USS Bristol County (LST-1198)

USS Bristol County (LST-1198)
History
United States
Ordered:	15 July 1966
Builder:	National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
Laid down:	13 February 1971
Launched:	4 December 1971
Acquired:	27 July 1972
Commissioned:	5 August 1972
Decommissioned:	29 July 1994
Struck:	29 July 1994
Motto:	Shipshape 'n Bristol Fashion.
Fate:	sold to Morocco, 16 August 1994
History
Morocco
Name:	BDC Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah
Acquired:	16 August 1994
Fate:	In service
General characteristics
Class & type:	Newport class tank landing ship
Displacement:	5,190 long tons (5,273.3 t) (light), 8,792 long tons (8,933.1 t) (full)
Length:	522 ft (159.1 m) overall, 500 ft (152.4 m) at the waterline.
Beam:	70 ft (21.34 m)
Draft:	19 ft (5.79 m)
Propulsion:	6 diesel engines, 16,000 brake horsepower, two shafts, Twin Controllable Pitch Screws Bow Thruster - Single Screw, Controllable Pitch,
Speed:	20+ knots (37+ km/h)
Troops:	Marine detachment:360 plus 40 surge
Complement:	14 officers, 210 enlisted
Armament:	4 × three-inch/50 caliber guns in two twin-barrel mounts {removed in a later alteration} 1 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mount

USS Bristol County (LST-1198) was a United States Navy Newport class tank landing ship.

Bristol County (LST-1198) was named after counties in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. She was laid down on 13 February 1971 at San Diego, California, by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company; launched on 4 December 1971; sponsored by Mrs. Robert Lee Town-send; and commissioned on 5 August 1972, Comdr. Donald L. Waggoner in command.

Following commissioning, Bristol County was assigned to the Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet, with the home port of Long Beach. Her first full scale amphibious operation, BELL BANGO, took place at Camp Pendleton in 1973. Her first overseas deployment from January to July, 1974, including crossing the International Date Line and the Equator, for the first time. In the years that followed, the tank landing ship alternated amphibious training operations off the west coast of the United States with periodic, sustained deployments to the western Pacific. She maintained this cycle into the 1990s.

In 1973 Bristol County's home port had been changed to San Diego's 32nd Street Naval Station; mooring at the southernmost piers 10, 11, 12 and rarely pier 13. During this period she was assigned to Commander, Amphibious Squadron Seven (COMPHIBRON SEVEN), which consisted of other ships in addition to Bristol County: the LPH USS Okinawa, LPD USS Juneau, LSDs USS Fort Fisher, Alamo and Point Defiance, and the LST Cayuga.

A story was circulated among the engineering crew that during extended operations in severe storm conditions and rough seas in the Gulf of Alaska in April 1983 during FleetEx '83, that the hull began to crack on the port side visible on the 3rd deck from the escape trunk of main control. Shoring was used to control any serious flooding. The damage occurred when the ship was struck by a rogue wave, causing her to roll more than 50 degrees to starboard. FleetEx '83 was the largest fleet operations conducted in the North Pacific up to that time, and were designed as a show of force near the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Soviet Union and the disputed Kurile and other islands. During these operations Bristol County carried over 300 troops from Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry unit, who were landed in the Aleutian Islands during simulated amphibious operations.

Fate

Bristol County was decommissioned and struck 29 July 1994 and disposed of through the Security Assistance Program (SAP), transferred, cash sale, ex-US fleet hull foreign military sale case number assigned, to Morocco as BDC Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah on 16 August 1994.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

External links

• NavSource