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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS LST-788


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Yankee - Hotel
 NGYH
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive, Iwo Jima) - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)

USS LST-788 was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II
LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship:
  • Laid down, 9 July 1944, at Dravo Corp., Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Launched, 19 August 1944
  • Commissioned USS LST-788, 18 September 1944, LT. Walter R. Benson, USCGR, in command
  • During World War II USS LST-788 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
    LST Flotilla Twenty-Nine, CAPT. C. H. Peterson USCG (25);
    LST Group Eighty-Six, CDR. S. R. Sands USCG;
    LST Division One Hundred Seventy-One and participated in the following campaigns:
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Iwo Jima operation
    Assault and occupation of Iwo Jima, 20 to 28 February 1945     		Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 2 to 15 April 1945

  • Following World War II USS LST-788 was assigned to Occupation service for the following periods:

    Navy Occupation Service Medal
    20 to 26 September 1945
    18 to 29 October 1945
  • Decommissioned, 16 April 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 5 June, 1946
  • USS LST-788 earned two battle stars for World War II service
  • Final Disposition, sold, 26 September 1947, to Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, MD., for scrapping
    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-788 56k Launching of LST-788 at Dravo Corp., Pittsburgh, PA., 19 August 1944. Nathan Lott in memory of his Grandfather Foster Lott USS LST-788
    LST-788 57k USS LST-788 beached at Iwo Jima, February 1945. LBS Products
    LSM-264 88k From top to bottom: LST-808, LST-788, USS LST-760, USS LST-724 and USS LSM-264 beached at the foot of Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, 24 February 1945. Note that the ships keep their propellers turning over to hold themselves in position. In the water are a DUKW and an LCPR; in the surf and on the beach are LVT's, DUKW's, trucks, bulldozers, and a crawler crane. Trucks at the right are towing 105mm howitzers inland from USS LST-724.
    US Navy photos #'s S-193-1    		 USS LSM / LSMR Association
    LSM-264 154k From top to bottom: USS LST-779, USS LST-808, USS LST-788, USS LST-760, USS LST-724 and USS LSM-264 beached at the foot of Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, 25 February 1945.
    US Navy photo # S-193-A2.    		 Robert O. Baumrucker, 1978 to the USS LSM / LSMR Association
    USS LST-788
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Benson, Walter R., USCGR18 September 1944 - 9 November 1945
    02LT. Kearns, Bernard J., USCGR9 November 1945 - 30 January 1946
    03LT. Kendis, Bradley A., USCGR30 January 1946 - 8 March 1946
    04LTjg. Erickson, Russel D., USCGR8 March 1946 - 16 April 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    The USS LST Ship Memorial
    LST Home Port
    State LST Chapters
    United States LST Association
    Action Report - Landing of Occupation Forces, Nagasaki Japan, September 1945
    U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office - USS LST-788
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Amphibious Ship Type Index Back To The Tank Landing Ship (LST) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 26 January 2018