USS Oglethorpe

History
United States
Name	USS Oglethorpe
Namesake	Oglethorpe County, Georgia
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Laid down	26 December 1944
Launched	15 April 1945
Commissioned	6 June 1945
Decommissioned	1 November 1968
Stricken	1 November 1968
Honors and; awards	2 battle stars (Korea)
Fate	Scrapped August 1969
General characteristics
Class and type	attack cargo ship
Type	Type C2-S-B1
Displacement	14,200 long tons (14,428 t) full
Length	459 ft 2 in (139.95 m)
Beam	63 ft (19 m)
Draft	26 ft 4 in (8.03 m)
Speed	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Complement	425
Armament	1 × 5"/38 caliber gun mount; 4 × twin 40 mm gun mounts;

USS Oglethorpe (AKA-100) was an

attack cargo ship in service with the United States Navy

from 1945 to 1968. She was scrapped in 1969.

History

Oglethorpe (AKA-100) was named after

Maritime Commission. Transferred to the Navy while still on the ways, she was launched on 15 April 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Ellsworth Buck, wife of the New York Congressman; and commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

, New York, on 6 June 1945.

1945–1950

Following shakedown in

Naval Transportation Service and, later, Military Sea Transportation Service

. Remaining a commissioned ship, she carried cargo in the Western Pacific until 25 June 1950.

1950–1959

When the Communists

1st Marine Division. Arriving off Inchon, Korea on 15 September, for six days she supported the amphibious assault which briefly reversed the course of the war, sending Communist troops scurrying back to North Korea

.

After a round trip to Japan, she reloaded equipment of the 1st Marine Division for the assault at Wonsan. Arriving off Wonsan on 25 October she supported the operation until the 30th and then returned to the West Coast.

Transferred to the

Panuco River

.

Resuming her pattern of operations alternating East Coast training and Mediterranean deployments, the ship was part of the fleet that brought the Marines to Lebanon in July 1958.

1960–1968

In October 1962, Oglethorpe stood ready off Cuba when President Kennedy demanded the removal of Soviet missiles. The prompt and firm employment of U.S. Naval power forced the rapid withdrawal of the offensive missiles and maintained peace in the Western Hemisphere. Once again in the Mediterranean, the ship joined the ready forces as hostilities heightened between Greek and Turkish factions on Cyprus in early 1964.

Returning from the Mediterranean in August 1966, the ship entered

Boston Naval Shipyard in early January 1967. Following overhaul she continued her pattern of East Coast training and Mediterranean deployments until struck from the Navy List

on 1 November 1968.

Awards

Oglethorpe received two

battle stars

for Korean service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

Photo gallery of USS Oglethorpe (AKA-100) at NavSource Naval History
USS Oglethorpe Reunion Group Archived 2006-08-06 at the Wayback Machine
51 Years of AKAs
S.S. James Oglethorpe and the Battle of the Atlantic historical marker