USS Sumter (LST-1181) was the third of twenty s in service with the United States Navy, which replaced the traditional bow door-design tank landing ships (LSTs). Sumter was constructed by Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was launched in 1969. The ship entered service in 1970, was assigned to the Pacific coast of the United States and deployed to the western Pacific twice during the Vietnam War. In 1973, Sumter was reassigned to the Atlantic coast and took part in operations in along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, the Mediterranean Sea and the Caribbean Sea. The LST was decommissioned in 1993. In 1995, Sumter was acquired on loan by the Republic of China Navy (ROCN). The vessel was taken to Newport News Shipbuilding to be refitted before re-commissioning into the ROCN in 1997 as ROCS Chung Ping. The LST was acquired outright in 2000 and remains in active service. Description Sumter was the third of the which were designed to meet the goal put forward by the United States amphibious forces to have a tank landing ship (LST) capable of over . However, the traditional bow door form for LSTs would not be capable. Therefore, the designers of the Newport class came up with a design of a traditional ship hull with a aluminum ramp slung over the bow supported by two derrick arms. The ramp was capable of sustaining loads up to . This made the Newport class the first to depart from the standard LST design that had been developed in early World War II. Sumter had a displacement of when light and at full load. The LST was long overall and over the derrick arms which protruded past the bow. The vessel had a beam of , a draft forward of and at the stern at full load. Sumter was fitted with six General Motors 16-645-ES diesel engines turning two shafts, three to each shaft. The system was rated at and gave the ship a maximum speed of for short periods and could only sustain for an extended length of time. The LST carried of diesel fuel for a range of at the cruising speed of . The ship was also equipped with a bow thruster to allow for better maneuvering near causeways and to hold position while offshore during the unloading of amphibious vehicles. The Newport class were larger and faster than previous