- USS King County (LST-857)
The USS "King County" (LST-857) was an sclass|LST-542|tank landing ship built for the
United States Navy duringWorld War II . Named after counties in Texas and Washington, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.LST-857 was laid down on
19 September 1944 atSeneca, Illinois by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company; launched on6 December 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs. Beatrice S. Major; and commissioned on29 December 1944 with Lieutenant Roy C. Parlier in command. During World War II, LST-857 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater and participated in the assault and occupation ofOkinawa Gunto in June, 1945. Following the War, she performed occupation duty in theFar East until mid-December, 1945.After post-War operations with the Pacific Fleet, LST-857 performed extensive service during the
Korean War , participating in the following campaigns(18 September to6 October 1950 ); theInchon Landing (13 September to17 September 1950); theUN Summer-Fall Offensive (4 to10 November 1951 ); the Second Korean Winter; the Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952; the Third Korean Winter (9 to15 December 1952 and 28 to30 April 1953 ; and the Korean Summer-Fall 1953. On1 July 1955 the ship was redesignated USS "King County" (LST-857). In October, 1957 she began conversion to an experimentalguided missile test ship and was reclassified USS "King County" (AG-157) on17 May 1958 . Decommissioned on8 July 1960 , "King County" was sold to Zidell Explorations, Inc. ofPortland, Oregon on25 April 1961 . Her final fate is unknown. LST-857 received onebattle star for World War II service and seven battle stars for Korean service.References
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* cite web|title=LST-857 / AG-157 "King County"|work=Amphibious Photo Archive
url=http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160857.htm|accessdate=June 18|accessyear=2007ee also
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List of United States Navy LSTs
*King County, Texas
*King County, Washington
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