Ordered 15 July 1966 Acquired 27 July 1972 Decommissioned 29 July 1994 Construction started 13 February 1971 | Laid down 13 February 1971 Commissioned 5 August 1972 Struck 29 July 1994 Launched 4 December 1971 | |
Builder National Steel and Shipbuilding Company | ||
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.
Fate
Bristol County was decommissioned and struck 29 July 1994 and disposed of through the Security Assistance Program by cash sale to the Royal Moroccan Navy as BDC Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah (BSL-407) on 16 August 1994. The ship commemorates the 18th century sultan of Morocco Mohammed ben Abdallah.
