USS Mineral County (LST-988) was an built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named after Mineral County, West Virginia, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. Originally laid down as LST-988 at the Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts on 10 February 1944; the ship was launched on 12 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Winfred K. Buckmaster; and commissioned on 25 April 1944. Service history World War II, 1944–1945 Following shakedown out of Little Creek, Virginia LST-988 departed the Norfolk area on 2 June 1944 in a convoy bound for Bizerte, Tunisia. Arriving on the 22nd, she discharged her Seabee passengers and equipment and took on troops and rolling stock to be transported to Italy. She anchored at Naples on 2 July and for the next month shuttled troops and equipment along the Italian coast, to Sicily and to Corsica. On 12 August, with Army personnel as passengers and their tanks and other vehicles as her cargo, she departed Naples for the invasion of southern France. By 0800, on 15 August, she stood off Saint-Raphaël awaiting her first beaching on enemy held shores under fire. Moving in at 1745, she had completed unloading by 1945. The following day she headed for Corsica and until 6 October shuttled troops, American and French, from Ajaccio, Corsica and Oran, Algiers to Saint-Raphaël and Marseille. During October she completed runs to Italy and Tunisia, returning in November to the Corsica-Marseille route. She completed her final Mediterranean assignment, Marseille-Bizerte-Oran, in mid-December and on the 28th got underway for Norfolk, Virginia. Arriving on 14 January 1945 she steamed to New York for overhaul, returning to Virginia in March to take on vehicles for Pearl Harbor. Underway on 1 April, she joined a convoy for the Panama Canal Zone, thence, on 15 May, steamed north to San Francisco where she loaded explosives and ammunition for use in the western Pacific. By the end of June she had discharged her Hawaiian cargo and by 6 July was en route to Eniwetok and Guam. After off-loading her dangerous cargo at the latter island, she received word of the Japanese surrender and orders to continue transportation services in the Marshalls and Marianas. Post-war activities, 1945–1946 On 14 September she departed Saipan for the Philippines to begin duty with the 3rd Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet. From the 26th until 19 November, she operated between Subic