Attack transport

Attack transport is a

A total of 388 APA (troop) and AKA (cargo) attack transports were built for service in World War II in at least fifteen classes. Depending on class they were armed with one or two 5-inch guns and a variety of 40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft weapons.

By the late 1960s, 41 of these ships were redesignated with the hull symbol (LPA) landing platform, amphibious, but they all retained their names and hull numbers.^[1][2][3][4]

Classification

In the early 1940s, as the

In 1942, when the AP number series had already extended beyond 100, it was decided that these amphibious warfare ships really constituted a separate category of warship from conventional transports. Therefore, the new classification of auxiliary personnel, attack (APA) was created and numbers assigned to fifty-eight APs (AP Nos. 2, 8-12, 14-18, 25-27, 30, 34-35, 37-40, 48-52, 55-60, 64-65 and 78-101) then in commission or under construction. APA are in the classification of US Navy auxiliary ships.

The actual reclassification of these ships was not implemented until February 1943, by which time two ships that had APA numbers assigned (USS Joseph Hewes and USS Edward Rutledge) had been lost. Another two transports sunk in 1942, USS George F. Elliott and USS Leedstown, were also configured as attack transports but did not survive to be reclassified as such.

As World War II went on, dozens of new construction merchant ships of the

• McCawley class (2 ships)
  • both built by the Furness Shipbuilding Company c. 1928 and acquired by the navy in 1940
  • McCawley (APA-4), originally AP-10
  • Barnett (APA-5), AP-11
• Heywood class (5 ships)
  • all built by the Alameda Works Shipyard as merchant ships ca. 1918 and acquired by the navy in 1940
  • Heywood (APA-6), AP-12
  • George F. Elliott (AP-13)
  • Fuller (APA-7), AP-14
  • William P. Biddle (APA-8), AP-15
  • Neville (APA-9), AP-16
• Harry Lee (APA-10), AP-17
• John Penn (APA-23)
• Joseph Hewes (AP-50)
• Edward Rutledge (AP-52)
• Harris class (8 ships)
• Type P1 ship
  • Doyen class (2 ships)
• Type S4 ship
  • Gilliam class (32 ships)
• Victory Ship
  • Haskell class (117 ships)
• Type C2 ship
  • Ormsby class (3 ships)
  • Sumter class (4 ships)
• Type C3 ship
  • Arthur Middleton class (3 ships)
  • Crescent City class (4 ships)
  • Frederick Funston class (2 ships)
  • Windsor class (9 ships)
  • Bayfield class (34 ships)
  • President Jackson class (7 ships)
• Type C4 ship
  • Paul Revere class (2 ship)

In use

• USS Thomas Stone (APA-29) was torpedoed off Cape Palos, Spain, 7 November 1942, and abandoned after going aground in Algiers Harbor, 25 November 1942.
• USS Edward Rutledge (AP-52) on 12 November 1942 was torpedoed by U-130 commanded by Ernst Kals who slipped past the escort screen to sink three transports. Edward Rutledge's crew attempted to beach her but all power had been lost; she settled rapidly by the stern and sank with the loss of 15 men.
• USS Joseph Hewes (AP-50) on 11 November 1942 took a torpedo hit in No. 2 hold from U-173. The transport settled by the bow and began filling rapidly with water and the order was given to abandon ship. Sank with Captain Smith and approximately 100 seamen.^[14]
• USS John Penn (APA-23) was sunk by enemy action, 13 August 1943.
• USS Hinsdale (APA-120) had Kamikaze attack damage on 1 April 1945 at Okinawa. Over 15 men were killed. The extensive engine room damage was later repaired.
• USS Henrico (APA-45) had Kamikaze attack damage on 2 April 1945 at Okinawa. 37 Navy and 14 Army personnel were killed. At 1828 two 250 pound bombs penetrated two deck levels and exploded on the main deck, resulting in fires and flooding that were not brought under control until 2100.^[15]
• USS Telfair (APA-210) on 2 April 1945 was hit by kamikaze attacked, the plane hit the side of the ship then dropped into the sea. She was later repaired.
• USS La Grange (APA-124) on 13 August 1945 damaged in last kamikaze attack of WW2, 21 sailors killed and 89 wounded.
• USS Colbert (APA-145) had mine damage on 17 September 1945, off Okinawa, this caused the death of three men and damaged the ship extensively.

Demise

By the end of the 1950s, it was clear that boats would soon be superseded by amphibious tractors (LVTs) and air assault helicopters for landing combat assault troops. These could not be supported by attack transports in the numbers required, and new categories of amphibious ships began to replace APAs throughout the 1960s. By 1969, when the surviving attack transports were redesignated as "amphibious transports" (LPA) (retaining their previous numbers), only a few remained in commissioned service. The last of these were decommissioned in 1980 and sold abroad, leaving only a few thoroughly obsolete World War II era hulls still laid up in the Maritime Administration's reserve fleet. The APA/LPA designation may, therefore, now be safely considered extinct.^{[citation needed]}

In fiction

The 1956 movie Away All Boats presents operations on an attack transport. It was based on a popular novel of the same name, written by an officer who served on one during World War 2.^[16]

See also

• Amphibious cargo ship (AKA/LKA). Nearly identical ships used to transport vehicles, supplies and landing craft.
• Landing ship, infantry
• High-speed transport APD

References