USS Whitfield County display in courthouse

Published 1:25 pm Friday, January 9, 2009

A USS Whitfield County LST (Landing Ship, Tank) 1169 display is now available for residents to view in the lobby of Superior Court, which is the second level of the Whitfield County Courthouse. The cabinets are filled with a bell, a replica of the 384-foot ship, banners and commentaries.

History of the USS Whitfield County:

It launched on Aug. 22, 1953. After some training in the Gulf of Mexico, the ship departed New Orleans on Oct. 13, 1954, and headed to the home port of Little Creek, Va. For the first few months of 1955, the ship made runs to Cuba, the Caribbean and Puerto Rico, with stops in Norfolk, Va.

Named Whitfield County on July 1, 1955, the ship was involved in local operations into 1956. It set out in August for the west coast. After skirting a Caribbean hurricane, it crossed the Panama Canal on the 20th. Shortly after leaving the naval station at Rodman in the Canal Zone, the ship suffered an explosion and fire. Repairs delayed the ship’s arrival at its new home port, San Diego, Calif., until September.

It was deployed to the Western Pacific twice, carried troops and vehicles from Okinawa to the Philippines, sailed as part of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “People-to-People” program, was involved in operation “Beau Charger” and was part of the Mobile Riverine Force in the Vietnam War. The ship was decommissioned on March 15, 1973, and was taken off the Navy list in 1977 and slated for sale. It was sold to the Hellenic (Greek) Navy.

The USS Whitfield County was sunk (it was being used for target practice) in July 2004 somewhere off the coast of Greece.

For a more complete history, visit www.lst1169.homestead.com.