LST-871 was a tank landing ship, and the hull number was her name. She was an LST-542-class ship. Jeffersonville Boat and Machinery, at Jeffersonville, Indiana, laid her down on 9 November 1944, launched her on 20 December 1944, and the Navy commissioned her on 15 January 1945, Lieutenant Frank W. Summers of the Naval Reserve in command. The class figures NavSource prints are 1,625 tons light, 4,080 tons full, 328 feet, a 50-foot beam, and 11.6 knots on trial. The gun list is a design.
She has no numbered battle star. The ribbon block on NavSource is the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with no star numeral. The wartime photograph that places her at Okinawa is the Yonabaru pier on 23 July 1945. The Navy caption puts her after LST-918 and before two unnamed hulls, in a line that also names LST-819, LST-879, LST-681, LST-926, LST-944, and LST-715. She was not sunk. On 15 September 1945 she was redesignated a landing ship, tank, hospital, LST(H)-871. She kept the hull number LST-871.
Occupation service is three stretches: 22 to 30 September 1945, 25 October 1945 to 28 February 1946, and 14 April to 4 May 1946. In July 1946 she was assigned to Joint Task Force 1, Task Unit 1.8.7, the Rongerik evacuation unit of the service group, for Operation Crossroads at Bikini. Lieutenant Leroy Fadem of the Naval Reserve had her from 20 October 1945. Ensign Milton B. Fletcher of the Naval Reserve had her from 3 January 1946. Lieutenant James C. Watkins, United States Navy, had her from July 1946 to the decommissioning. She was decommissioned on 4 October 1946, struck on 13 November 1946, and sold on 30 June 1948 to the Humble Oil and Refining Company of Houston for commercial operation. NavSource does not give the merchant name.
A note on sources. NavSource, last updated 17 March 2023, gives the builder dates, the redesignation on 15 September 1945, the occupation windows, the Crossroads assignment, the 4 October and 13 November 1946 dates, the 30 June 1948 sale to Humble Oil and Refining, and the four commands. It gives no battle star and no merchant name. The pier photograph is 21st Naval Construction Battalion negative 204.