USS Newport (LST-1179)
SS Newport (LST-1179) was the third ship of the United States Navy (USN) to bear the name of the Rhode Island city. The first of her class of landing ship tanks (LST), she was capable of a sustained speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). Her ability to adjust her draft, accompanied by her unique bow-ramp design, helped bring a new degree of responsiveness to the amphibious fleet. The ship was launched in 1968 and entered service with the USN in 1969. Assigned to the United States Atlantic Fleet for the entirety of her career, Newport made deployments to the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas. The vessel was taken out of service in 1992 and laid up until 2001.
In 2001, the ship was sold to the Mexican Navy and initially renamed ARM Sonora before becoming ARM Rio Papaloapan (or just ARM Papaloapan for short). In Mexican service, the LST has participated in humanitarian missions in the aftermath of the hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and taken part in multi-national naval exercises.
Totally vanilla ship, as far as I’m concerned. Hope you enjoy.
