USS Appalachian

USS Appalachian under way
History
United States
Name	Appalachian
Namesake	Appalachian
Laid down	4 November 1942
Launched	29 January 1943
Acquired	27 February 1943
Commissioned	2 October 1943
Decommissioned	21 May 1947
Stricken	1 March 1960
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type	Appalachian-class command ship
Displacement	13,710 tons
Length	459 ft 3 in (139.98 m)
Beam	63 ft (19 m)
Draught	24 ft (7.3 m)
Propulsion	Single shaft turbine
Speed	16.4 knots
Range	5560km (3000nm) at 16 knots
Complement	368
Armament	2 × 5 in (130 mm) guns (2x1) 8 × 40 mm guns (4x2) 14 × 20 mm guns (14x1)

USS Appalachian (AGC-1) was the lead ship of the

; and commissioned on 2 October 1943.

World War II service

Following

.

After a one-day stop in

Ellice Islands

.

Her crew enjoyed a week-long respite at Funafuti before the ship sailed to Guadalcanal. She operated in the Solomon Islands until 29 March when she began a return voyage to Hawaii. The vessel reached Pearl Harbor on 8 April and began resupplying.

Appalachian returned to Guadalcanal in late April, spent the next six weeks preparing for the impending assault on the

, then, early in June, sailed to Kwajalein, the final staging area for the operation.

On 12 June, Appalachian with

. When the force had progressed to within 50 miles of its objective, it was ordered to reverse course to avoid a powerful Japanese fleet which was then approaching the Marianas to contest the American landings.

While the American 5th Fleet routed the Japanese warships in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and American ground forces fought fanatical Japanese defensive forces on Saipan, the convoy steamed in readiness on a rectangular course for 16 days. The Guam attack was then postponed, and the group put in at Eniwetok on 28 June for replenishment. It once more set sail for Guam on 11 July. The ships reached their objective on the 14th, and Appalachian joined in the preassault bombardment that morning and continued providing fire support throughout the invasion. On 30 July, Appalachian dropped anchor in Apra Harbor and remained there through the end of the struggle for the island. Guam was officially secured on 10 August, and Appalachian got underway that day, bound for Pearl Harbor.

Between 21 August and 2 September, Appalachian carried out training exercises off Maui in preparation for an assault on Yap. However, this operation was later canceled. The ship departed Hawaiian waters on 15 September and proceeded to Manus, Admiralty Islands, for additional training.

Appalachian dropped anchor in

five days later.

The ship sailed on for

bound for Manus.

For Appalachian, the year 1945 began with the invasion of the Philippine island of Luzon. She reached Lingayen Gulf on 11 January, landed her troops, and departed the following day. As she was steaming through the South China Sea, she was attacked by Japanese planes. However, she was able to evade the attackers and reached Leyte Gulf on the 15th.

Appalachian sailed east on 18 January and made port calls at

to begin overhaul. The ship set out once more for Hawaiian waters on 10 April, arrived in Pearl Harbor on the 16th, and began training exercises off Maui.

She sailed for the Marianas on 16 May, and reached Saipan 11 days later. The vessel remained at anchor there until 9 July, when she got underway for the Philippines. She pulled into Manila on 13 July and operated in waters of the archipelago through the end of World War II.

Appalachian won four

for her World War II service.

Post-war service

The ship set out for occupation duty in

.

Appalachian departed Japan on 22 November 1945, bound for the west coast of the United States. After reaching the United States, she remained at San Francisco until 12 April 1946^[

. During the months of May, June, and July, Appalachian served as a headquarters for press representatives before returning to San Francisco on 16 August.

She became the flagship of the Fifth Fleet on 13 September and also served the

Navy list

on 1 March 1959.

References

• Jackson, Robert "Fighting Ships of The World." London: Amber Books Ltd, 2004 Pg.31
  ISBN 9781840136470

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.