The vessel was constructed by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego, California and was launched in 1969 and commissioned in 1970 and the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

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.

[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][2] 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.

[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.

On 18 May 1971, the LST departed San Diego for a deployment to the Western Pacific (WestPac) loaded with sections of Quonset huts and landing vehicle tracked (LVTs).

Tuscaloosa arrived at Okinawa, Japan on 1 June and after unloading, sailed for Da Nang, South Vietnam via Subic Bay, Philippines.

Following those deployments, the LST was sent to support Thailand contingency operations by transporting Marine Corps equipment and Navy construction battalion tools.

The ship deployed to WestPac on 1 April accompanied from San Diego by Korean mine craft and USS Barbour County.

Arriving at Okinawa on 18 April, the LST's crew offloaded cargo and pressed on the next day for Subic Bay at full speed.

[10] From Subic Bay, Tuscaloosa proceeded to Okinawa and, upon arrival there, was ordered to make best possible speed for the Gulf of Thailand to take part in the evacuation in that area.

The ship conducted another deployment to Westpac during the period 29 March to 17 November 1977 and underwent an overhaul from 3 February to 10 December 1978 at San Diego.

[9] Tuscaloosa was towed out to the Pacific past Hawaii and sunk as a target ship alongside Ogden during a sinking exercise during RIMPAC 2014 on 23 July 2014.