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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS LST-474


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Hotel - Foxtrot
NGHF
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive, Leyte landing)
Second Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (8) - World War II Victory Medal
Third Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Presidential Unit Citation - Philippines Liberation Medal (2)

Personal Awards

Purple Hearts (Leyte landings, number unknown)

LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship:
  • Laid down, 10 July 1942, at Kaiser, Inc., Vancouver, WA.
  • Launched, 12 December 1942
  • Commissioned USS LST-474, 19 March 1943, LT. Richard W. Langworthy, USN, in command
  • During World War II USS LST-474 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
    LST Flotilla Seven, CAPT. R. M. Scruggs, USN;
    LST Group Nineteen, CDR. James E. Van Zandt, USNR and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Eastern New Guinea operation
    Lae occupation, 4 to 5 and 9 to 11 September 1943
    Saidor occupation, 2 to 11, 19 to 22 and 28 to 30 January 1944
    Leyte operation
    Leyte landings, 13 to 27 October and 5 to 18 November 1944
    Bismarck Archipelago operation
    Green Islands landing, 15 to 19 February 1944
    Luzon operation
    Lingayen Gulf landings, 4 to 15 January 1945
    Hollandia operation, 21 to 25 April 1944 Consolidation and capture of Southern Philippines
    Mindanao Island landings, 17 to 23 April 1945
    Western New Guinea operation
    Biak Island operation, 28 to 31 May and 3 to 7, 9 to 14, 16 to 20 June 1944
    Morotai landings, 15 September 1944
    Borneo operation
    Balikpapan operation, 28 June to 7 July 1945

  • Following World War II USS LST-474 was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East from 4 to 19 September 1945
  • Decommissioned, 22 March 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 17 April 1946
  • USS LST-474 earned eight battle stars for World War II service
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 17 December 1947, to Ships and Power Equipment Corp., Barber, N.J.
    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 Source
    LST-466
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Photo # USMC 69080
    125k Cape Gloucester Invasion, December 1943. Loading LSTs at Oro Bay, New Guinea, on December 24, 1943, in preparation for the Cape Gloucester landings two days later. Photographed by Brenner. LSTs present include (from left to right):
    USS LST-202,
    USS LST-466,
    USS LST-468,
    USS LST-475,
    USS LST-474, and
    USS LST-18. Note Marines marching by Jeep in foreground.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # USMC 69080 and Photo from "A Photographic History of World War 2", Colliers, 1946.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Dan Wilmes
    LST-18/202.245
    Photo from "A Photographic History of World War 2", Colliers, 1946
    315k
    LST-474 115k USS LST-474 beached at "Yellow Beach One," Silimate Point, Cape Gloucester, New Britain, 14 April 1944. She grounded at 0721 and loaded all day, departing for Cape Cretin, New Guinea the next morning at 1104.
    US Marine Corps photo # 127-GW-89193 now in the custody of the National Archives at NARA II, College Park, MD.
    Tracy White
    LST-474 51k USS LST-474 beached at Aitape, North East New Guinea, 22 April 1944, while Royal Australian Air Force Engineers unload their heavy equipment across the beach.
    Australian War Memorial photo # OG1030.
    Australian War Memorial
    Culebra Island 53k USS LST-474 and two other LSTs tied up to USS Culebra Island (ARG-7) while at anchor off Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, October 1944. These three LSTs were damaged by shore batteries at Leyte, each of them lost men and two of them an officer each. Photo by Vincent Cottrell Daniel Cottrell in honor of his father Vincent Cottrell, Coxswain, USNR USS Culebra Island
    LST-474 1422k USS LST-474 beached at Aitape, North East New Guinea, 12 December 1944, while Royal Australian and US forces load men and equipment for an upcoming landing. The LCT in the foreground is unidentified.
    US Army Signal Corps photo #SC 200008 from the collections of the US National Archives.
    Dave Kerr
    LST-471 887k Christmas 1945 and New Years 1946 greetings from Commander LST Group Nineteen, CDR James E. Van Zandt USNR to the ships of the Group: USS LST-466
    USS LST-245
    USS LST-467
    USS LST-171
    USS LST-181
    USS LST-469
    USS LST-470
    USS LST-471
    USS LST-468
    USS LST-473
    USS LST-475 and
    USS LST-474
    Bill James for his father William James USS LST-471
    LST-475 56k USS LST-475, USS LST-474, USS LST-594 and other amphibious vessels beached in the Philippines, August 1945. Note crew members swimming in the surf near the bow of LST-474. Thomas Clevenger 1SG (ret), US Army for his father-in-law LT. Vasco Luchi USNR, USS LST-582, courtesy Ed Novak Electricians Mate USS LST-582
    LST-474 78k USS LST-474 beached at Balikpapan, Borneo, 3 July 1945, while Royal Australian Air Force Engineers of No. 61 Airfield Construction Wing RAAF, unload their heavy machinery.
    Australian War Memorial photo # OG3033.
    Australian War Memorial.

    USS LST-474
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Langworthy, Richard Walter, USN19 March 1943 - 4 April 1944
    02LTjg. Ross, Harvey T., USNR4 April 1944 - May 1945
    03LT. Hull, G. L., USNRMay 1945 - 22 March 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    History of LST Flotilla Seven
    The USS LST Ship Memorial
    LST Home Port
    State LST Chapters
    United States LST Association
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 25 June 2021