THE FINAL VOYAGESkagit Hauls Down |
| The attack cargo ship USS Skagit, a veteran of 24 years naval service, was decommissioned yesterday and stricken from the roll of the United States Naval Ships. Skagit was first commissioned on May 2, 1945. Named after Skagit County, Washington. |
| The ship made her shakedown cruise to Marseilles, France and then proceeded to Pacific waters, arriving in time to participate in the Japanese surrender ceremonies in Tokyo Bay. She was placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in June 1949, but was reactivated when hostilities flared in Korea. During that conflict, the ship aided in the evacuation of troops from Inchon and participated in a demonstration landing at enemy-held Kojo, in North Korea. In August 1954, Skagit made her first deployment to Vietnamese waters and evacuated refugees from Haiphong, North French Indo-China in the famous "Passage to Freedom" Operation. In 1964, Skagit was awarded the Amphibious Assault Award, the Engineering Excellence Award, and the Communications Excellence Award. In 1966, she participated in assault operation "Double Eagle," at Hgai, Vietnam. That same year, the ship was presented the Ney award. In 1967, Skagit returned to Vietnam and used her assault craft to provide direct support to U.S. and South Vietnamese combat units near Hue on the Perfume River. USS Skagit was a unit of Amphibious Squadron Five. She was skippered by Commander Harry R. Graf, who leaves Skagit to assume command of the USS Rehoboth (AGS-50), home-ported in San Francisco. Lieutenant Commander James E. Whitaker, the ships Executive Officer, leaves to serve under Commander, Fleet Training Group, San Diego. This is a copy of the |
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