USS Barbour County ( LST - 1195 ) USS " Barbour County " ( LST - 1195 ) was the seventeenth ship of the s of the United States Navy . Named after Barbour County , Alabama and Barbour County , West Virginia . She was laid down on 7 November 1970 at San Diego , California , by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Corporation and launched on 15 May 1971 , sponsored by Mrs . J . Victor Smith . Commissioned at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 3 February 1972 , Comdr . John G . Schimming in command . Service history . 1972 – 1973 . Assigned to Amphibious Squadron ( PhibRon ) 7 , based at Long Beach , California , the ship completed her fitting out and final contract trials in August . After a voyage to Callao , Peru , " Barbour County " concluded her extended shakedown training in November . In mid - 1973 she was chosen to join in a training cruise to the Far East for Naval Academy and NROTC midshipmen . In June , " Barbour County " sailed to San Diego to embark the midshipman and then set out for the Orient . During the two - month cruise , she visited Pearl Harbor , Yokosuka , and Hong Kong before returning to Long Beach on 3 August . She then returned to the Orient in the place of another tank landing ship . 1974 – 1975 . On 20 January 1974 " Barbour County " put to sea for an emergency contingency operation in the Gulf of Siam , Operation Eagle Pull , standing off the Cambodia n coast ready to evacuate Americans and other foreigners from Phnom Penh . In mid - February , the ship returned to Subic Bay , before returning to the United States , entering her new home port , San Diego , on 14 March . During September and early October , she took part in Exercise " Potlatch 1 , " an amphibious exercise with Canadian forces at the northern end of Vancouver Island . In April 1975 she deployed to the western Pacific again , joining American naval forces off the coast of South Vietnam to participate in Operation Frequent Wind , the evacuation of Americans , other foreigners , and South Vietnamese from Saigon . The ship then returned to her normal schedule of troop lifts and exercises , calling at Okinawa , Taiwan , Subic Bay , and a number of Japanese ports , before returning to the United States . 1976 – 1990 . After a nine - month overhaul that ended in March 1977 , " Barbour County " resumed normal operations . From 1977 until 1990 , the ship made regular deployments to the western Pacific , based at Subic Bay , taking part in exercises , and making calls to Japan , Thailand , Australia , Korea , and Singapore , before returning to San Diego . Gulf War , 1991 . " Barbour County " s crew heard of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 . The ship immediately began preparations to deploy to the Middle East . Departing San Diego on 1 December , she ended the year at Subic Bay . On 5 January 1991 , " Barbour County " passed through the Strait of Malacca , and shifted to Central Command ' s operational control on 12 January . On the 17th , following the start of air operations in Operation Desert Storm , the ship took up a position off Oman . She took part in Exercise " Sea Soldier IV " on 26 January , launching and recovering 12 amphibious vehicles near Masirah anchorage . The ship also operated off Fujirah until putting into Dubai for upkeep on 9 February . " Barbour County " put to sea on short notice on 20 February due to imminent start of the ground war . While steaming west toward Al Jubayl , 250 marines landed on the ship via helicopter . Anchoring off Al Mishab on the 25th , the ship began unloading those troops and equipment to support ground war operations . Upon completion , she moved back to sea , refueled and awaited developments . Following the victory in Kuwait , the ship returned to Al Mishab on 2 March and began reloading troops and equipment . She spent the next four weeks cruising in the Persian Gulf on contingency operations . On 7 May , the ship sailed into the Arabian Sea . On 12 May , " Barbour County " received word of the destructive typhoon in Bangladesh and was ordered to assist in disaster relief . Anchoring in the Bay of Bengal on 15 May , the ship conducted two weeks of flight operations in support of Operation " Sea Angel . " She returned to San Diego on 30 June . In mid - October , " Barbour County " underwent a service inspection and , shortly thereafter , received notice of her decommissioning . Decommissioning . The ship began inactivation procedures on 2 December 1991 , and was decommissioned at San Diego on 30 March 1992 . She was later towed to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Pearl Harbor for transfer to a foreign navy . Planned loans to Venezuela and Malaysia did not take place , and the ship was struck from the Navy list on 13 July 2001 . On 6 April 2004 USS " Barbour County " was sunk as a target ship by AGM - 65 and AGM - 84 missiles , about north - east of Honolulu , at 22° 57 ' 20 " N , 160° 5 ' 1 . 5 " W , in more than of water .