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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS LST-785


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Xray - Romeo
 NGXR
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive-Iwo Jima) - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)

USS LST-785 was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II
LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship:
  • Laid down, 25 June 1944 at Dravo Corp., Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Launched, 5 August 1944
  • Commissioned USS LST-785, 4 September 1944, LT. Myron E. Nichol, USCG, in command
  • During World War II USS LST-785 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
    LST Flotilla Twenty-Nine, CAPT. C. H. Peterson USCG (25);
     LST Group Eighty-Five, CDR. W. B. Millington, USCG (32);
     LST Division One Hundred Seventy and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Iwo Jima operation
    Assault and occupation of Iwo Jima, 19 to 28 February 1945     		Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 2 April to 30 June 1945

  • Following World War II USS LST-785 was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East for the following periods:

    Navy Occupation Service Medal
    20 to 26 September 1945
    19 October to 4 December 1945

  • Decommissioned, 3 May 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 5 June 1946
  • USS LST-785 earned two battle stars for World War II service
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 3 June 1948, to Walter W. Johnson Co.
    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 795 63k LSTs and other shipping in the transport area off Iwo Jima on the initial day of landings, 19 February 1945. The four closest LSTs are (left to right): USS LST-785, USS LST-782 (carrying LCT-1030), USS LST-764 and USS LST-795. Photographed from USS Hansford (APA-106).
    US Navy photo # 80-G-303902 from the collections of the US Naval History an Heritage Command    		 Tom Hughes for his father David C. Hughes USS LST-795
    Shoshone 74k USS Shoshone (AKA-65) at right off Iwo Jima during the landings there, February 1945. USS LST-785 is in the extreme left. USS LST-713, with USS LCI(G)-739 alongside, is in the left center,
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 105030. Collection of Robert B. Campbell. Courtesy of his family, 2007.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    LST-598/736/77 81k From left to right USS LST-785, USS LST-736 and USS LST-598 unloading while beached at Okinawa, April 1945.
    A US Navy photo from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 Submitted by Glen Morris, contributed by Edward Dye
    LST 795 145k USS LST-785 at anchor In San Francisco Bay, CA., circa early 1946. Note she is flying a Homeward Bound Pennant.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 79559. Courtesy of D.M. McPherson, 1974.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    USS LST-785
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Nichol, Myron E., USCG5 September 1944 - 3 May 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    The USS LST Ship Memorial
    LST Home Port
    State LST Chapters
    United States LST Association
    Action Report - Landing of Occupation Forces, Nagasaki Japan, September 1945
    U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office - USS LST-785
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 26 January 2018