USS Millard County (LST-987) was an built for the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Named after Millard County, Utah

Millard County, Utah

Millard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. In 2010, its population was 12,420. It was named for Millard Fillmore, thirteenth President of the United States. Its county seat is Fillmore and the largest city is Delta.-Geography:...

, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

Originally laid down as LST-987 on 2 February 1944 at the Boston Navy Yard

Boston Navy Yard

The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...

; launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 5 March 1944; and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 19 April 1944 with Lieutenant William H. Pennington in command.

World War II, 1944–1945

After shakedown along the east coast, LST-987 began duty under Commander, Amphibious Training Command, Atlantic Fleet. Assigned to LST Group 25, she operated out of Little Creek, Virginia during the next year as an underway training ship in Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

. She trained LST officers and crews in procedures of beaching, gunnery, ship handling, and tactics. In addition, she trained with Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 tanks and equipment and carried out pontoon

Pontoon (boat)

A pontoon is a flotation device with buoyancy sufficient to float itself as well as a heavy load. A pontoon boat is a flattish boat that relies on pontoons to float. Pontoons may be used on boats, rafts, barges, docks, floatplanes or seaplanes. Pontoons may support a platform, creating a raft. A...

 beaching exercises. During this period she completed three cruises for officers and 23 cruises for crews.

On 19 April 1945 LST-987 entered Portsmouth Navy Yard for a two-week overhaul; thence, after loading rolling stock

Rolling stock

Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...

 and , she sailed on 16 May for the Pacific. Arriving Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 on 13 June, she unloaded equipment and embarked soldiers of the 545th Field Artillery. The LST then sailed for the western Pacific on 21 June. Steaming via the Marshalls

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

 and Marianas

Mariana Islands

The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...

, she reached Leyte Gulf

Leyte Gulf

Leyte Gulf is a body of water immediately east of the island of Leyte in the Philippines, adjoining the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, at . The Gulf is bounded on the north by the island of Samar, which is separated from Leyte on the west by the narrow San Juanico Strait, and on the south by...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 on 15 July, debarked troops, and on the 16th reported for duty with ServRon 10. Between 26 and 29 July, LST-987 steamed into Subic Bay

Subic Bay

Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...

, Luzon

Luzon

Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...

. There she embarked units of the 479th Air Service Squadron with rolling stock and cargo, and on 1 August she sailed for Okinawa. She reached Hagushi

Hagushi

Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American supplies during the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The bay, at the mouth of the Bishi River , was the dividing line between the First and Sixth US Marine divisions, which landed on the Hagushi beaches to the north, and the Seventh...

 on 6 August and, after discharging men and equipment at Ie Shima from 12 to 16 August, she sailed for the Philippines the 21st. Steaming via Subic Bay, she reached Leyte Gulf on 30 August.

Post-war activities, 1945–1949

Assigned to occupation operations, LST-987 steamed to Panay

Panay

Panay may refer to*Panay Island*Panay *Panay, Capiz*Panay River*Panay Gulf* USS Panay *Panay incident...

, Philippines on 6 September where she embarked troops of the 40th Infantry. Between 17 and 27 September she steamed to Inchon where she off-loaded equipment, thence she sailed to Pusan on 2 to 4 October and debarked troops. She returned to Inchon on 8 October, embarked 1,000 Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 POWs, and sailed for Japan on 11 October. Arriving on 14 October, she debarked the Japanese and three days later got underway for the Philippines. She lost her port propeller on 18 October, but with assistance from reached Subic on 23 October. LST-987 continued to support the lifting of occupation forces in the Far East

Far East

The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

 during the remainder of the year, and runs carried her from the Sea of Japan

Sea of Japan

The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...

 to the East China Sea

East China Sea

The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...

. Early in 1946 she returned to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 from the western Pacific, and in May she was assigned duty as a Naval Reserve training ship. She decommissioned on 3 September 1946, but continued service training Naval Reserves; and for over three years operated under command of the Potomac Naval River Command.

Decommissioning

LST-987 entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs, Florida

Green Cove Springs, Florida

Green Cove Springs is a city in Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,908. It is the county seat of Clay County....

 in May 1950. Named USS Millard County (LST-987) on 1 July 1955, she remained in her Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 berthing area until mid-1960. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

 on 1 June 1960.

In commercial service

In August 1961 she was sold to the German Navy

German Navy

The German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...

 for conversion into a battle damage repair ship

Auxiliary ship

An auxiliary ship is a naval ship which is designed to operate in any number of roles supporting combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliaries are not primary combatants, although they may have some limited combat capacity, usually of a self defensive nature.Auxiliaries are extremely...

 (ARB). However, this conversion was never undertaken and she never saw commissioned service in the Bundesmarine. Struck from the German Naval List in early 1968, she was sold for scrap in November of that year.

Sold again in 1972 to Zandzuig & Transportbedrijf H.G. & G.D. Blomberg B. V. of Berkel en Rodenrijs

Berkel en Rodenrijs

thumb|250px|right|Town signBerkel en Rodenrijs is a town and former municipality in the Western part of the Netherlands, and is located in the Dutch province of South Holland.- History :...

, The Netherlands, flagged Panamanian. On 22 September 1972 she was docked on the railway at "de Merwede" shipyard in The Netherlands and conversion to trailing suction hopper dredge commenced. She was renamed Esperance III and subsequently dredged gravel in the North Sea. Resold in 1978 to Cdeco Maritime Construction Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

, she was reflagged U.S. Sold again in 1980 to American International Dredge Corporation. The vessel was resold in 1986 to B & B Dredging Corporation of Crystal River, Florida

Crystal River, Florida

Crystal River is a city in Citrus County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,485 at the 2000 census. . According to the U.S Census estimates of 2005, the city had a population of 3,539. The city was incorporated in 1903 and is the self professed "Home of the Manatee"....

 and renamed Columbus. She was sold again in 1996 to Proteus Co., Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois and is currently operated by B+B Dredging Company of Chicago, Illinois. She primarily performs maintenance dredging of federal navigation channels for the United States Army Corps of Engineers

United States Army Corps of Engineers

The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...

. Renamed Columbia in 2002. Sold to The Dutra Group of San Rafael, California in December 2009.