LST 732

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship Keel Laid January 5 1944 - Launched February 19 1944 USS LST-732 Commissioned April 10 1944 - Decommissioned June 7 1946 Struck from Naval Register July 19 1946 WAN GUO (Commercial Service) (alt: 萬國 / 万国 / WÀN GUÓ / WANGUO / WAN KUO / WANKUO) Transferred to the Republic of China for merchant service and renamed. Date unknown. ZHONG XUN LST-208 (Taiwanese Naval Service) (alt: 中訓 / 中训 / ZHŌNG XÙN / ZHONGXUN / CHUNG HSUN / CHUNGHSUN) Acquired by the Republic of China Navy in 1955 and renamed Wikipedia calls it "Chung Shun". NavSource calls it "Chung Hsun". Decommissioned on April 1 2021

 

[Note on transliteration of Chinese glyphs to English (roman/latin) letters:
In the main section of Ship Name and Designation History, we provide the ship names in both a romanized alphabet and Chinese glyphs.
The primary name (ie, WAN GUO) is given in separated Pinyin without diacritics. In the "(alt: xxx)" section, additional forms are provided:
(alt: 萬國 / 万国 / WÀN GUÓ / WANGUO / WAN KUO / WANKUO)
(Traditional Chinese glyphs / Simplified Chinese glyphs / separated Pinyin with diacritics / concatenated Pinyin without diacritics / separated Wade-Giles / concatenated Wade-Giles)
Alas, you can find any of these versions (and others) used by sources - which makes text searches rather painful.]

 

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

NO LST-732 POSTMARKS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME

DATE FROM to DATE TO

Note:

 

Other Information

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
China Service Medal (extended) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)

 

Additional History

Regarding WAN GUO, Wikipedia and various Chinese language sources mention Wan Guo (typically 萬國 but sometimes 万国) as a merchant ship operated by China after World War II.
The Chinese-language Wikipedia page 中海級戰車登陸艦 (Zhonghai-class tank landing ship) has an entry for LST-732 stating the following ownership progression:
善後救濟總署“萬國”→招商局“萬國”→中華民國海軍
General Administration of Relief and Rehabilitation "Wan Guo" → China Merchants Bureau "Wan Guo" → Navy of the Republic of China

Lloyd's Register of Shipping has no entries for Wan Guo and I could not find any supporting documentation from any other English-language sources. However, the "Ship Owners and Managers" section of Lloyd's does list "Board of Trustees for Rehabilitation Affairs" (BOTRA) which was created by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (see below for more on UNRRA). It also lists "China Merchants Steam Navigation Company" which is part of China Merchants Bureau.

From 聯合國善後救濟總署 (Chinese-language Wikipedia):
"The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration ( English abbreviation : UNRRA , Chinese abbreviation "UNRRA") is the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration signed by representatives of 44 countries in Washington, DC, the United States on November 9, 1943. The international organization established by the Agreement was founded by President Roosevelt of the United States. The "United Nations" in its name does not refer to the United Nations that was later formed in San Francisco, but to the countries participating in the Allied Powers during World War II. Rehabilitation refers to the restoration and restoration of materials, including agricultural remediation, industrial remediation, traffic remediation, water remediation, etc. Relief refers to artificial assistance, including food relief, clothing relief, housing relief, medical and health relief, etc. for disaster victims and war refugees. Relief is not post-war reconstruction, but demobilization and preparation for construction."

 

 

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If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

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