USS Trousdale
_at_anchor,_circa_in_1945_(2016.34.01).jpg)
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Trousdale |
| Namesake | Trousdale County, Tennessee |
| Builder | North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina |
| Laid down | 22 April 1944 |
| Launched | 3 July 1944 |
| Commissioned | 21 December 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 29 April 1946 |
| Renamed |
|
| Stricken | 8 May 1946 |
| Honors and awards | 1 battle star (World War II) |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | attack cargo ship |
| Displacement | 13,910 long tons (14,133 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 | 395 |
| Armament |
|
USS Trousdale (AKA-79) was a
History
Trousdale was named after
World War II, 1945
The attack cargo ship conducted shakedown training off Long Island, New York, and in the Virginia Capes area and proceeded to Bayonne, New Jersey, to load cargo earmarked for the Pacific theater of operations. On 27 January, Trousdale headed for the open sea in company with Charles E. Brannon (DE-446), bound for Panama. She transited the Panama Canal on 2 February and sailed for Hawaii on 3 February.
Reaching Pearl Harbor on 17 February, Trousdale spent the next 25 days unloading cargo; making minor repairs; and waiting for orders. In mid-March 1945, she unloaded her first combat cargo — miscellaneous units of the 10th Army, including signal battalions, military police, a weather squadron, communications companies, bomb disposal units, and occupational government personnel, together with 200 vehicles and 900 tons of equipment. On 14 March 1945, Trousdale set out for the Marshall Islands.
After anchoring at
Trousdale anchored off
Hampered by kamikazes and bad weather conditions with heavy seas and high winds, the ship lay off the beach for the next six days, engaged in nearly continuous unloading operations. On 22 April, she joined a south-bound convoy and, on 27 April, made port at Saipan, where she transferred all of her landing craft, save two, to other ships.
Crossing the
On 13 June, the attack cargo ship sailed for the west coast, making port at
Meanwhile, the war in the Pacific was drawing to a close as American forces swept close to the Japanese home islands themselves. Carrier planes and ships offshore bombarded coastal targets; planes and ships made the sea lanes untenable for Japanese sea power; and the Japanese air force rapidly dwindled in numbers.
Arriving at Tinian on 27 July, the ship commenced offloading immediately and was working hard at the task on 5 August when an American B-29 bomber exploded an atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Trousdale completed discharging her cargo on the 8th and shifted her anchorage to Saipan the same day. While she was anchored there on 15 August, word came through that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and capitulated to the Allies. The long and bloody war in the Pacific was over.
Post-war activities, 1945–1946
Yet for Trousdale, and ships like her, the occupation operations were just commencing. Accordingly, the ship departed
En route, lookouts sighted
Trousdale then embarked marines for passage to
Chiang Kai-shek, as he had done during the war with Japan, sought American assistance in his as yet undeclared war against the communists. This included the air lift and sea lift of Nationalist troops to cities in northern China, population centers rapidly coming under the influence of the communist forces who had taken pains to encourage popular support while fighting the Japanese.
Accordingly, Trousdale took on board large contingents of Chinese troops, many of whom had never before been on a ship. Commencing the loading on 24 October, the operation was completed the next day, and the ship sailed with her human cargo for Chinwangtao at the base of the Great Wall of China. Making port on 30 October, she offloaded her troops and returned southward for another load — the Chinese First Division — making port at Hong Kong on 7 November and departing two days later for Qingdao where she arrived on 14 November.
While remaining at Qingdao, the ship received urgent boiler repairs. The attack cargo ship got underway again on 14 November for Japan and arrived at
Trousdale moored at
Decommissioning and fate
On 6 March, the attack cargo ship departed
The ship was sold in 1947 to the
Awards
Trousdale received one
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 Trousdale at NavSource Naval History
- 51 Years of AKAs