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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USS Duval County (LST-758)
ex
USS LST-758 (1944 - 1955)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Golf - Yankee
NGGY

USS LST-758 was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - China Service Medal (extended)
Second Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (3)- World War II Victory Medal
Third Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - National Defense Service Medal (2) - Korean Service Medal (4)
Fourth Row - Armed Forces Service Medal (Cuba) - United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Korea War Service Medal


LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship:
  • Laid down, 5 June 1944, at American Bridge Co., Ambridge, PA.
  • Launched, 25 July 1944
  • Commissioned USS LST-758, 19 August 1944, LT. Felix J. Molenda USCG in command
  • During World War II USS LST-758 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
    LST Flotilla Twenty-Nine, CAPT. C. H. Peterson USCG (25);
    LST Group Eighty-Five, CDR. Millington, W. B. USCG (32);
    LST Division One Hundred Sixty-Nine and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Iwo Jima operation
    Assault and occupation of Iwo Jima, 19 to 26 February 1945
    Minesweeping Operations Pacific
    Fukuoka (Kyushu-Korea Area), 28 November to 14 December 1945
    Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 2 April to 30 May 1945
     

  • Following World War II USS LST-758 was assigned to Occupation and China service in the Far East for the following periods:

    Navy Occupation Service Medal

    China Service Medal (extended)
    20 to 25 September 194515 to 17 February 1953

  • Decommissioned, 13 July 1946
  • Laid up in the Reserve Fleet
  • Recommissioned, 3 November 1950 with a US Navy crew
  • During the Korean War USS LST-758 participated in the following campaigns:

    Korean War Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    UN Summer-Fall Offensive
    12 July to 2 September 1951
    29 October to 23 November 1951
    Third Korean Winter
    10 to 18 and 22 to 23 December 1952
    3 to 31 January 1953
    14 to 30 March 1953
    7 to 12 April 1953
    Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952
    14 to 20 November 1952
    Korean Summer-Fall 1953
    7 to 8, 13, and 24 to 27 July 1953

  • Named Duval County (LST-758), 1 July 1955
  • Decommissioned, 13 October 1969
  • Custody transfer to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Lee Hall, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 November 1976
  • USS Duval County earned three battle stars for World War II service and four battle stars for Korean service as USS LST-758
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping by MARAD, 18 August 1981, to North American Smelting Co., for $81,111,11
    Specifications:
    Displacement
    1,625 t.(lt)
    4,080 t.(fl) (sea-going draft w/1675 ton load)
    2,366 t.
    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 Contributed
    By
    USS LST-758
    Duval County 188k USS LSM-49 and USS LST-758 beached at Iwo Jima during the campaign to capture the island in February 1945. Sandy Molenda for his father LT. Felix J. Molenda, USCG, Commanding Officer USS LST-758
    Duval County 494k USS LST-758 underway circa 1950, location unknown. Debbie Pavlos for her father Sam Spiro Pavlos USS LST-758
    Duval County 451k USS LST-758 drydocked with LSU-877 loaded on her main deck, circa 1960-61, location unknown. Debbie Pavlos for her father Sam Spiro Pavlos USS LST-758
    Duval County 138k USS LST-758 transporting North Korean Prisoners of War to Koje-do Island POW camp, circa 1950-51. Debbie Pavlos for her father Sam Spiro Pavlos USS LST-758
    Duval County 125k USS LST-758 in port, circa 1950-51 while loading a Chance-Vought F4U Corsair belonging to US Marine Corps Attack Squadron VMA-212 aboard. Debbie Pavlos for her father Sam Spiro Pavlos USS LST-758
    Duval County 158k USS LST-758 moored pierside in a South Korean port, circa 1950-51 aboard. Debbie Pavlos for her father Sam Spiro Pavlos USS LST-758
    Duval County 254k USS LST-758 crew party, circa 1950-51, location unknown. Debbie Pavlos for her father Sam Spiro Pavlos USS LST-758
    Duval County 68k USS LST-758 was taken under tow by USS Quapaw (ATF-110) in early 1953 from Tok Chok Do, Korea enroute to Sasebo, Japan after grounding on an unmarked rock in the harbor of that island during the prisoner of war repatriation operations, Little Switch and Big Switch. From Sasebo she was towed to Pearl Harbor by another LST. With one engine running she was able to enter Pearl Harbor under her own power. LST-758 left Pearl Harbor a few days later under her own power but was unable to sustain her single operating engine and required a tow to San Diego. Just outside San Diego the engineers got the engines running again and she was able to enter the bay under our own power. The photo may have been taken at any time during these operations between March 1952 and April 1954.
    US Coast Guard photo, from the collections of the US Coast Guard Historian's Office.
    Photo - Mike Green, Description - Robert D. (Bud) Hoffman, JOC, USN Ret.
    USS Duval County (LST-758)
    Duval County 251k A US 3rd Marine Division M50 Ontos rolling on to a beach from USS Duval County (LST-758) near Japan's Mt. Fuji during an exercise in 1958.
    US Marine Corps Photo 127-GW-3d-9-166-58 now in the collection of the US National Archives.
    Tracy White
    Duval County 89k USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo # USN 1045633, circa 1959, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 62k USS Duval County (LST-758) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo # USN 1045640, circa 1959, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 66k USS Duval County (LST-758) in drydock at San Diego, September 1960. Note the Martin P5M "Marlin" overhead. Lee Noland STGC USN Ret.
    Duval County 454k An M-48 medium tank of the First Armored Division rolls onto a sandy beach from USS Duval County (LST-758) near Hollywood, FL., 4 December 1962. Approximately 1,000 men and their armor assaulted the area in a landing maneuver. The troops were a part of the military forces moved into Florida during the Cuban Crisis.
    An Associated Press.
    Tommy Trampp
    Duval County
    1016075826
    122k A still frame from the movie PT-109 released in 1963 showing USS Duvall County (LST-758) underway near Key West, FL. Duvall County is painted to look like USS LST-449, when she was attacked by Japanese bombers while John F. Kennedy was aboard. David Upton
    Duval County 126k USS Duval County (LST-758) underway, date and location unknown.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-67866, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 373 USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea off the VACAPES.
    US Navy photo # 1131599 , dated 27 March 1968, by PH2 R. Meckel, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Mike Smolinski
    Duval County 56k USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea off the VACAPES.
    US Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA. photo DAP # 28795-3-68, dated 27 March 1968, by PH2 R. Meckel, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 81k USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea off the VACAPES.
    US Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA. photo DAP # 28796-3-68, dated 27 March 1968, by PH2 R. Meckel, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 81k USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea off the VACAPES.
    US Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA. photo DAP # 28797-3-68, dated 27 March 1968, by PH2 R. Meckel, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 64k USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea off the VACAPES.
    US Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA. photo DAP # 28798-3-68, dated 27 March 1968, by PH2 R. Meckel, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 93k USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea off the VACAPES.
    US Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA. photo DAP # 28799-3-68, dated 27 March 1968, by PH2 R. Meckel, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 93k USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea off the VACAPES.
    US Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA. photo DAP # 28800-3-68, dated 27 March 1968, by PH2 R. Meckel, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 119k USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea off the VACAPES.
    US Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA. photo DAP # 28801-3-68, dated 27 March 1968, by PH2 R. Meckel, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 141k USS Duval County (LST-758) at sea off the VACAPES.
    US Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA. photo DAP # 28802-3-68, dated 27 March 1968, by PH2 R. Meckel, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Daniel Dunham
    Duval County 103k USS Duval County (LST-758) plaque. Tommy Trampp

    USS LST-758 / USS Duval County (LST-758)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Molenda, Felix J., USCG19 August 1944 - 13 July 1946
     Decommissioned13 July 1946 - 3 November 1950
    02LCDR. Taylor, N. O.03.11.1950
    03LCDR. Teague, John Wesleyno dates
    04LT/LCDR. Brink, Merrill John, USN1955 - 3 October 1956
    05LT/LCDR. Aicklen Jr., William Joseph, USN (USNA 1947)3 October 1956 - 23 July 1958
    06LT. Lassiter, Will Ed, USN23 July 1958 - 29 January 1960
    07LT. Roach, Francis Leroy, USN (USNA 1953)29 January 1960 - 7 July 1961
    08LT. Stegall, Woodie Clayton, USN7 July 1961 - 2 October 1961
    09LT. Schutte, John Junior, USN 2 October 1961 - 10 December 1963
    10LT/LCDR. Ustick Jr., Richard Coughlan, USN :RADM10 December 1963 - 8 June 1964
    11LT/LCDR. Mitchell, David Lewis, USN (USNA 1957)8 June 1964 - 23 November 1965
    12LT/LCDR. Jones Sr., Ralph William, USN23 November 1965 - 19 April 1968
    13LT. Brown, Carroll Dean, USN19 April 1968 - 13 October 1969
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    The USS LST Ship Memorial
    LST Home Port
    State LST Chapters
    United States LST Association

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    Last Updated 22 March 2024