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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS LST-743


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Echo - November
 NGEN
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 (2) - World War II Victory Medal
Bottom Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Presidential Unit Citation - Philippine Liberation Medal (1)
LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship:
  • Laid down, 20 February 1944, at Dravo Corp., Neville Island, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Launched, 19 April 1944
  • Commissioned USS LST-743, 23 May 1944, LT. Frank H. Emerick, USNR, in command
  • During World War II USS LST-743 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Consolidation and capture of Southern Philippines;
    Mindanao Island landings, 10 to 11 March 1945    		 Borneo operation;
    Tarakan Island landings, 27 April to 5 May 1945

  • Following World War II USS LST-743 was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East for the following periods:

    Navy Occupation Service Medal
    20 September to 11 October 1945
    23 October 1945 to 4 January 1946
  • Decommissioned, 23 April 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 19 June 1946
  • USS LST-743 earned two battle stars for World War II service
  • Final Disposition, sold to New Orleans Shipwrecking Co., Chicago, ILL., for scrapping, 23 October 1947
    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 Contributed
    By
    LST-743 252k USS LST-743 under way, 30 May 1944, in the Gulf of Mexico. Note the lateral beams on the main deck that LCTs sat on when being transported by LSTs. Photo by a blimp from Lighter-Than-Air Squadron (ZP-22) assigned to NAS Houma, LA.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-271292, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives II, College Park, MD.    		 Tracy White
    LST-743 54k USS LST-743 beached at Trinity Beach, Queensland, Australia, 18 October 1944, while Matilda tanks of C Squadron, 2/9th Australian Armoured Regiment coming ashore during 7th Australian Division amphibious exercises.
    Australian War Memorial photos # 081715.    		 Australian War Memorial
    LST-743 42k LST-743 approaches the beach north of Trinity Beach, Queensland, Australia, 2 November 1944, while conducting amphibious exercises with the Royal Australian Army's 25 Infantry Brigade.
    Australian War Memorial photos # 082478.    		 Australian War Memorial
    LST-743 51k USS LST-743 closing her bow doors as she retracts off the beach north of Trinity Beach, Queensland, Australia, 2 November 1944.
    Australian War Memorial photos # 082500.    		 Australian War Memorial
    LST-743 70k Australian, RAAF and Royal Netherlands Indies Armed Forces unload equipment from USS LST-743 at Tarakan Island, Borneo, 30 April 1945. A landing vehicle tracked (LVT) is nosed into the pontoon and USS LST-920 along with an unidentified Navy tug, lay offshore.
    Australian War Memorial, Photo No.305122    		 Mike Green
    LST-743 74k USS LST-743 along with another LST sits high and dry at Tatakan, Borneo, 1 May 1945, after landing the Royal Australian Army's Headquarters 26th Infantry Brigade.
    Australian War Memorial photo # 090854.    		 Australian War Memorial
    LST-743 92k USS LST-743 along with other LSTs beached at Yellow Beach, Tarakan, Borneo, 2 May 1945, while Australian troops of No.1 Airfield Construction Squadron, RAAF, work on laying timber corduroy at low tide so that their equipment can be unloaded. The LSTs were unable to retract from the beach as they had become stranded on the mud and could not be towed off until an exceptional high tide occurred.
    Australian War Memorial photos # 089401.    		 Australian War Memorial
    LST-743 131k USS LST-743 landing Australian troops at Tarakan, Borneo, in May 1945. Note the trucks bogged down in soft sand and mud at the landing beaches.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # 84869. Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1976    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    LST-743 65k USS LST-743 beached at Morotai, 1 June 1945 as vehicles of the Royal Australian Army's 2/4th Pioneer Battalion wait to be loaded aboard. They are enroute to North Borneo for "Operation Oboe 6".
    Australian War Memorial photo # 108411.    		 Australian War Memorial
    LST-458 14k Ex-USS LST-743 "banked" to starboard of ex-USS LST-458 in a nest of seven LSTs on the Sabine River, Texas side, probably just above the Naval Base at Orange. LST-458 was struck 3 July 1946 and transferred to the Maritime Commission 31 October 1947. Jim Swank
    USS LST-743
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Emerick, Frank Hulst, USNR23 May 1944 - 31 December 1945
    02LTjg. Forner, Vincent Thomas, USNR31 December 1945 - 323 April 1946
    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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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 24 November 2017