Sold to Morocco that year, the vessel was recommissioned into the Royal Moroccan Navy as Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah.

The LST carried 1,750 long tons (1,780 t) of diesel fuel for a range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) at the cruising speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph).

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.

[3][5] The Newport class were larger and faster than previous LSTs and were able to transport tanks, heavy vehicles and engineer groups and supplies that were too large for helicopters or smaller landing craft to carry.

[1][7] The vessels also have davits for four vehicle and personnel landing craft (LCVPs) and could carry four pontoon causeway sections along the sides of the hull.

Bristol County was assigned to the Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet, with the home port of Long Beach, California.

The tank landing ship alternated between training operations off the west coast of the United States with deployments to the western Pacific, maintaining this cycle into 1980.

[9] The ship was purchased by the Royal Moroccan Navy on 16 August 1994 through the Security Assistance Program to replace the troop transport Arrafiq.