USS Vernon County (LST-1161)
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History | |
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United States | |
Name: | USS Vernon County (LST-1161) |
Namesake: | Vernon County, Missouri, Vernon County, Wisconsin, and Vernon Parish, Louisiana |
Builder: | Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation, Pascagoula Mississippi |
Laid down: | 14 April 1952 |
Launched: | 25 November 1952 |
Sponsored by: | Mrs. Hugh White |
Commissioned: | 18 May 1953 |
Decommissioned: | 14 June 1973 |
Renamed: | From USS LST-1161 to USS Vernon County 1 July 1955 |
Struck: | 1 December 1977 |
Honors and awards: |
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Fate: |
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Notes: | Served in Venezuelan Navy as Amazonas (T-21) |
Venezuela | |
Name: | Amazonas (T-21) |
Namesake: | Amazonas |
Acquired: | On loan from 29 June 1973, purchased 1 December 1977 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Terrebonne Parish-class tank landing ship |
Displacement: |
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Length: | 384 ft 0 in (117.04 m) |
Beam: | 55 ft 0 in (16.76 m) |
Draft: | 17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) |
Installed power: | 6,000 shaft horsepower (4.48 megawatts) |
Propulsion: | Four General Motors 16-278A diesel engines, two controllable pitch propellers |
Speed: | 14 knots |
Boats & landing craft carried: |
Three LCVPs, one LCPL |
Troops: | 395 (15 officers and 380 enlisted men) |
Complement: | 205 (16 officers and 189 enlisted men |
Armament: |
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USS Vernon County (LST-1161) was a United States Navy, Terrebonne Parish-class tank landing ship in commission from 1953 to 1973. She saw extensive service in the Vietnam war before being transferred to the Venezuelan Navy, where she became Amazonas (T-21).
Vernon County was laid down as USS LST-1161 on 14 April 1952 at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation and launched on 25 November 1952;, sponsored by Mrs. Hugh White, the wife of the then-governor of Mississippi, Hugh L. White. USS LST-1161 was commissioned on 18 May 1953 with Lieutenant Commander D. E. Sutherlin in command.
After conducting her shakedown cruise, LST-1161 operated off the United States East Coast out of Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek at Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Morehead City, North Carolina, through mid-February 1954. She subsequently deployed twice to Caribbean operating areas during 1954. During an exercise at Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, between 11 April 1954 and 7 May 1954, she participated in the filming of the movie Away All Boats.