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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

YF-1079
ex
USS LST-39 (1943 - 1944)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Xray - Victor
NGXV

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship:

Laid down, 23 April 1943, at Dravo Corp., Neville Island, PA.

Launched, 29 July 1943

Delivered and placed in reduced commission, 2 September 1943, for transit to her fitting out yard at New Orleans, LA.

Placed in full commissioned as USS LST-39, 8 September 1943, LT. Raymond J. Figaro, USN. in command

During World War II USS LST-397 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
LST Flotilla Five, CAPT. J.R. Clark;
LST Group Fourteen, CDR. R.W. Lejeuneesse, USN
LST Division Twenty-Eight

Lost in the accidental explosion of ammunition in West Loch Pearl Harbor, 21 May 1944

Struck from the Naval Register, 25 February 1946

Refloated and converted to a spare parts issue barge, redesignated YF-1079

Placed out of service circa July 1945 to January 1946

Final Disposition, destroyed in 1946

LST Specifications:

Displacement

1,625 t.(lt)

4,080 t.(fl) (sea-going draft w/1675 ton load)

2,366 t. (beaching displacement)

Length 328' o.a.

Beam 50'

Draft

light 2' 4" fwd, 7' 6" aft

sea-going 8' 3" fwd, 14' 1" aft

landing 3' 11" fwd, 9' 10" aft (landing w/500 ton load)

limiting 11' 2"

maximum navigation 14' 1"

Speed 11.6 kts. (trial)

Endurance 24,000 miles @ 9kts. while displacing 3960 tons

Complement

13 officers

104 enlisted

Troop Accommodations

16 officers

147 enlisted

Boats 2 LCVP

Cargo Capacity (varied with mission - payloads between 1600 and 1900 tons)

Typical loads

One Landing Craft Tank (LCT), tanks, wheeled and tracked vehicles, artillery, construction equipment and military supplies. A ramp or elevator forward allowed vehicles access to tank deck from main deck

Additional capacity included sectional pontoons carried on each side of vessel amidships, to either build Rhino Barges or use as causeways. Married to the bow ramp, the causeways would enabled payloads to be delivered ashore from deeper water or where a beachhead would not allow the vessel to be grounded forward after ballasting

Armament (varied with availability when each vessel was outfitted. Retro-fitting was accomplished throughout WWII. The ultimate armament design for United States vessels was

2 - Twin 40MM gun mounts w/Mk. 51 directors

4 - Single 40MM gun mounts

12 single 20MM gun mounts

Fuel Capacity

Diesel 4,300 Bbls

Propulsion

two General Motors 12-567A, 900hp Diesel engines

single Falk Main Reduction Gears

three Diesel-drive 100Kw 230V D.C. Ship's Service Generators

two propellers, 1,700shp

twin rudders

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
USS LST-39
1016003909	191k	LSTs, including USS LST-39, beached at an advanced base in the Solomon Islands where they are loading the equipment of the US Army *12th Detachment, 20th Army Airways Communications System* for transport to "Square Peg", the code name for the Green Islands, February 1944. Note the barrage balloons which will be part of the protection of the convoy as they proceed to the Green Islands. US Army Air Corps photo # 67772 A.C. now in the collections of the US National Archives.	Jason Post
1016003910 NA 193853603	233k	LSTs, including USS LST-39 and USS LST-117, beached at an advanced base in the Solomon Islands where they are loading the equipment of the US Army *12th Detachment, 20th Army Airways Communications System* for transport to "Square Peg", the code name for the Green Islands, February 1944. Note the barrage balloons which will be part of the protection of the convoy as they proceed to the Green Islands. US National Archives Identifier # 193853603, US Army Air Corps photo # 67769A.C., and US National Archives Identifier # 193853606, US Army Air Corps photo # B-67769A.C.,	David Upton
1016003912 NA 193853606	217k		David Upton
1016003911	207k	A truck and trailer, loaded with equipment of the *12th Detachment, 20th Army Airways Communications System, is backed into cavernous mouth of USS LST-0029* for the transfer to "Square Peg" - code name for the Green Islands. Solomon Islands, February 1944. US National Archives Identifier # 193853597, US Army Air Corps photo # 67768 A.C.	David Upton
	74k	The burned out hulk of USS LST-39 after the fire and explorations in the West Loch at Pearl Harbor, 21 May 1944. Photo from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the US National Archives. Photo #: SC 427952	Robert Hurst
SC 187501	1793k	USS LST-39 on fire, 22 May 1944, as crew men work on her bow ramp, probably removing cargo into waiting small craft and tugs attempt to put her fires out. Note smoke rising from the wreck of USS LST-480, at right, as tugs and other craft try to put out her fires. Photos dated 22 May 1944, the day after the West Loch explosion. Photo from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the US National Archives. Photo #'s SC 185701 and SC 185701 Cropped	Dave Kerr (SC 187501) Robert Hurst (SC 187501 Cropped)
SC 187501 Cropped	113k		Dave Kerr (SC 187501) Robert Hurst (SC 187501 Cropped)
1016003907 80-G-276940	217k	Aerial views of the burned out and grounded USS LST-39 off the Ferry Dock at Naval Ammunition Depot, Pearl Harbor. Photographed on 22 May 1944, the day after the explosions and fire which destroyed six LSTs in West Loch. US National Archives, Photo No's 80-G-276940 and 80-G-306117, US Navy photos now in the collections of the US National Archives.	Dave Kerr - 1016003907 Rick Davis - 1016003907
1016003908 80-G-306117	318k		Dave Kerr - 1016003907 Rick Davis - 1016003907
	1593k	Overhead view of the burned out hulk of USS LST-39 in the West Loch at Pearl Harbor after being towed away from the conflagration that engulfed USS LST-353 and USS LST-480. Photo from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the US National Archives. Photo # SC 276941	Dave Kerr
YF-1079
	82k	*YF-1079* (in the center middle distance) Aground in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, after Typhoon Louise ravaged that port in October 1945. Photographed in November 1945. The stores issue barge *YF-1079* was the portion of USS LST-39 that was salvaged after the LST was sunk by the ammunition explosions in West Loch, Pearl Harbor, on 21 May 1944. In front of her is the middle portion of *USS Nestor* (ARB-6)*, and in the foreground is the stern of USS LCI(R)-337. This image is cropped from Photo # NH 105654 (See USS LCI(R)-337). US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 105654A* from the collection of Dr. Richard Raymond Gratton (1915-1990), donated by his daughter, Barbara Gratton Stillwater, 2008.	Marc Levine
	69k	*YF-1079* beached and damaged in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, after Typhoon Louise ravaged that port in October 1945. Photographed in November 1945. The image shows the after portion of her starboard side, which was damaged by a collision with another YF during the storm. Another service craft, possibly *YF-757, lies sunken to the left. LST-39* was sunk in the West Loch ammunition explosion at Pearl Harbor, 21 May 1944. She was raised, converted to a spare parts issue barge, and redesignated *YF-1079* in August 1944. *YF-1079* had Diesel parts on board when wrecked. She was stricken from the Naval Register in February 1946 and destroyed in August 1946. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 105635 from the collection of Dr. Richard Raymond Gratton (1915-1990), donated by his daughter, Barbara Gratton Stillwater, 2008.	Marc Levine