USS Wood County (LST-1178) was a built for the United States Navy during the late 1950s. Named after counties in Ohio, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. Wood County was designed under project SCB 119 and laid down on 1 October 1956, at Lorain, Ohio by the American Ship Building Company; launched on 14 December 1957; sponsored by Miss Margaret Ackerman, daughter of the president of the American Shipbuilding Company; and commissioned on 5 August 1959 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia. Service history On Jan 1961, MCB 7 was transported to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a deployment. MCB 4 was transported from Guantanamo Bey, Cuba to its homeport in Davisville, RI. Mediterranean, 1960–1962 Following her shakedown and initial operations on the Atlantic seaboard, Wood County was deployed to the Mediterranean for the first time in the summer of 1960, as part of Amphibious Squadron (PhibRon) 2. She subsequently conducted her second deployment to the 6th Fleet in the autumn of 1961 after escorting to division of ocean minesweepers from the east coast to the Mediterranean. During that deployment, the tank landing ship visited Polensa Bay, Majorca, Spain and the British Crown Colony of Malta, where she embarked a detachment of British commandos that she eventually landed at Bomba, Libya during an exercise. In addition, the ship also visited Valencia, Rota, and Barcelona, Spain; Messina and La Spezia, Italy; Cannes, France; and Piles and Athens, Greece before she returned to Little Creek, Virginia, her home port, in February 1962. On 1 April 1962 Wood County was transferred to PhibRon 12. Later that month, the tank landing ship participated in a large scale demonstration exercise off Little Creek, an evolution witnessed by President John F. Kennedy and the Shah of Iran. Immediately thereafter, Wood County proceeded to Vieques, Puerto Rico where she participated in Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Exercise 1-62. Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 Wood County underwent a regular overhaul at Newport News, Virginia, from June to August, 1962 before she stood out to sea for trials and refresher training. The tank landing ship deployed to the Caribbean to take part in amphibious brigade exercises and then to become part of the "Caribbean Ready Squadron." In the autumn of 1962, after American aerial reconnaissance disclosed the presence of Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba, President Kennedy insisted that the missiles be withdrawn