Fort Marion was
launched on 22 May 1945 by
Gulf Shipbuilding Corp.,
Chickasaw, Alabama, sponsored by Mrs. Louise S. Dodson; and
commissioned on 29 January 1946.
Fort Marion arrived at
San Diego her
home port, 26 May 1946, and through the next three years repaired
landing craft, carried cargo and landing craft between
San Diego and
San Francisco, and took part in amphibious training exercises on the
California coast. Between 4 April and 21 July 1949, she made her first tour of duty in the
Far East, calling in
Alaska outward bound.
Korean War Upon the outbreak of the
Korean War,
Fort Marion sailed for action 12 July 1950, and arrived at
Pusan with
Marines and their equipment 2 August. For the next month, she ferried troops from
Kobe to
Yokosuka for further routing onward to
Korea. On 12 September, at Pusan,
Fort Marion embarked men of the
3rd Battalion,
5th Marines and three
LSUs, carrying ten
tanks, for the
invasion of Inchon.
Fort Marion was the
flagship of Captain Norman W. Sears' Advance Attack Group, which comprised
Fort Marion and the
fast transports
Horace A. Bass,
Diachenko, and
Wantuck. Shortly after midnight on the 15th,
destroyers and
cruisers of the Gunfire Support Group entered Flying Fish Channel and headed north, accompanied by the Advance Attack Group.
Fort Marions Marines and tanks landed on Green Beach on Wolmi-do starting at 06:33.
Fort Marion sailed from Yokosuka for home 26 April 1951. During her second Korean War deployment, from 16 April 1952 to 14 January 1953,
Fort Marion operated with a
mine squadron in Wonsan Harbor, acting as mother ship for the small ships as they carried out their dangerous operations. She also operated with an
amphibious construction battalion, and joined in a mock invasion on the coast north of Wonsan.
1953 – 1960 Extensively overhauled in 1953,
Fort Marion was equipped with a mezzanine deck and fitted to carry
helicopters. She arrived at
Sasebo 7 December to resume duty as a
minesweeper tender, and during this tour of duty joined in amphibious exercises off
Okinawa and Japan. Back in San Diego 19 August 1954, she sailed later that year to the
Hawaiian Islands for exercises, and in May 1955 took part in
Operation Wigwam, the experimental detonation of an underwater
atomic explosion. In 1956–57, 1958, and 1959,
Fort Marion made additional deployments to the western Pacific, taking part in mine and amphibious warfare operations, and in the summer of 1958, joining in emergency operations to meet the threat posed by renewed
Communist shelling of the
Nationalist-held offshore islands. In September, serving with the Taiwan Patrol Force, she brought supplies to
Quemoy under Communist fire.
Fort Marion spent much of 1960 in an extensive modernization overhaul which added many useful years to her expected span of service, and on 22 November sailed for Far Eastern duty once more.
Fort Marion served in several
Vietnam War campaigns between 1965 and 1969.
Fort Marion was
decommissioned on 13 February 1970, and stricken from the
Naval Register on 31 October 1974. The ship was sold to the
Republic of China on 15 April 1977.
Awards Fort Marion received five
battle stars for
Korean War service and five campaign stars for
Vietnam War service. == ROCS
Chen Hai (LSD-192) ==