November 4, 1957
USS LSM-297, a U.S. Navy LSM-1-class medium landing ship, was decommissioned at the port city of Astoria, Oregon. Landing ships such as LSM-297 have been used by the navy to transport ground forces onto the shores of enemy territory during military campaigns.
At the time of her formal retirement from active service, LSM-297 was under the command of USNR (U.S. Navy Reserve) Lieutenant Richard L. Olsen Jr. He had begun his tour of duty as this ship’s commander only five-and-a-half months earlier.
LSM-297, measuring 203 feet and six inches (62 meters) in length, was launched at Charleston Navy Yard in South Carolina on October 30, 1944. She was commissioned into the navy on December 18, just a little over seven weeks later. At the time, LSM-297 was placed under the command of USNR Lieutenant (junior grade) Gilbert A. Harre.
With the United States still heavily embroiled in fighting World War II on the side of Allies, LSM-297 ended up serving in the Pacific Theater during what turned out to be the last several months of that global conflict.
A year after she was decommissioned, LSM-297 was sold for scrapping to Western Contracting Corporation in Sioux City, Iowa. She was instead converted into a barge, with her final fate unknown.
Photo Credit: lamPGJ2 (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
For more information on USS LSM-297, please check out https://www.navsource.net/archives/10/14/14297.htm
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