sentences:  Later named after Meeker County, Minnesota, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.Originally laid down as "LST-980" on 22 December 1943, at the Boston Navy Yard; the ship was launched on 10 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Orrion R. Hewitt; and commissioned on 19 March 1944, with Lieutenant W. F. Westfall in command.In April 1944, after completing shakedown exercises in Chesapeake Bay, "LST-980" loaded equipment and got underway for England, where plans for the invasion of France had been stalled in debate over the need for shipping, a need and resultant disagreement so acute that Prime Minister Winston Churchill had quipped, ""The destinies of two great empires...seem to be tied up in some God-damned things called LSTs"."