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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS LST-487


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Yankee - Quebec
 NGYQ
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 - Philippines Liberation Medal (1)
LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship:
  • Laid down. 2 January 1943, at Kaiser, Inc., Richmond, CA.
  • Launched, 23 January 1943
  • Commissioned USS LST-487, 27 April 1943, LT. Martin B. Freeman, USNR, in command
  • During World War II LST-487 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
    (1943) LST Flotilla Five CAPT. G.B. Carter, USN;
     LST Group Fifteen CDR. V. K. Busck, USN;
     LST Division Twenty-Nine
     (1945) LST Flotilla Thirteen CAPT. J. G. Sampson USN (22);
     LST Group Thirty-Eight, LCDR. M. F. Stiling USNR;
     LST Division Seventy-Five and participated in the following operations:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Marianas operation
    Capture and occupation of Saipan, 15 June to 20 July 1944     		Luzon operation
    Lingayen Gulf landings, 9 January 1945
    Capture and occupation of Tinian, 24 to 28 July 1944 Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 2 to 10 May 1945
    Western Caroline Islands operation
    Capture and occupation of southern Palau Islands, 6 September to 14 October 1944     		 

  • Following World War II USS LST-487 was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East from 15 October to 3 November 1945
  • Decommissioned, 15 March 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 May 1946
  • USS LST-487 earned five battle stars for World War II service
  • Final Disposition, sold for conversion to merchant service, 20 February 1948, to Brown and Root, Inc., Houston, TX.
    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
    LST-487 74k USS LST-487 under way with a deck load of lumber, date and location unknown. Don Hardesty Curator of Artifacts LST 325
    LST-487 282k USS LST-487 and landing craft during the Invasion of Saipan. The island is covered in smoke from shelling, June-July 1944.
    from Wikipedia by doub1etap (real name unknown).    		 Robert Hurst
    LST-487 374k
    LST-487 28k USS LST-487 at Saipan, June-July 1944. Don Hardesty Curator of Artifacts LST 325
    LST-487 30k USS LST-487 at Saipan, June-July 1944. Don Hardesty Curator of Artifacts LST 325
    LST-487 109k USS LST-487 "Swim Call", 1944-1945, location unknown. Don Hardesty Curator of Artifacts LST 325
    LST-487 34k USS LST-487 beached at Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, 1944. Don Hardesty Curator of Artifacts LST 325
    LST-487 233k USS LST-487 looking aft, January 1945.
    from Wikipedia by doub1etap (real name unknown).    		 Robert Hurst
    LST-487 208k USS LST-487 looking aft while in a convoy on the way to Luzon, Philippines, January 1945.
    from Wikipedia by doub1etap (real name unknown).    		 Robert Hurst
    LST-487 234k USS LST-487 searching for downed Japanese pilot, January 1945.
    from Wikipedia by doub1etap (real name unknown).    		 Robert Hurst
    LST-487 791k A USS LST-487 LCVP picking up a sick sailor from a destroyer, location unknown, January 1945.
    from Wikipedia by doub1etap (real name unknown).    		 Robert Hurst
    LST-487 239k Church call aboard USS LST-487, location unknown, January 1945.
    from Wikipedia by doub1etap (real name unknown).    		 Robert Hurst
    LST-487 75k Aft port quarter view of USS LST-487 off Mare Island, 14 August 1945. USS LST-487 was under repair at the Navy Yard Mare Island from 23 June to 20 August 1945.
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 5950-8-45, 8/14/45.    		 Darryl Baker
    LST-487 69k Forward port quarter view of USS LST-487 off Mare Island, 14 August 1945.
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 5952-8-45, 8/14/45.    		 Darryl Baker
    LST-478 199k USS LST-487 is aft of USS LST-478 at Navy Yard Mare Island, 17 August 1945. Beyond the causeway is YHB-2 (Port of Stockton) and the never to be completed Destroyer Escorts; Creamer (DE-308), Ely (DE-309) and Delbert W. Halsey (DE-310).
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 6007-8-45 8/17/45.    		 Darryl Baker
    LST-487 93k USS LST-487 at Pearl Harbor, 7 through 9 September 1945. Courtesy © The Joseph Kundrick Jr. Family
    LST-487 40k
    LST-487 31k
    LST-487 295k USS LST-487 enroute from Eniwetok Atoll to Tokyo, October 1945. Courtesy © The Joseph Kundrick Jr. Family

    For more photos and information about USS LST-487, see;
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
  • Western Caroline Islands Attack Landing Order
  • Beach White Peleliu - CTF 32 Operation Plan A501-44 Appendix 4 to Annex "D"
  • The USS LST Ship Memorial
  • LST Home Port
  • State LST Chapters
  • United States LST Association
    • Commanding Officers
    01LT. Freeman, Martin Benjamin, USNR27 April 1943 - 11 May 1944
    02LT. Gose, Jesse Earl, USN11 May 1944 - March 1945
    03LT. Beebe, H. P., USNRMarch 1945 - June 1945
    04LT. Rutledge, F. B., USNRJune 1945 - September1945
    01LTjg. Morse, D. H., USNRSeptember 1945 - 15 March 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
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    This page created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 24 December 2020