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USS Spartanburg County (LST 1192)

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USS SPARTANBURG COUNTY was the 14^th NEWPORT - class Tank Landing Ship. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on December 16, 1994, the SPARTANBURG COUNTY was subsequently sold to Malaysia where she was recommissioned as SRI INDERAPURA.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS SPARTANBURG COUNTY. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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USS SPARTANBURG COUNTY History:

USS SPARTANBURG COUNTY (LST 1192) was a NEWPORT-class tank landing ship of the United States Navy, named for Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Her construction contract was awarded on July 15, 1966, and she was laid down by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company at San Diego, California, on February 7, 1970. She was launched on November 7, 1970, sponsored by Mrs. Neville Holcombe, and commissioned on September 1, 1971, with Commander P. R. Royse as her first commanding officer.

Following commissioning, SPARTANBURG COUNTY left the Pacific coast and transited the Panama Canal en route to the Atlantic. Little Creek, Virginia, became her home port, and she was assigned to the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet. Her early operating pattern consisted primarily of amphibious training along the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean, interrupted by scheduled deployments to the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet. These activities included the transportation and landing of Marines, vehicles, artillery and supplies, together with beaching, causeway and ship-to-shore exercises intended to maintain the readiness of the Atlantic Fleet's amphibious forces. She operated extensively in the Caribbean and around the Navy's amphibious training areas at Vieques, Puerto Rico. During Operation Doria Salute IV in 1974, she was documented at Blue Beach, Vieques, with her bow ramp lowered onto an amphibious causeway. East Coast and Caribbean training alternated with periods of upkeep and Sixth Fleet deployments during the first half of the 1970s.

In September 1975, SPARTANBURG COUNTY took part in NATO Exercise Deep Express in the eastern Mediterranean. The multinational exercise, conducted from September 22 through September 27, involved naval and amphibious forces operating in the Aegean and around Turkey and was intended to exercise NATO's ability to reinforce and defend its southeastern flank. On September 30, SPARTANBURG COUNTY was documented at anchor in the Kithira Strait in company with USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) and other American naval units following the exercise. SPARTANBURG COUNTY subsequently resumed the normal Atlantic Fleet cycle of Mediterranean, East Coast and Caribbean operations.

Amphibious training at Vieques continued during 1976, and photographs from that year document SPARTANBURG COUNTY conducting landing exercises there. Her large vehicle deck, bow ramp and ability to employ pontoon causeways allowed the ship to put heavy vehicles and equipment ashore even where developed port facilities were unavailable. During 1977, she continued Atlantic and Caribbean readiness operations, although the surviving summarized records do not provide a sufficiently complete itinerary to assign individual ports and dates without speculation.

From May 15 through May 26, 1978, SPARTANBURG COUNTY participated in Exercise Solid Shield 78, a major U.S. joint exercise using operating and training areas associated with Fort Stewart, Georgia, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The amphibious force included USS MOUNT WHITNEY (LCC 20), USS FRANCIS MARION (LPA 249), USS RALEIGH (LPD 1), USS AUSTIN (LPD 4), USS SHREVEPORT (LPD 12), USS GUADALCANAL (LPH 7), USS INCHON (LPH 12), USS PORTLAND (LSD 37), USS PENSACOLA (LSD 38), USS MANITOWOC (LST 1180), USS SUMTER (LST 1181) and SPARTANBURG COUNTY. Solid Shield exercised the movement, command and employment of a large amphibious force together with supporting air and ground units.

Later in 1978, SPARTANBURG COUNTY crossed the Atlantic again to participate in NATO Exercise Northern Wedding 78. The large allied exercise tested NATO's capacity to protect North Atlantic sea routes and reinforce northern Europe during a major conflict. The American amphibious force contained a substantial number of ships, including MOUNT WHITNEY, RALEIGH, AUSTIN, SHREVEPORT, GUADALCANAL, MANITOWOC, SUMTER, USS LA MOURE COUNTY (LST 1194), USS HARLAN COUNTY (LST 1196) and SPARTANBURG COUNTY. Exercise phases were conducted around the Shetland Islands and subsequently in Danish waters, including an amphibious phase at Oksbol in mid-September.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY departed Little Creek on January 10, 1979, for another Mediterranean deployment. She formed part of Mediterranean Amphibious Ready Group 1-79 together with INCHON, AUSTIN, USS SPIEGEL GROVE (LSD 32) and USS BARNSTABLE COUNTY (LST 1197). After crossing the Atlantic, the ships relieved the preceding amphibious force and began Sixth Fleet operations. On February 15, SPARTANBURG COUNTY was documented at Barcelona, Spain, where BARNSTABLE COUNTY was also present.

During the following months, the ready group conducted amphibious training throughout the Mediterranean. SPARTANBURG COUNTY participated in Exercise Dawn Patrol 79, which included amphibious activity at the Capo Teulada training area on Sardinia and later operations around Doganbey Bay, Turkey. Dawn Patrol was one of the recurring Sixth Fleet and NATO exercises used to practice combined naval operations, amphibious landings and the movement of Marine forces ashore. SPARTANBURG COUNTY completed the Mediterranean deployment during June 1979 and returned to the United States.

She was called upon for a Caribbean contingency operation only a few months later. On October 11, 1979, USS NASSAU (LHA 4), USS PLYMOUTH ROCK (LSD 29) and SPARTANBURG COUNTY proceeded toward Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as elements of Task Force 145 after embarking Marines connected with the 38th Marine Amphibious Unit. The deployment followed a presidential decision to reinforce the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay and demonstrate the ability to move additional Marine forces rapidly into the area. An amphibious reinforcement landing was conducted on October 17. After completion of the operation, SPARTANBURG COUNTY returned to the normal Atlantic Fleet readiness cycle.

Another Mediterranean deployment began on January 30, 1980. SPARTANBURG COUNTY sailed as part of an amphibious group that included INCHON, AUSTIN, SPIEGEL GROVE and USS FAIRFAX COUNTY (LST 1193). The group carried out Sixth Fleet amphibious readiness duties and training in the Mediterranean.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY returned to the Mediterranean in 1981 as part of Mediterranean Amphibious Ready Group 1-81. The force carried the 32nd Marine Amphibious Unit and consisted of USS IWO JIMA (LPH 2), USS TRENTON (LPD 14), USS HERMITAGE (LSD 34), MANITOWOC and SPARTANBURG COUNTY. By April 1981, SPARTANBURG COUNTY and MANITOWOC were at Brindisi, Italy, with an expected departure on April 21, while other ships of the group were distributed between Bari and Taranto.

The increasingly unstable situation in Lebanon affected the later part of the deployment. During a period of heightened tension, the amphibious group was retained in the eastern Mediterranean and positioned so that it could reach the Lebanese coast within approximately 24 hours while remaining no closer than about 200 nautical miles unless ordered otherwise. The deployment provided the Sixth Fleet with an embarked Marine force available for possible evacuation or other contingency requirements as political and military tensions in Lebanon continued. No landing by SPARTANBURG COUNTY was required, and the ship later returned to Atlantic Fleet duties.

In 1982, SPARTANBURG COUNTY made another substantial North Atlantic deployment with Amphibious Group Two. The approximately two-and-a-half-month deployment culminated in NATO Exercise Northern Wedding 82, conducted from September 6 through September 17. The American amphibious force included NASSAU, RALEIGH, TRENTON, PENSACOLA, USS BOULDER (LST 1190) and SPARTANBURG COUNTY. Northern Wedding 82 tested the movement and protection of forces crossing the North Atlantic and the reinforcement of NATO's northern region. The exercise included coordinated movement of American amphibious and carrier forces together with support for the transatlantic movement of reinforcement shipping.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY returned to the Mediterranean in early 1983 during a particularly unstable phase of the Lebanese Civil War. On January 27, Amphibious Squadron Two departed Morehead City, North Carolina, carrying the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit. The group consisted of GUADALCANAL, RALEIGH, PENSACOLA, SPARTANBURG COUNTY and FAIRFAX COUNTY. Severe weather affected the beginning of the Atlantic crossing, with high winds and heavy seas encountered soon after departure.

The group entered the Sixth Fleet operating area in early February and subsequently relieved the preceding Marine amphibious force off Lebanon. The 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit's Beirut IV rotation ran from February into late May 1983. Marines were serving ashore in Beirut as part of the multinational presence established after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent evacuation arrangements. SPARTANBURG COUNTY and the other amphibious ships served as the afloat logistical and operational base supporting the Marine force. Heavy equipment, vehicles, artillery and supplies could be moved between the ships and shore while the amphibious group remained available for reinforcement, evacuation and other contingency missions.

During the Beirut deployment, sailors from SPARTANBURG COUNTY became involved in an emergency unrelated to normal amphibious operations when fire broke out aboard the Lebanese freighter AZIZ. Personnel from SPARTANBURG COUNTY assisted in efforts to fight the fire.

The Beirut deployment involving SPARTANBURG COUNTY preceded the deterioration in security that culminated in the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks on October 23, 1983. By then, SPARTANBURG COUNTY had returned to Atlantic Fleet operations. From October 10 through October 20, she conducted special operations in the Caribbean with the PEGASUS-class patrol combatant missile hydrofoils USS AQUILA (PHM 4) and USS TAURUS (PHM 3). These activities took place shortly before the U.S. intervention in Grenada.

Following Atlantic and Caribbean training and maintenance during 1984, SPARTANBURG COUNTY prepared for another Mediterranean deployment. In January 1985, she deployed with Mediterranean Amphibious Ready Group 1-85 under Commander Amphibious Squadron Eight. The group consisted of USS SAIPAN (LHA 2), USS NASHVILLE (LPD 13) and SPARTANBURG COUNTY and carried the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, approximately 1,800 Marines and sailors with their helicopters, amphibious vehicles, artillery, tanks and support equipment. The ships crossed the Atlantic and entered Sixth Fleet service after reaching the Rota, Spain, area in early February. From February 7 through February 12, the amphibious force conducted training in the Sierra del Retin area of southern Spain. Additional training followed in the central Mediterranean, including Exercise Sardinia 85 around the Capo Teulada training area. On April 15, 1985, SPARTANBURG COUNTY was documented underway near Genoa, Italy, during this phase of the deployment.

The operational situation changed in June after TWA Flight 847 was hijacked on June 14 while flying from Athens to Rome. The aircraft was forced between Beirut and Algiers, and passengers were held hostage in a crisis that continued for more than two weeks. U.S. naval forces were repositioned in the eastern Mediterranean as the crisis developed. By June 22, SAIPAN, NASHVILLE and SPARTANBURG COUNTY, with the embarked 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, were operating off Lebanon. Other U.S. forces in the region included a carrier group centered on USS NIMITZ (CVN 68).

The amphibious force provided an available contingency capability while negotiations for the hostages' release continued. No amphibious rescue assault was ordered. After the hostages were released, the ships remained in the eastern Mediterranean while the situation stabilized. On July 2, NASHVILLE and SPARTANBURG COUNTY conducted fuel-transfer and emergency-breakaway procedures while underway. The deployment concluded later in July, after which SPARTANBURG COUNTY returned to the Atlantic Fleet.

In 1986, SPARTANBURG COUNTY again operated in the North Atlantic and northern European waters. On August 1, she was documented underway with USS WHIDBEY ISLAND (LSD 41) and NASHVILLE while the ships conducted leapfrog maneuvering exercises on their way to NATO Exercise Northern Wedding 86. SPARTANBURG COUNTY was again documented underway during the exercise on September 17. Northern Wedding continued NATO's recurring training for reinforcement and maritime operations on the alliance's northern flank.

Following the principal exercise period, SPARTANBURG COUNTY visited Esbjerg, Denmark, from September 19 through September 25, 1986. She then returned toward the Atlantic Fleet operating area and resumed the normal cycle of maintenance and readiness training from Little Creek.

Another Mediterranean deployment followed in 1987. SPARTANBURG COUNTY served with Amphibious Squadron Four and the 26th Marine Amphibious Unit. The amphibious force included NASHVILLE, INCHON, WHIDBEY ISLAND, USS NEWPORT (LST 1179) and SPARTANBURG COUNTY. She was documented at Genoa on March 8, 1987, and later participated in Exercise Sardinia 87. During the Sardinian exercise, she operated in the Capo Teulada area and was documented preparing to backload Marine equipment after amphibious activity ashore.

The group subsequently continued Sixth Fleet operations. In April, SPARTANBURG COUNTY was documented at anchor off Saint-Raphael, France. Later in the year, after completing the Mediterranean deployment and returning to the United States, she made a documented visit to the Washington and Alexandria area in October. The remainder of the year returned the ship to Atlantic Fleet training and upkeep.

During 1988, SPARTANBURG COUNTY continued the readiness and maintenance cycle associated with the Atlantic Fleet's amphibious force. At the end of the year, she began another Mediterranean deployment. Mediterranean Amphibious Ready Group 1-89 departed for Sixth Fleet duty at the end of December 1988 with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked. The group consisted of GUADALCANAL, AUSTIN, WHIDBEY ISLAND, NEWPORT and SPARTANBURG COUNTY. The ships crossed the Atlantic and entered the Sixth Fleet rotation in January 1989. During the following months, they maintained an embarked Marine contingency force while conducting amphibious exercises, readiness operations and port visits in the Mediterranean. SPARTANBURG COUNTY returned to Little Creek in June 1989 at the conclusion of the deployment.

Only a few months later, she supported relief operations following Hurricane Hugo. The hurricane caused extensive damage across parts of the Caribbean in September 1989 before later striking the southeastern United States. SPARTANBURG COUNTY and WHIDBEY ISLAND were among the naval units operating from Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, during the relief effort; USS PRESERVER (ARS 8) was also present. Amphibious ships were particularly useful for disaster support because they could move personnel, vehicles, equipment and supplies into areas where normal port and transportation infrastructure had been damaged.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY's most extensive later U.S. Navy deployment began after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. The United States initiated Operation Desert Shield to defend Saudi Arabia and build a coalition force in the region. SPARTANBURG COUNTY was assigned to Amphibious Group Two and became part of the major deployment of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade from the U.S. East Coast. She sailed in Transit Group One together with SHREVEPORT, TRENTON, USS GUNSTON HALL (LSD 44) and PORTLAND. The group departed Morehead City on August 17, 1990, carrying elements of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and their equipment. SPARTANBURG COUNTY carried a significant portion of the aviation command-and-control equipment required by the embarked Marine force.

Transit Group One crossed the Atlantic, proceeded through the Mediterranean and passed through the Suez Canal toward the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. By mid-September, the amphibious elements of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade had assembled in the region around Masirah Island, Oman. Their presence provided the coalition with a sizeable Marine force that could remain mobile at sea while preparations continued in Saudi Arabia.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY also became involved in the extensive reorganization of the brigade's equipment. On October 13, 1990, port operations began at Jubail, Saudi Arabia, involving a partial offload and reconfiguration of SPARTANBURG COUNTY. Equipment and supplies had originally been loaded primarily for transportation across the Atlantic; the ships now had to be reorganized for possible tactical employment. Vehicles, ammunition and other material were unloaded, inventoried, repaired where necessary and redistributed between ships and shore facilities. Some equipment was transferred to Marine units already operating ashore, while other material was tactically reloaded so that it could be reached in the sequence required for a possible amphibious operation.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY remained in the theater as Operation Desert Shield continued through the remainder of 1990. Official award records credit her with qualifying service in the theater from September 3, 1990, through March 23, 1991. During this period, the amphibious force conducted training and remained available as a mobile reserve while coalition forces continued their buildup in Saudi Arabia.

Operation Desert Storm began with the coalition air campaign on January 17, 1991. The amphibious force remained at sea and prepared for the possibility of operations against the Iraqi-occupied Kuwaiti coast. A large-scale amphibious landing was considered and prepared for but was not ultimately carried out. The coalition ground offensive began on February 24, with the principal attack proceeding overland into Kuwait and southern Iraq. Major offensive operations ceased after the rapid collapse of organized Iraqi resistance in Kuwait.

Following the ceasefire, SPARTANBURG COUNTY and the other amphibious ships began the process of withdrawing from the region. The returning forces moved through the Suez Canal and Mediterranean before crossing the Atlantic. SPARTANBURG COUNTY returned to the Hampton Roads area in April 1991, completing a deployment that had lasted roughly eight months.

After post-deployment maintenance and training, SPARTANBURG COUNTY again deployed overseas in 1992. She sailed with Amphibious Squadron Eight and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit as part of a group that included IWO JIMA, TRENTON, USS TORTUGA (LSD 46), USS SAGINAW (LST 1188) and SPARTANBURG COUNTY. The deployment took place as the breakup of Yugoslavia was producing escalating warfare in the Balkans and an increasing international naval presence in the Adriatic.

By late June 1992, the amphibious force was operating in the Adriatic. The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted a short-notice command, control and communications exercise there through July 1 while remaining available for regional contingencies. The ships then separated for scheduled port visits. TRENTON and SPARTANBURG COUNTY visited Naples, Italy, from July 3 through July 6, while IWO JIMA and SAGINAW visited Athens and TORTUGA visited Corfu. SPARTANBURG COUNTY subsequently continued Sixth Fleet operations before eventually returning to Little Creek.

During 1993, SPARTANBURG COUNTY entered the training cycle for another Marine Expeditionary Unit deployment. In October, she operated with INCHON, PORTLAND and TRENTON during Type Commander Amphibious Training in the Onslow Bay area. The ships were preparing for deployment with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The work-up cycle subsequently included increasingly complex amphibious and fleet exercises and training associated with certification of the embarked Marine force for special-operations-capable duties.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY departed on what became her final major overseas deployment in January 1994 as part of the INCHON Amphibious Ready Group. The group consisted of INCHON, TRENTON, PORTLAND and SPARTANBURG COUNTY and carried the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The ships crossed the Atlantic and Mediterranean and transited the Suez Canal on January 26 before proceeding toward Somalia. By early February, the amphibious group was operating off Mogadishu. The U.S. mission in Somalia was then approaching its final phase following the fighting in Mogadishu in October 1993. The amphibious ships provided an offshore Marine force during the continuing drawdown of American forces associated with Operation Continue Hope.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY operated directly off Black Beach at Mogadishu. On February 16, 1994, Navy beachmaster personnel ashore maintained radio contact with the ship during an amphibious training evolution. Fourteen AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles belonging to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit operated ashore and then returned through the surf to SPARTANBURG COUNTY. The evolution allowed the embarked Marines to maintain amphibious proficiency while the ready group remained available offshore.

As the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia progressed, the amphibious group remained in the area until late March before moving away from the Horn of Africa. It then returned through the Red Sea and Suez Canal and resumed operations in the Mediterranean. As part of the ready group, SPARTANBURG COUNTY participated in Exercise Alexander the Great in Greek waters during April and later in Exercise Dynamic Impact during May. Dynamic Impact was a multinational exercise involving amphibious and other forces from several NATO countries and reflected the alliance's increasing emphasis on regional crisis-response operations after the end of the Cold War.

By June 3, 1994, INCHON, PORTLAND and SPARTANBURG COUNTY were proceeding toward Rota, Spain, while TRENTON was already there. The ships subsequently crossed the Atlantic. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit returned to the United States on June 23, bringing the approximately six-month Somalia and Mediterranean deployment to an end.

The respite was brief. Less than three weeks later, the continuing political crisis in Haiti caused the same Marine force and amphibious ships to be ordered back to sea. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had been removed from office in a 1991 coup, and by the summer of 1994, the United States was increasing pressure on Haiti's military-backed authorities while preparing forces for a possible intervention.

On July 7, 1994, approximately 1,900 Marines began embarking aboard INCHON, TRENTON, PORTLAND and SPARTANBURG COUNTY. The ships sailed toward the Caribbean as an amphibious contingency force. Their potential missions included evacuation of American citizens and other operations that might be ordered as planning continued for the Haiti crisis.

During mid-July, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted a two-day landing and evacuation exercise on Great Inagua in the Bahamas while the ships remained positioned for possible operations around Haiti. Additional training followed in the Puerto Rico operating area during early August. Marines practiced securing an airfield and organizing an evacuation operation, while training aboard SPARTANBURG COUNTY included live-fire small-arms exercises conducted from the ship's flight deck.

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit completed this contingency deployment and returned to Morehead City on August 16, 1994. SPARTANBURG COUNTY therefore did not remain with the forces that entered Haiti the following month after a last-minute diplomatic agreement on September 18. Her documented role in the Haiti crisis was the preceding maritime contingency and readiness phase rather than the principal entry of U.S. forces ashore.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY returned to Little Creek for the final months of her U.S. Navy career. The Navy was then reducing the size of its amphibious fleet after the end of the Cold War, and the older NEWPORT-class tank landing ships were increasingly being retired or transferred to allied navies. On December 16, 1994, USS SPARTANBURG COUNTY was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register after more than twenty-three years of commissioned U.S. Navy service. On the same date she was acquired by Malaysia under the U.S. security-assistance program.

The former SPARTANBURG COUNTY remained at Little Creek while preparations for transfer were completed. On January 31, 1995, she was commissioned into the Royal Malaysian Navy as KD SRI INDERAPURA (L 1505). She subsequently departed for Southeast Asia and became the Malaysian fleet's principal large amphibious and sealift vessel. KD SRI INDERAPURA's subsequent operational career ended following a major fire at Lumut Naval Base. At approximately 6:30 a.m. on October 8, 2009, fire broke out aboard the ship while she was alongside. Seventy-seven personnel, including officers and trainees, were reported aboard, and no fatalities resulted. Royal Malaysian Navy and civilian firefighting teams responded, and the ship was moved away from the principal berth as efforts continued to control the fire.

Fire again affected the ship on the following day. The damage was extensive, and a large part of her stern eventually became submerged. Subsequent investigation identified the tank-stowage area on the third deck as the area in which the fire had originated. Restoring the aging vessel to operational condition was not considered practical, and she did not return to service. The Royal Malaysian Navy formally decommissioned KD SRI INDERAPURA on January 21, 2010.

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