USS LST-552

LST-552 was laid down on 19 January 1944 at Evansville, Indiana, by the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company. She was launched on 14 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Robert A. Burns, and commissioned on 19 April 1944 with Lieutenant R. E. Sandvigen in command.

During World War II, LST-552 was assigned to the Pacific Theater of Operations. She participated in the capture and occupation of the southern Palau Islands in September and October 1944. She then took part in the Philippines campaign, participating in the Leyte landings in October and November 1944 and the landings at Zambales and Subic Bay in January 1945.

LST-552 was damaged in a Japanese air attack on Leyte Gulf on 24 October 1944. A Wildcat fighter pilot, Lt. Ralph Elliott off USS Savo Island, shot down a twin-engine bomber that he thought crashed into an LST. Other information indicates that 552 sustained bomb damage.

She then participated in the assault on and occupation of Okinawa Gunto in April 1945.

Following the war, LST-552 performed occupation duty in the Far East – during which Lieutenant Robert J. McKenna succeeded Lieutenant Sandvigen as commanding officer on 23 September 1945 – until mid-October 1945, when she departed to return to the United States.

LST-552 was decommissioned on 19 April 1946 and stricken from the Navy List on 1 May 1946. On 3 November 1947, she was sold to Dulien Steel Products, Inc. of Seattle, Washington, for scrapping.

LST-552 received four battle stars for her World War II service.

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive LST-552