USS Tallahatchie County (AVB 2, ex LST) Class

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USS Tallahatchie County (AVB 2) on 11 May 1962.
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Class: TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY (AVB 2, ex LST)
Design: SCB Project No. 177, conversion of Navy LST 1153 class
Displacement (tons): (est.) 2,250 light, 6,000 full
Dimensions (feet): 382' oa, 368' wl x 54' e/wl x 17' max nav
Armament: (1963) 1-5"/38, 2-40mmT; (1967) 2-40mmT; (1969) none
Accommodations: 15 officers, 200 enlisted, and a 270-man aviation squadron
Speed (kts.): 14
Propulsion (HP): 6,000
Machinery: Geared steam turbines, 2 boilers (465psi/750deg), 2 screws

Construction:

AVB	Name	Reclas	Builder	Keel	Launch	Recomm
2	TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY	15 Sep 1961	NSY Boston	4 Aug 1945	19 Jul 1946	3 Feb 1962

Disposition:

AVB	Name	T	Decomm	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
2	TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY		15 Jan 1970	15 Jan 1970	1 Jul 1970	Navy sale	--

Class Notes:
A conversion of a second LST to an AVB was included in a draft FY 1958 program proposed on 16 May 1956. In May it was a LST 1156 class conversion, but by August it was a World War II LST conversion, Project 177. On 20 August 1956 CNO, noting that the Fiscal Year 1958 Shipbuilding and Conversion Program as approved by himself on 3 July 1956 provided for the conversion of a World War II LST to an Advanced Aviation Base Ship, approved the Missions and Tasks for that type of ship. The mission was to provide mobile base facilities and logistic support for advanced base aircraft operations and the tasks included providing local control and support necessary to operate aircraft from an advanced base, to provide limited aircraft repair facilities to supported aircraft, and to provide limited command facilities and accommodations for a Fleet Air Wing Staff. More specifically, she was to support a squadron of 12 land based ASW planes on an airfield near the coast by means of embarked mobile maintenance vans for a period of 30 days without replenishment other than for POL. Limited capabilities for supporting seaplanes of the ASW type would also be provided. CNO recommended a FY 1958 program including this ship to SECNAV on 23 October 1956, but SECNAV returned the program on 14 December 1956 for major reductions which removed the AVB and most other auxiliaries from the program. By March 1958 it was planned that LST 1154, one of two experimental steam-propelled LSTs laid down at the very end of the war, would be converted. The requirements for her conversion were largely based on experience with ALAMEDA COUNTY (AVB 1, ex LST 53).

On 3 March 1958 the BUSHIPS Hull Design Branch (Code 440) assigned tasks to its various sections for the preparation of characteristics for the conversion. Most vehicles would be carried in the well, though some smaller ones plus one bulldozer and the aerology van were to be carried topsides. Heavy weights were to be located aft insofar as practicable as a shallow draft forward would facilitate beaching. The deck house structure was to be extended as necessary to meet the requirements of the characteristics. A lattice mast was to be added to suit antenna requirements. A 30-ton boom, kingpost, and rigging for handling the LCM's was to be added as in ALAMEDA COUNTY. It was later specified that two bow anchors were to be provided to enable the ship to make a Mediterranean moor. Approved characteristics for an Advanced Aviation Base Ship (AVB) (LST conversion), SCB Project No. 177, were promulgated on 22 May 1958 and updated on 24 June 1959 and 26 April 1961. By this time the conversion had been slipped to FY 1960 and was intended as a replacement for ALAMEDA COUNTY, which had been found useful by the aviation community.

TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY was converted at NSY Charleston and was out of commission for conversion from 9 December 1960 to 3 February 1962. Her after superstructure was extended forward, a deckhouse was added just aft of her forecastle, and communications antennas and a heavy kingpost were added amidships. She was to provide command and logistic facilities to a squadron of P-2 Neptune anti-submarine patrol planes operating from an improvised land base in Souda Bay, Crete, or elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Squadron equipment was carried in mobile vans, transported in the ship's tank deck, and landed over her bow ramp. The classification of TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY was changed from LST 1154 to AVB 2 on 23 August 1961 effective 15 September 1961. The project number 701.65 was assigned for a third AVB conversion like AVB 2 in FY 1965 but the project was not carried out.

Ship Notes:

AVB	Name	MA	Notes
2	TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY		FY 1960. (Ex-LST 1154, comm 24 May 1949.) Sold for scrapping to Cantieri Navali Santa Maria of Genoa, Italy in July 1970.