Sweetwater County LST-1152

Sweetwater County
(LST-1152: dp. 3,960; 1. 328'; b. 50'; dr. 11'2"; s.
11.6 k.; cpl. 119; trp. 147; a. 8 40mm.; cl. LST-542)

LST-1152 was laid down on 5 March 1945 by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works, Seneca, Ill.; launched on 8 June 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Alice H. Kline; and commissioned on 30 June 1945, Lt. Frank W. Hickson, Jr., USCGR, in command.

The ship, manned by a Coast Guard crew, completed fitting out at New Orleans, La., and moved to Mobile, Ala., on 5 July for propeller repairs. Three days later, the LST was underway for the Galveston Bay area and her shakedown cruise which ended upon her return to New Orleans on the 23d. On 2 August, the ship stood out of New Orleans en route to Seattle, Wash., via the Panama Canal and Bremerton. The canal was transited on 9 August, and she arrived at Seattle on the 30th. LST-1152 sailed for Hawaii on 8 September and arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 19th. She remained in the Hawaiian Islands until 20 October when she got underway for Okinawa.

The LST operated at various Okinawan ports from 8 November to 25 December 1945 when she put into Apra Harbor, Guam. On 2 January 1946, the ship began the return voyage to Pearl Harbor and remained there from 17 to 22 January when she was ordered to return to the west coast of the United States. After calling at San Francisco, the landing ship moved up the coast to Bremerton and operated between there and Astoria, Oregon, until 28 May. On that day, she moved to the Kaiser Shipyard at Vancouver, Wash., and remained there until being placed out of commission, in reserve.

On 12 May 1955, the LST was named Sweetwater County to commemorate a county in Wyoming. Sweetwater County was transferred to the Republic of China as Chung Ming (LST-227) on 21 October 1958. Sweetwater County was struck from the Navy list on 6 February 1959.