USS ''Epping Forest'' (LSD-4/MCS-7) was an acquired by the

U.S. 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 o ...

during

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 opposing ...

for duty in the Pacific Theater. Her task was to carry and land amphibious landing craft and other equipment and to recover and repair landing craft when possible. Named for an estate in Lancaster County, Virginia where

Mary Ball Washington Mary Washington (; born sometime between 1707 and 1709 – August 25, 1789), was the second wife of Augustine Washington, a planter in Virginia, the mother-in-law of Martha Washington, the paternal grandmother of Bushrod Washington, and ...

, mother of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

(first President of the United States), was born, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. Originally authorized as USS ''Epping Forest'' (APM-4), a mechanized artillery transport, the ship was reclassified as dock landing ship USS ''Epping Forest'' (LSD-4) on 1 July 1941; laid down 23 November 1942 at the Moore Drydock Company of

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

; launched 2 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. J. H. Heintz; and commissioned 11 October 1943.

Onboard aircraft capability

Aircraft (still in commission in late 1940s or early 1950s) were fitted/retro-fitted with a prefabricated steel grated "Portable Deck" suspended between the wing walls and supported by removable

I-beam An I-beam, also known as H-beam (for universal column, UC), w-beam (for "wide flange"), universal beam (UB), rolled steel joist (RSJ), or double-T (especially in Polish, Bulgarian, Spanish, Italian and German), is a beam with an or -shape ...

girders. The aft end of the portable deck contained a wooden

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

platform, enabling the ship to land and launch one helicopter at a time. Stowage of helicopters was limited to capacity of the portable deck installed for the mission. Aircraft servicing was limited to re-fueling. With portable deck and aircraft platform installed, the Landing ship, dock, was still capable of transporting, launching and repairing smaller amphibious craft and vehicles up to the size of a

Landing Craft Utility A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers ...

(LCU) in their well decks.

World War II

''Epping Forest'' sailed from

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

, 13 January 1944, with

U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

on board for training in the Hawaiian Islands. She cleared Maui 22 January, combat-loaded for the invasion of the

Marshalls Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. M ...

, and sent men and artillery-laden landing craft ashore in the initial assaults on Roi and Namur 31 January. After replenishing at

Funafuti Funafuti is the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 6,320 people (2017 census), and so it has more people than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with approximately 60% of the population. It consists of a narrow sweep of lan ...

early in February, ''Epping Forest'' sailed to

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1 ...

, where alterations were made, and she loaded men and equipment of the 1st Marines. These she landed in the assault on

Emirau Emirau Island, also called Emira, is an island in the Bismarck Archipelago located at . It is currently part of the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea. The local language is a dialect of the Mussau-Emira language. Emira is part of what on ...

20 March. During the next three weeks, ''Epping Forest'' brought reinforcements and supplies in to Emirau from Guadalcanal and Manus, and on 10 April, arrived at

Finschhafen Finschhafen is a town east of Lae on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. The town is commonly misspelt as Finschafen or Finschaven. During World War II, the town was also referred to as Fitch Haven in the logs of some U.S ...

to prepare for the Hollandia operations.

South Pacific operations

''Epping Forest'' arrived off Aitape on 22 April 1944 for preinvasion bombardment, then sent her landing craft ashore in the assault and returned to Finschhafen to reload. She shuttled supplies to Aitape and Hollandia and repaired landing craft at Buna, and on 11 May reached Guadalcanal to load marines and their equipment for the invasion of Guam. After standing by in reserve during the invasions of Tinian and Saipan, she arrived off Guam 21 July for the assault landings. For five days she lay off the island repairing landing craft, and then returned to Guadalcanal, from which she made several voyages to Manus transporting landing craft through August.

Leyte Gulf operations

''Epping Forest'' brought her specialized facilities into play once more in the invasion of the Palau Islands, lying off

Peleliu Peleliu (or Beliliou) is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu, along with two small islands to its northeast, forms one of the sixteen states of Palau. The island is notable as the location of the Battle of Peleliu in World War II. H ...

to repair landing craft after the assault of 15 September 1944. After staging at Hollandia, she joined in the initial assault in

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao ...

on 20 October, landing engineering troops and their equipment, and sailing immediately to Hollandia to reload. She continued to voyage between

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and

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 ...

with men and gear into December, then prepared for the Lingayen Gulf assault. On 9 January 1945, ''Epping Forest'' sent her boats away in the assault of Lingayen Gulf, working under almost constant air attack. The next day she got underway for Morotai to reload

U.S. 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, cl ...

equipment, with which she returned to Lingayen 27 January. For two weeks she repaired landing craft here, then put into Leyte on her way to transfer landing craft from Saipan to

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 ...

, and again from Milne Bay to Leyte, arriving 13 March to prepare for the Okinawa assault.

Okinawa operations

''Epping Forest'' arrived off the

Hagushi Hagushi bay is located in Yomitan, Okinawa. The bay is at the mouth of Hija River. The north side of the mouth of the river has a public beach called Toguchi Beach. World War II Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American suppli ...

beaches 1 April 1945 for the invasion of Okinawa, and during the days of bitter fighting, repaired landing craft at various anchorages around the island. She worked with the skill of long practice under air attacks and the constant threat of enemy suicide attacks by small boats and swimmers as well as aircraft.

End-of-war decommissioning

On 1 July she sailed for

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, arriving 25 days later. After carrying landing craft along the west coast and to the Hawaiian Islands, she brought a load of small craft to

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Seco ...

in June 1946 for use in

Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...

, the

atomic weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s tests, and returned to San Diego, California, 27 June. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve at

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, 25 March 1947.

Recommissioned during Korean War

''Epping Forest'' was recommissioned 1 December 1950, and sailed along the

U.S. West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

for training until 24 May 1951, when she departed San Diego for the troubled

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. Operating in support of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

forces until 7 February 1952, she returned to the west coast for local training and exercises. From October 1952 to September 1953 she again deployed to the waters off

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

where she supported

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of the removal of 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 ...

operations in

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

harbor, the first such use of an

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

"Operation Passage to Freedom"

''Epping Forest'' underwent overhaul in November 1953 and resumed her station in the Far East during the following April. She participated in amphibious operations at Okinawa and Korea, transported the refugees of

French Indo-China French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

in the "

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 in 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist ...

" mission during the summer of 1954 and engaged in exercises off the Japanese coast. Her tour of Far Eastern waters in 1955–56 was devoted to local operations. In August 1957, she again departed San Diego to engage in the U.S. 7th Fleet " Operation Phiblink" in which she won special recognition for her performance. Following fleet exercises in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...

, she returned to San Diego in April 1958 for a period of yard availability.

Continued Far East operations

Coastal operations preceded her return to the western Pacific in June 1959 to provide transportation and support to a division of minesweeping craft. During the Laotian crisis she joined Amphibious Squadron One at Okinawa in a state of combat readiness for any eventuality. ''Epping Forest'' returned to the States in November 1959 for another period of overhaul and upkeep. Assigned to the control of Mine Forces, Pacific, she was ordered to a new homeport,

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

, Japan, whence she sailed on 22 August 1960 prior to offloading quantities of supplies for " Operation Hand Clasp" in Korea. During the remainder of the year she cruised as flagship of Commander, Mine Flotilla One, and took part in

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

countermeasure exercises. She was designated a mine countermeasures support ship and renamed USS ''Epping Forest'' (MCS-7) 30 November 1962.

Decommissioning

''Epping Forest'' was decommissioned and struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

1 November 1968. She was sold for scrapping 30 October 1969.

Military awards and honors

''Epping Forrest'' earned eight

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) 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 ser ...

s for World War II service, five battle stars for

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 ...

service, and six campaign stars for

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

service. Her crew was eligible for the following medals, ribbons, and commendations: *

American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had perfo ...

* Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (8) *

World War II Victory Medal The World War II Victory Medal is a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945. The Wo ...

National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It is awarded to every member of the US Armed Forces who has served during any one of four ...

(2) *

Korean Service Medal The Korean Service Medal (KSM) is a military award for service in the United States Armed Forces and was established November 8, 1950 by executive order of President Harry Truman. The Korean Service Medal is the primary US military award for s ...

(4) *

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces, which was first created in 1961 by Executive Order of President John Kennedy. The medal is awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who, after ...

(6-Vietnam) *

Vietnam Service Medal The Vietnam Service Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces established on 8 July 1965 by order of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The medal is awarded to recognize service during the Vietnam War by all members of the U.S. Arm ...

(5) * Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation *

Philippines Liberation Medal The Philippine Liberation Medal is a military award of the Republic of the Philippines which was created by an order of Commonwealth Army of the Philippines Headquarters on 20 December 1944, and was issued as the Philippine Liberation Ribbon. The d ...

(3) *

United Nations Service Medal The United Nations Service Medal for Korea (UNKM) is an international military decoration established by the United Nations on December 12, 1950 as the United Nations Service Medal. The decoration was the first international award ever created by t ...

Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal The Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, also known as the Vietnam Campaign Medal ( vi, Chiến Dịch Bội Tinh), is a South Vietnamese military campaign medal which was created in 1949, and awarded to French military personnel during the First ...

Republic of Korea War Service Medal The Korean War Service Medal (KWSM, ko, 6.25사변종군기장, ), also known as the Republic of Korea War Service Medal (ROKWSM), is a military award of South Korea which was first authorized in December 1950. History 6.25 Incident Participati ...

References

NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive: APM-4 / LSD-4 / MCS-7 ''Epping Forest''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epping Forest Ashland-class dock landing ships World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Korean War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Cold War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Vietnam War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Ships built in Oakland, California 1943 ships Mine countermeasures support ships of the United States Navy