USS Dodge County (LST-722)

Dodge County arrives at Savannah, Georgia to off-load 1st Armored Division troops during the Cuban Missile Crisis in November–December 1962. (Photo taken from Duval County.)
History
Name: USS LST-722
Builder: Jeffersonville Boat & Machinery Co., Jeffersonville, Indiana
Laid down: 15 July 1944
Launched: 21 August 1944
Commissioned: 13 September 1944
Decommissioned: 13 July 1946
Recommissioned: 16 November 1951
Decommissioned: 3 January 1956
Renamed: USS Dodge County (LST-722), 1 July 1955
Recommissioned: 1961
Decommissioned: October 1969
Struck: 15 September 1974
Honours and
awards:		 1 battle star (World War II)
Fate: Sold to Royal Thai Navy, 1 November 1975
Thailand
Name: HTMS Prathong
Acquired: 1 November 1975
Fate: Abandoned
General characteristics
Class and type: LST-542-class tank landing ship
Displacement:
  • 1,780 long tons (1,809 t) light
  • 3,640 long tons (3,698 t) full
Length: 328 ft (100 m)
Beam: 50 ft (15 m)
Draft:
  • Unloaded :
  • 2 ft 4 in (0.71 m) forward
  • 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) aft
  • Loaded :
  • 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m) forward
  • 14 ft 1 in (4.29 m) aft
Propulsion: 2 × General Motors 12-567 diesel engines, two shafts, twin rudders
Speed: 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 2 LCVPs
Troops: Approximately 130 officers and enlisted men
Complement: 8-10 officers, 89-100 enlisted men
Armament:
  • 8 × 40 mm guns
  • 12 × 20 mm guns

USS Dodge County (LST-722) was an LST-542 class Landing Ship Tank, built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was renamed USS Dodge County on the first of July, 1955, for counties in Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, and was the only United States Navy vessel to bear the name.

LST-722 was laid down on the fifteenth of July, 1944, at Jeffersonville, Indiana, by the Jeffersonville Boat and Machine Company. She was launched on August twenty-first, 1944, and sponsored by miss Rosemary Furey, before being commissioned on the thirteenth of September, 1944.

Service history

During World War II, LST-722 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater, and would go on to participate in the landings at Palawan, then Mindanao. LST-722 earned one battle star for World War II service, and following the war's end, performed occupation duty in the Far East, until April, 1946. She was subsequently decommissioned on the thirteenth of July, 1946.

Recommissioned on the sixteenth of November, 1951, she was assigned to the Amphibious Force of the United States Atlantic Fleet. On July first, 1955, LST-722 was renamed USS Dodge County, but was decommissioned again a year later, on January third.

Dodge County was recommissioned once again in 1961, and participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis from October to December of the following year. She was subsequently assigned, once again, to the Amphibious Force of the United States Atlantic Fleet. Dodge County was decommissioned again sometime in October, 1969, ending he career in the United States Navy. On the fifteenth of September, 1974, was struck from the Naval Vessel Register.

She was sold to Thailand under the Security Assistance Program on the first of November, 1975, and renamed HTMS Prathong. After serving as an amphibious warfare training ship for the Royal Thai Marine Corps, Prathong was decommissioned circa 2003; she was originally to be scrapped, but the order was superseded, and she was abandoned beside the village of Thung La-Ong, at approximately 9°2.602 N, 98° 19.375 E.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

See also


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