USS Latimer

	Toulon, France, 1951
History
United States
Name	USS Latimer
Namesake	Latimer County in eastern Oklahoma.
Ordered	as type VC2-S-AP5
Laid down	date unknown
Launched	4 July 1944
Acquired	28 August 1944
Commissioned	28 August 1944
Decommissioned	26 February 1947
In service	23 September 1950
Out of service	15 May 1956
Stricken	1 July 1960
Fate	Sold for scrapping, 28 October 1971
General characteristics
Displacement	12,450 tons (full load)
Length	455 ft 0 in (138.68 m)
Beam	62 ft 0 in (18.90 m)
Draught	24 ft 0 in (7.32 m)
Speed	19 knots
Complement	536
Armament	one gun mount,; twelve 40 mm gun mounts,; ten 20 mm gun mounts;

USS Latimer (APA-152) was a

Haskell-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy

from 1944 to 1947 and from 1950 to 1956. She was scrapped in 1972.

History

Latimer was launched under

Maritime Commission contract 4 July 1944 by Oregon Shipbuilding Corp., Portland, Oregon; sponsored by Mrs. Melvin H. McCoy; acquired by the Navy 28 August 1944; and commissioned the same day at Astoria, Oregon

.

World War II

Departing

Admiralties, 25 to 31 December to prepare for the invasion of Luzon

.

Assigned to task group TG 77.9 as a reinforcement transport, Latimer cleared

Okinawa

.

During most of March Latimer rehearsed assault landings off

Okinawa

the 5th.

Steaming via

Eniwetok, and Ulithi, she arrived Hagushi 14 July and discharged troops and military cargo. With 350 veterans embarked she sailed 22 July for the United States via Ulithi

and arrived San Francisco 10 August.

Between 7 and 27 September, Latimer transported 1,164 occupation troops from

U.S. West Coast, arriving Seattle 19 October. During the next 4 months she made two more “Magic Carpet” voyages to the western Pacific from Seattle and San Francisco, carrying military passengers from Saipan and the Philippines

to the U.S. west coast.

Arriving San Francisco 19 February 1946 after a voyage from

Atlantic Reserve Fleet

.