USS St. Joseph's River (LSM(R)-527) was laid down on 19 May 1945 by the Brown Shipbuilding Co., Inc., in Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

; she was launched on 16 June 1945 and commissioned on 24 August 1945.

Service history

Active for less than three months, LSM(R)-527 joined the 16th (Inactive) Fleet in November 1945; decommissioned on 28 March 1946, she remained berthed for the next four years 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 June 1950, however, the North Korean Army pushed south across the 38th Parallel

38th parallel north

The 38th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 38 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean...

. LSM(R)-527 was recommissioned on 14 October.

Korean war

From mid-November 1950 until mid-March 1951, LSM(R)-527 trained out of Little Creek, Virginia, then headed for California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and duty with the Pacific Fleet

United States Pacific Fleet

The United States Pacific Fleet is a Pacific Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources under the operational control of the United States Pacific Command. Its home port is at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii. It is commanded by Admiral Patrick M...

. Assigned to Landing Ship Squadron 3, she arrived in San Diego on 12 April. Through the summer, she conducted exercises off the southern California coast. In the fall, she underwent overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard; and with the winter of 1951-52, she resumed operations off southern California. In March and April 1952, she operated off the Panama Canal Zone

Panama Canal Zone

The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...

. In May, she headed west for duty off Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

.

LSM(R)-527 arrived at Yokosuka on 19 June. Ten days later, she was en-route to operating area "Nan" off the west coast of the embattled Korean peninsula

Korean Peninsula

The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.Until the end of...

. From 3 to 15 July and again from 16 August to 3 September, she helped to defend the islands held by United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 forces, particularly Cho-Do and Sok-To in the approaches to the Taedong estuary

Estuary

An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....

.

Returning to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 after each tour, she sailed for the Korean east coast from Sasebo Naval base

United States Fleet Activities Sasebo

U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo is a United States Navy naval base, in Sasebo, Japan, on the island of Kyūshū. It provides facilities for the logistic support of forward-deployed units and visiting operating forces of the United States Pacific Fleet and designated tenant activities.- History :Sasebo...

 on 10 October. In TU 76.42.1, she conducted exercises off Kangmung. On 15 October, she arrived off Kojo to provide shore bombardment support for the amphibious feint staged there on that date. By 18 October, she was back in Sasebo. Exercises in Japanese waters followed, and on 14 November, she returned to area "Nan." Through December, she continued to operate off Cho-Do and Sok-To. After fire support activities in early January 1953, she shifted to Taechong-Do. She returned to Yokosuka on 25 January; she sailed for California on 24 February.

Steaming via Midway Atoll

Midway Atoll

Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...

 and 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...

, LSM(R)-527 arrived in San Diego on 23 March and remained on the west coast until 10 February 1954. She then headed west again. In the western Pacific from mid-March to mid-October, she participated in exercises in Japanese, Korean, and Okinawan waters and in the Volcano Islands

Volcano Islands

The Volcano Islands is a group of three Japanese islands south of the Bonin Islands that belong to the municipality of Ogasawara...

 area and carried cargo between Japanese and Korean ports.

On 7 November, LSM(R)-527 returned to San Diego. Two months later, in January 1955, she entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard to prepare for inactivation. In April, she joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet. On 5 August, she was decommissioned and berthed with the San Diego Group. She was re-named St. Joseph's River on 1 October (for the St. Josephs River

St. Joseph River (Maumee River)

The St. Joseph River is an tributary of the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio, and northeastern Indiana in the United States, with headwater tributaries rising in southern Michigan. It drains a primarily rural farming region in the watershed of Lake Erie. It shares its name with the St...

 in northeast Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

).

LSM(R)-527 earned two battle stars during the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

.

ROKS Si Hung

The USS St. Joseph's River remained berthed at San Diego until activated in the summer of 1960, when she was transferred to the Republic of Korea Navy

Republic of Korea Navy

The Republic of Korea Navy or the ROK Navy is the branch of the South Korean armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations and amphibious landing operations. The ROK Navy includes the Republic of Korea Marine Corps, which is a quasi-autonomous organization...

and commissioned as ROKS Si Hung (LFR-311).

External links

• navsource.org: USS St. Joseph's River