Named after a county in South Carolina, the ship was constructed by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California.

Assigned to the United States Atlantic Fleet, Spartanburg County deployed regularly to the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas.

Transferred to the Royal Malaysian Navy and commissioned as KD Sri Inderapura in 1995, the LST was deployed off the coast of Somalia in anti-piracy operations in 2008.

This made the Newport class the first to depart from the standard LST design that had been developed in early World War II.

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.

[4][6] 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.

[2][3] The Newport class has the capacity for 500 long tons (510 t) of vehicles, 19,000 sq ft (1,800 m2) of cargo area and could carry up to 431 troops.

[2][8] 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.

[11] In 1983, while in port at Beirut, Lebanon, crew from Spartanburg County aided in extinguishing a fire aboard the Lebanese freighter Aziz.

[12] In June 1985, Spartanburg County was among the ships deployed off the Lebanese coast in response to the terrorist hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the dispersal of some hostages around Beirut.

[16] Sri Inderapura was subsequently rebuilt and returned to service which included deployments to Somalian waters in September 2008 as part of international anti-piracy efforts.