The second vessel named after a county in North Dakota, the LST was constructed by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California.

Considered beyond repair, La Moure County was decommissioned that year and towed out to sea in 2001 and sunk as a target ship.

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).

[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.

[9] The ship was assigned to Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet and transited the Panama Canal to arrive at the vessel's new home port of Little Creek, Virginia.

[14] The ship was run aground near the coast of Caleta Cifuncho Bay, Chile, in the pre-dawn hours of 12 September 2000 during a routine amphibious training operation with a sister vessel, the Chilean Navy's Valdivia.

A combination of the speed of the ship at impact and the incoming tide resulted in extensive damage to the bow, keel, screws, and rudders.

[9] After five weeks of work by divers stabilizing the vessel, La Moure County was towed by the Chilean icebreaker Almirante Óscar Viel to Talcahuano, Chile where further repairs were deemed uneconomical.

Having been stripped of all usable material, the damaged hulk of La Moure County was towed out to sea and sunk as a target on 10 July 2001 during UNITAS 2001.