LST-879 was a tank landing ship, and the hull number was her name. She was an LST-542-class ship. Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron, at Evansville, Indiana, laid her down on 2 November 1944. The Dictionary says she was launched on 13 December 1944, launched by Mrs. Rella G. Heath. That verb is the Dictionary's. Mrs. Heath is the sponsor. NavSource does not name one. The Navy commissioned her on 5 January 1945, Lieutenant Sidney A. Berkowitz of the Naval Reserve in command. The class figures NavSource prints for these ships are 1,625 tons light, 4,080 tons full, 328 feet, a 50-foot beam, and 11.6 knots on trial. The gun list printed with them is a design, not a fit counted on this hull.
She earned one battle star, for Okinawa Gunto. NavSource dates that star from 26 April to 7 June 1945. The Dictionary says April through June. On 23 July 1945 she was second from the right at the Yonabaru pier, in the Navy photograph that also names LST-819, LST-681, LST-926, LST-944, LST-715, LST-918, and LST-871. Two hulls in that line are unnamed. She was not sunk. Occupation service runs from 20 October to 19 November 1945. The Dictionary says she stayed in the Far East until mid-November.
Lieutenant (junior grade) Robert V. Breen of the Naval Reserve relieved Berkowitz on 1 September 1945. Lieutenant (junior grade) Robert R. Cunningham of the Naval Reserve had her from 22 January 1946 to the decommissioning. She was decommissioned on 26 June 1946, struck on 25 September 1946, and sold for scrap on 17 May 1948 to the Bethlehem Steel Company at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
A note on sources. The Dictionary entry for LST-879 gives the launch, the phrase launched by Mrs. Rella G. Heath, the 5 January 1945 commissioning, service from April through June 1945, occupation until mid-November 1945, the 26 June 1946 decommissioning, the 25 September strike, the 17 May 1948 sale, and one battle star. NavSource gives the day-by-day Okinawa window, the occupation dates, the three commands, and the Golden Gate photograph NH 79575. The Yonabaru photograph is 21st Naval Construction Battalion negative 204.
