USS ''Caddo Parish'', originally named LST-515, was an built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Like many of her class, she was not originally named and was properly referred to by her hull designation. On 1 July 1955, she was given the name ''Caddo Parish'', named after

Caddo Parish Caddo Parish () () is a parish located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the parish had a population of 237,848. The parish seat and largest city is Shreveport, which developed al ...

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

Construction

''LST-515'' was laid down on 3 September 1943, at

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People, fictional characters and language * Seneca (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname : :* Seneca the Elder (c. 54 BC – c. AD 39), a Roman rhetorician, writer and father ...

, Illinois, by the

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company CB&I, originally known as Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, is a global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm that specializes in storage solutions for infrastructure and industrial projects. CB&I was founded in 1889 and is headquartere ...

; launched on 31 December 1943; sponsored by Miss Rebekah Brown; and commissioned on 28 January 1944.

Service history

During World War II, ''LST-515'' was assigned to the

European Theater The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main Theater (warfare), theatres of combat during World War II, taking place from September 1939 to May 1945. The Allies of World War II, Allied powers (including the United Kingdom, the ...

. She was one of the eight LST's that took part in the disastrous "

Exercise Tiger Exercise Tiger, or Operation Tiger was one of a series of large-scale rehearsals for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Held in April 1944 on Slapton Sands in Devon, it proved fraught with difficulties. Coordination and communication problems r ...

", a practice for the planned invasion of France, in April 1944. Under attack from German

E-boat E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the fast attack craft (German: ''Schnellboot'', or ''S-Boot'', meaning "fast boat"; plural ''Schnellboote'') of the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II; ''E-boat'' could refer to a pat ...

s, ''LST-515'' returned fire and lowered her boats to pick up survivors from . ''LST-515'' participated in the

Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 ( D-Day) with the ...

in June 1944. Following the war, ''LST-515'' performed occupation duty in the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

until mid-November 1952. She also saw postwar service with the Service Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Upon her return to the United States, she was redesignated ''Caddo Parish'', on 1 July 1955. The ship was decommissioned on 20 October 1955, and recommissioned on 2 August 1963. In August 1964 Caddo Parish and USS Monmouth County ST-1032transported the US Navy School of Music from Washington DC to Norfolk, VA. Army musicians aboard noted that the last time Army personnel had been embarked was during the invasion of Normandy. The tank landing ship performed service in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

until transferred to the

Republic of the Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of 7,641 islands, with a total area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers, which ar ...

as grant aid on 26 November 1969, she served the

Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) () is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an estimated strength of 24,500 active service personnel, including the 10,300-strong Philippine Marine Corps. It operates 91 combat ...

as RPS ''Bataan'' (LT-85).

Awards and honors

''LST-515'' received one

battle stars A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period. T ...

for World War II service, and nine battle stars, one

Navy Unit Commendation The Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) is a United States Navy and United States Coast Guard unit award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944. History Navy A navy, naval force, military m ...

, and one

Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or ...

for

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

service.

References

Bibliography

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Construction

Service history

Awards and honors

References

Bibliography

Further reading