sold for scrapping on 17 October 1984 by MARAD, ''Comstock'' was towed to Taiwan for scrapping.

Awards

''Comstock'' received ten

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period. T ...

s for

service and five campaign stars for

service.

ROCS ''Chung Cheng'' (LSD-191)

Since its status was good and consequently saved from being scrapped, the

replaced ex-''White Marsh'' (LSD-8) with ex-''Comstock'' (LSD-19) and renamed her ''Donghai'' (lit.

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

), and later ''Chung Cheng'' (, LSD-191) – the same name and hull number the ex-''White Marsh'' had carried. ''Chung Cheng'' is named after the formal name of President Chiang Kai-shek (). Her forward quad 40mm Bofors guns were replaced at some point by a Sea Chaparral missile launcher, which in turn gave way to a Mk15 Phalanx CIWS late in her service. As of 2011, ''Chung Cheng'' was still active in the ROC Navy, necessitated by the fact that only one ''Anchorage''-class LSD was acquired (which replaced her sister ship ''Chen Hai''). ''Chung Cheng'' (, LSD-191) was scheduled to retire from ROC Navy service in July 2012, and it was eventually sunk as an artificial reef off the southwestern Taiwan coast on 30 June 2015.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Comstock (LSD-19) Casa Grande-class dock landing ships of the United States Navy 1945 ships Maritime incidents in 2015 World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Cold War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Korean War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Vietnam War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Casa Grande-class dock landing ships of the Republic of China Navy Ships built in Newport News, Virginia