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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS LST-478

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - November - Quebec
NGNQ

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Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (5) - World War II Victory Medal
Bottom Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Presidential Unit Citation - Philippine Liberation Medal (1)

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During World War II, USS LST-478 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
LST Flotilla Three, CDR. A. A. Ageton USN;
LST Group Seven, LCDR. E. B. Garrigures;
LST Division Thirteen and participated in the following operations

Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
Gilbert Islands operation 21 November to 8 December 1943	Leyte operation Leyte landings, 20 October 1944
Hollandia operation 21 to 29 April 1944	Okinawa Gunto operation Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 2 to 9 April 1945
Marianas operation Capture and occupation of Guam, 21 to 27 July 1944

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 25 March 1948, to Consolidated Builders, Inc., Seattle, WA.

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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

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Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description		Contributed By
	158k	Plan view aft of USS LST-478 at Navy Yard Mare Island, 13 March 1943, undergoing an inclining experiment. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 1772-43.		Darryl Baker
	1634k	USS LST-478 and USS LST-20 unloading on the beach at Kiska Island, Alaska, 23 August 1943. Just visible In the distance is the Japanese cargo ship Nozina Maru, beached by the Japanese after bombing by American forces. US National Archives photo # III-SC 182872, Box 187, a US Army Signal Corps photo by PFC Sanderson now in the collections of the US National Archives.		Dave Kerr
1016047805	168k	USS LST-478 unloading equipment onto the beach at Kiska Island, Alaska. The beach is strewn with barracks bags and boxes of gear or supplies; a bulldozer operates along shore. US Navy BUAIR photo #5603, Bureau of Aeronautics Photograph Collection, Kiska, 1943. ASL-PCA-430. Alaska Digital Archives ID ASL-P430-26. Alaska Historical Collections		David Upton
	118k	USS LST-478 beached at Okinawa after the Invasion of Okinawa Gunto campaign has ended, circa second half of 1945. Photo by Frederick C. Keller.		Donn Cuson
	199k	Plan view amidships looking aft of USS LST-478 at Navy Yard Mare Island, 17 August 1945. USS LST-487 is aft of her and various yard craft and barges are to the right. Beyond the causeway is YHB-2 (Port of Stockton) and the never to be completed USS Creamer (DE-308), USS Ely (DE-309) and USS Delbert W. Halsey (DE-310). Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 6007-45.		Darryl Baker
	47k	USS LST-478 moored pierside at Navy Yard Mare Island, 17 August 1945		LST Home Port Web Site
1016047806	1223k	ExUSS LST-478 passing under the Golden Gate Bridge in 1946 outbound to sea enroute to Japan stripped on her armament to serve under Commander Naval Forces Far East (COMNAVFE) Shipping Control Authority for Japan (SCAJAP) as Q001 US Navy photo from Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum		Darryl Baker

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USS LST-478
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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Commanding Officers
01	LT. Holmshaw Jr., Harry Fred, USN (USNA 1936)	13 March 1943 - 24 September 1943
02	LT. Aderhold, Leon W., USNR	24 September 1943 - 9 March 1944
03	LT. McCormick Jr., Jack C., USNR	9 March 1944 - 20 January 1945
04	LTjg. Tennyson, Scott P., USNR	20 January 1945 - 7 April 1945
05	LT. Bradford, G.K., USNR	7 April 1945 - December 1945
06	LTjg. Long, Fletcher J., USNR	December 1945 - 23 March 1946

Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

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

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Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
History of LST Flotilla Seven
The USS LST Ship Memorial
LST Homeport
State LST Chapters
United States LST Association

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 18 October 2024