USS White Marsh (LSD-8) was an of 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...

, named in honor of White Marsh, the birthplace of Dr. Walter Reed

Walter Reed

Major Walter Reed, M.D., was a U.S. Army physician who in 1900 led the team that postulated and confirmed the theory that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species, rather than by direct contact...

 (1851–1902), in Gloucester County, Virginia

Gloucester County, Virginia

Gloucester County is within the Commonwealth of Virginia in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area in the USA. Formed in 1651 in the Virginia Colony, the county was named for Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, third son of King Charles I of Great Britain. Located in the Middle Peninsula region, it...

.

White Marsh was laid down on 7 April 1943 at Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, by the Moore Dry Dock Company

Moore Dry Dock Company

Moore Dry Dock Company was a ship repair and shipbuilding company in Oakland, California. It was started in San Francisco in 1905 as the Moore & Scott Iron Works, but was destroyed by fire in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It reopened soon and in 1909 purchased the Boole Shipyard in Oakland....

; 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 19 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. William C. Wise, the wife of Col. Wise, USMC; 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 29 January 1944, Commander

Commander (United States)

In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military title, depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Naval rank:In the United States...

 George H. Eppelman, USNR, in command.

World War II

After commissioning, the dock landing ship made two voyages from San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 to Morro Bay

Morro Bay, California

Morro Bay is a waterfront city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,234, down from 10,350 at the 2000 census.- History :...

, where she delivered two cargoes of LCM

Landing Craft Mechanized

The Landing Craft Mechanized or Landing Craft Mechanical was a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. They came to prominence during the Second World War when they were used to land troops or tanks during Allied amphibious assaults....

s to the boat basin located there before heading to San Diego

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

 for shakedown

Shakedown (testing)

A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...

. She completed that training and returned to San Francisco on 15 March. On the 23d, the ship got underway for Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 with a load of landing craft

Landing craft

Landing craft are boats and seagoing vessels used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. Most renowned are those used to storm the beaches of Normandy, the Mediterranean, and many Pacific islands during WWII...

 and passengers. She arrived at Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

 on 30 March and reported for duty with the 5th Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet. She made a round-trip voyage to San Francisco and back to 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...

 between 31 March and 15 April. From then until late in May, she conducted amphibious exercises in preparation for the Marianas campaign.

Central Pacific

On the 29th, White Marsh departed Pearl Harbor in company with Task Group 52.15 (TG 52.15), bound for Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

. After a stop at Eniwetok en route, she and her task unit arrived in the 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...

 before dawn of 15 June. Later that morning, White Marsh and her companion ships disembarked troops of the 2d and 4th Marine Divisions and the landing went forward. Following the initial assault on Saipan

Battle of Saipan

The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June-9 July 1944. The Allied invasion fleet embarking the expeditionary forces left Pearl Harbor on 5 June 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was...

, the dock landing ship settled into a routine of repair duties for damaged landing craft for a week before departing the Marianas to return to the United States.

After a stop at Pearl Harbor en route, the ship entered San Francisco on 11 July. Following voyage repairs, she loaded cargo and passengers; got underway for Hawaii; arrived back in Oahu on 28 July; and remained there until 12 August, preparing for the invasion of the Palau Islands. She loaded tank

Tank

A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...

s and embarked troops of the 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...

's 710th Tank Battalion and departed Pearl Harbor on 12 August in company with TG 23.4. Staged through Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

 where she participated in amphibious rehearsals, White Marsh arrived off Angaur

Angaur

Angaur or Ngeaur is an island in the island nation of Palau. The island, which forms its own state, has an area of 8 km² . Its population is 188 . State capital is the village of Ngeremasch on the western side...

 on 16 September and, after disembarking the 710th Tank Battalion, again started repair work on damaged landing craft. On 21 September, she left the Palau

Palau

Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...

s on her way to the Western Caroline Islands

Caroline Islands

The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...

. Following the occupation of Ulithi Atoll, from 23 to 25 September, she departed that atoll and proceeded to New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

.

She arrived at Hollandia on 28 September and reported for duty with the 7th Amphibious Force. The next day, she returned to sea, bound for Finschhafen

Finschhafen

Finschhafen is a district on the northeast coast of the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea. It is named after the port of the same name.The port was discovered in 1884 by the German researcher Otto Finsch. In 1885 the German colony of German New Guinea created a town on the site and named it...

, located farther down the northern coast of New Guinea opposite the island of New Britain

New Britain

New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...

. The ship embarked troops, loaded cargo at Finschhafen, resumed her voyage, and arrived at Manus Island

Manus Island

Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...

 on 2 October. There, she prepared for her third amphibious landing of the war, the invasion of the Philippines.

Philippines

On the 12th, she departed Manus as a unit of TG 78.2 and set a course for San Pedro Bay

San Pedro Bay (Philippines)

San Pedro Bay is a bay in the Philippines, at the northwest end of Leyte Gulf, about 15 km east-west and 20 km north-south. The bay is bounded on the north and east by Samar and on the east by Leyte Island. It is connected by San Juanico Strait to Carigara Bay of the Samar Sea. The...

, Leyte. White Marsh disembarked her troops and unloaded her cargo there on 20 October, the day of the initial landings on Leyte

Battle of Leyte

The Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the invasion and conquest of the island of Leyte in the Philippines by American and Filipino guerrilla forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by...

, and departed the island that same afternoon, bound for New Guinea. The dock landing ship reached Hollandia on 24 October, loaded troops, and then steamed to Biak Island on the 29th. At Biak, she took on additional soldiers and some cargo before heading back to the 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 the 31st. She arrived at Dulag

Dulag, Leyte

Dulag is a third-class municipality in the province of Leyte in Eastern Visayas in the Philippines. This coastal town covering 11,007 hectares of land is home to 44,143 residents...

, Leyte, on 5 November, disembarked her passengers, unloaded cargo, and departed the island on the 6th.

During November and December, White Marsh continued to make reinforcement and resupply voyages between New Guinea and Leyte to support the campaign to liberate the southern Philippines. That routine ended late in December when she arrived at Aitape

Aitape

Aitape is a small town of about 8,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the highway between these two capitals...

, New Guinea, to prepare for the invasion of Luzon

Battle of Luzon

The Battle of Luzon was a land battle fought as part of the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II by the Allied forces of the U.S., its colony The Philippines, and Mexico against forces of the Empire of Japan. The battle resulted in a U.S. and Filipino victory...

.

She departed Aitape on 28 December, bound for northern 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...

 in company with a unit of TG 78.1. She arrived off Lingayen

Invasion of Lingayen Gulf

The Liberation of Lingayen Gulf was an Allied amphibious operation in the Philippines during World War II. In the early morning of 9 January 1945, an Allied force commanded by Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf began approaching the shores of Lingayen. U.S...

 on the night of 8 and 9 January and, the following morning, unloaded troops and cargo for the assault. She then served briefly again as a landing craft repair ship but departed Lingayen Gulf

Lingayen Gulf

The Lingayen Gulf is an extension of the South China Sea on Luzon in the Philippines stretching . It is framed by the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union and sits between the Zambales Mountains and the Cordillera Central...

 on the 10th. En route to Leyte, White Marshs unit suffered a kamikaze

Kamikaze

The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....

 attack which resulted in severe damage and considerable casualties on board .

The dock landing ship, however, arrived unscathed at Leyte on 13 January, but soon returned to sea as an element of TG 78.2, bound for Wakde Island. She arrived there on 17 January and loaded Luzon-bound troops and equipment. She departed Wakde on the 19th and set a course for Lingayen. En route, her unit again came under aerial attack when a single Nakajima B5N

Nakajima B5N

|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Bridgwater, H.C. and Peter Scott. Combat Colours Number 4: Pearl Harbor and Beyond, December 1941 to May 1942. Luton, Bedfordshire, UK: Guideline Publications, 2001. ISBN 0-9539040-6-7....

 "Kate" torpedo bomber

Torpedo bomber

A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...

 succeeded in torpedoing . During the attack, White Marshs antiaircraft battery

Artillery battery

In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...

 joined those of her colleagues and brought down the enemy aviator. She arrived back in Lingayen Gulf on 27 January and began landing troops and cargo. That afternoon, she completed the unloading operations, got underway, and returned to Leyte on 30 January.

The ship remained at Leyte until 2 February when she headed for Guadalcanal. En route, she received orders diverting her to Milne Bay

Milne Bay

Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, southeastern Papua New Guinea. The bay is named after Sir Alexander Milne.The area was a site of the Battle of Milne Bay in 1942....

, New Guinea, where she arrived on 10 February. After loading 11 LCMs, she departed Milne Bay on the 13th and arrived at Guadalcanal on the 15th. There, she reported for duty with Transport Squadron 18 (TransRon 18). On 27 February, she departed Guadalcanal, bound for the Russell Islands

Russell Islands

The Russell Islands are two small islands, as well as several islets, of volcanic origin, in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands. They are located approximately 48 km northwest from Guadalcanal. The islands are partially covered in coconut plantations, and have a copra and oil factory at...

 to conduct amphibious training there with elements of the 1st Marine Division. On 15 March, she departed the Russell Islands, bound ultimately for Okinawa. En route, she stopped at Ulithi for six days before continuing on to the Ryūkyūs

Ryukyu Islands

The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...

.

Okinawa

White Marsh and her division mates arrived off Okinawa during the night of 31 March – 1 April. Early in the morning, she disembarked her troops for the landings on Okinawa

Battle of Okinawa

The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...

. Once again, after completing the disembarkation process, the dock landing ship anchored and began landing craft repair duty. Throughout her two-month stay at Okinawa, enemy air activity was heavy, but White Marsh only engaged 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...

ese aircraft on three occasions — on 6, 12, and 15 April — and claimed hits on two of the attackers.

On 3 June, the ship departed Okinawa and proceeded to Leyte. She entered San Pedro Bay on 8 June and remained there for three days. On the 11th, the ship moved to Manicani Island where she loaded six motor torpedo boat

Motor Torpedo Boat

Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...

s and their crews for transportation to Okinawa. She left Manicani on 15 June and arrived in Kerama Retto

Kerama Retto

The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....

 on the 19th. She discharged cargo and personnel during the next two days and began a voyage to the Philippines on the 22d. She arrived at Leyte on 27 June and began a period of tender availability.

White Marsh remained at Leyte until 14 July when she got underway for home. She stopped at Eniwetok on 21 July, loaded cargo and passengers, resumed her voyage, and arrived at Oahu on 29 July. She remained there only overnight and, the next day, got underway for the West Coast. The ship reached San Francisco on 29 July and was receiving repairs there when Japan capitulated in mid-August.

Post-war service

White Marsh sailed for the Aleutians on 26 August and arrived at Adak Island

Adak Island

Adak Island is an island near the western extent of the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Alaska's southernmost town, Adak, is located on the island...

 on 3 September but departed again the following day, bound for the Japanese island of Honshū

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

. She put into Ominato Ko on 11 September and reported for duty with the logistic support group assigned to the Northern Japan Occupation Force, which she served as a small craft repair ship and a floating boat pool until 25 November when she departed Japan to return to the United States.

Steaming via Pearl Harbor, she arrived at San Pedro, California, on 15 December. From there, she moved on, via the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

, to New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

 for a brief tour of duty with the Atlantic Fleet

U.S. Atlantic Fleet

The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...

 before being decommissioned at Norfolk

Naval Station Norfolk

Naval Station Norfolk, in Norfolk, Virginia, is a base of the United States Navy, supporting naval forces in the United States Fleet Forces Command, those operating in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean...

 in March 1946 and beginning over four and one-half years in reserve there.

1950 – 1960

On 8 November 1950 — as a part of the Navy's expansion of its active forces to enable it to meet its increased demands 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...

 — White Marsh was placed back in commission, Comdr. C. B. Bright in command. During the period from her reactivation to the beginning of 1954, she alternated two deployments to the 6th Fleet with Atlantic Fleet service along the East Coast.

Collision with iceberg

In the summer of 1953, White Marsh sailed with a task group of transport ships carrying cranes and other equipment to Labrador and Greenland. Off Labrador, en route to Thule, Greenland, the waters were full of huge chunks of ice flowing out of the North Atlantic. White Marsh was led by an ice breaker, but on 9 July, with excessive distance between the breaker and White Marsh, a calamity occurred. White Marsh, turning to avoid one iceberg, collided with a second chunk of ice which ripped a 40-foot gash in the ship’s starboard side pump room. Three men barely escaped the damaged room, and the ship immediately took on a six degree starboard list. The ship’s crew took the damaged vessel to Saglek Bay in Labrador.

The Navy sent a rescue ship to assist White Marsh. As an LSD, White Marsh had ballast tanks that allowed it to be lowered into the water for loading. To aid emergency repair efforts, the ballast tanks were used to lift the damaged side of the ship out of the water. While maintaining a list of 14 degrees, carpenters built a wooden cofferdam using whatever wood they could find. The cofferdam was winched up tightly against the ship with the assistance of Navy divers. Life vests were used to line the dam, making it somewhat watertight. Submersible pumps were manned almost constantly. The dam and the pumps kept the damaged area dry enough for welders to remove the damaged metal and weld a plate onto the gash in the hull.

LSD Ashland

USS Ashland (LSD-1)

USS Ashland was the lead ship of her class—indeed, the first dock landing ship of the United States Navy. She was the first Navy ship to be named for Ashland, the boyhood home of Henry Clay, in Lexington, Kentucky....

 (LSD-1) was ordered to sail from Thule, Greenland to Labrador to relieve White Marsh. Ashland departed on July 10, 1953, escorted by the United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 icebreaker USCGC Westwind

USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281)

USCGC Westwind was a United States Coast Guard Wind-class icebreaker.-Ship's history:*1942 - 24 August: Keel laid at Western Pipe & Steel, San Pedro, CA, USA.*1943 - 31 March: Launched at San Pedro, CA, USA....

 (WAGB-281) and then an additional ice breaker, USS Atka

USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280)

USCGC Southwind was a Wind-class icebreaker that served in the United States Coast Guard as USCGC Southwind , the Soviet Navy as the Admiral Makarov, the United States Navy as USS Atka and again in the U.S...

 (AGB-3), but due to an immense ice pack, did not arrive to join White Marsh at harbor in Saglek Bay until 21 July. St. John's Harbor at Saglek was free of ice except for one grounded berg when Ashland arrived. Feverish efforts to temporarily repair White Marsh continued. The Underwater Demolition Team personnel and the U.S. Army personnel who had been aboard White Marsh transferred to Ashland on 22 July. The transfer of equipment from the super deck of White Marsh to the super deck of Ashland had to wait until White Marsh was able to be righted. White Marsh was finally in a condition to righted late 24 July, the remainder of the equipment was then transferred to Ashland. With the temporary patch in place, White Marsh was able to make it to a shipyard in Baltimore, where it eventually required more than $600,000 in repairs. The ship’s crew received commendations from their commanding officer shortly after the event, attributing the ship’s survival to the “combined thoughts, ingenuity, initiative, and laborious hours of all hands.”

Transfer to the Pacific Fleet

In January 1954, White Marshs home port

Home port

A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull...

 was changed to San Diego, California

Naval Station San Diego

Naval Base San Diego is the largest base of the United States Navy on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the Pacific Fleet, consisting of 54 ships and over 120 tenant commands. The base is composed of 13 piers stretched...

; and the ship was reassigned to the Pacific Fleet. Between January 1954 and September 1956, the dock landing ship made two deployments to the western Pacific during which she conducted amphibious exercises and made port visits to various Far Eastern ports such as Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 and Yokosuka. When not deployed to the Orient, she conducted routine operations out of San Diego.

Final US Naval service

In September 1956, White Marsh was decommissioned once more; but she remained active, serving the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS White Marsh (T-LSD-8) while manned by a civil service crew. That duty lasted until November 1960 at which time she was transferred, on loan, to the Republic of China

Republic of China

The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

.

White Marsh earned four battle stars for her 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...

 service.

ROCS Chung Cheng (LSD-191)

The ship served in the Republic of China Navy

Republic of China Navy

The Republic of China Navy is the maritime branch of the Armed forces of the Republic of China . The ROC Navy's primary mission is to defend ROC territories and the sea lanes that surround Taiwan against a blockade, attack, or possible invasion by forces of the People's Republic of China...

as ROCS Chung Cheng (LSD-191). On 1 January 1977, she was permanently transferred to the ROC Navy. Chung Cheng was scrapped in 1985; her name and pennant number were assigned to the former .