Windsor-class attack transport

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Windsor-class
USS Windsor (APA-55), lead ship of the Windsor class, 1943
Class overview
Builders
Operators United States Navy
Preceded byDoyen class
Succeeded byOrmsby class
In commissionJune 1943 - June 1946
Completed9
ActiveNone
General characteristics
Typeattack transport
Displacement7,970 tons (lt), 13,132 t. (fl)
Length472–492 ft (144–150 m)
Beam66–69.5 ft (20.1–21.2 m)
Draft25–26.5 ft (7.6–8.1 m)
PropulsionSteam turbine engine, single propeller, 8,000 shp (6,000 kW)
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
CapacityTroops: Officer 94 Enlisted 1,463 Cargo:150,000 cu ft (4,200 m3), 1,600 tons
Complement91 officers, 522 enlisted
ArmamentVariable, but usually 1 x
20mm gun
mounts, 18 x single 20mm gun mounts
Notes
MCV
hull types C3-S-A1, C3-S-A3, possibly also C3-S-A2 or C3-S1-A3

The Windsor-class attack transport was a class of nine

US Navy attack transports. Ships of the class saw service in World War II
.

Like all attack transports, the purpose of the Windsors was to transport troops and their equipment to foreign shores in order to execute

antiaircraft
weaponry to protect itself and its cargo of troops from air attack in the battle zone.

Class history

The Windsor class is inconsistently documented in the US Navy's official

C3 cargo
type; unusually, they appear to be of more than one subtype. This is probably reflects the class entering service in fits and starts, the first two vessels from June 1943 and the remaining seven between July 1944 and January 1945.

The early Windsors were based upon the C3-S-A1 hull, followed by several on the C3-S-A3; however, the last two, USS Griggs (APA-110) and USS Grundy (APA-111), have length, beam and draft specifications which are inconsistent with their listed subtype, but consistent (in larger length and beam) with the C3-S-A2 hull.[1]

Also, Griggs and Grundy were built by

Baltimore, Maryland
where few if any Bayfields were built.

Since ships of a given class usually have the same dimensions either the Windsor-class was constructed of three different C3 hull types, which would make it quite unusual, or DANFS has listed the subtype incorrectly.

Other unusual aspects in regards to this class is that they are listed with a variety of different armaments. Early models had two five-inch guns while the later ships had only one; the Leedstown was at least initially fitted with 1.1" antiaircraft guns instead of 40mm; and Griggs is listed with 8 x 40mm guns and no 20mm, whereas the other ships are listed with a maximum of 2 x 40mm and 22 x 20mm. The Windsors also appear to be more lightly armed than most other attack transport classes, particularly with respect to the 40mm weapon which was considered far more effective than the 20mm gun which comprised most of the Windsor's armament.

In service

Ships of the Windsor class served exclusively in the

battle stars
. The next two were not commissioned until at least July 1944 and only saw three combat operations between them. The remaining five ships arrived too late to see combat and served out the war on transport and training missions.

After

V-J Day, the Windsors, like virtually all classes of attack transport, were assigned first to transporting fresh troops to occupation missions in Japan and its former occupied territories such as China and Korea, and later to Operation Magic Carpet, the giant sealift organized to bring millions of demobilizing servicemen back to the United States
.

The class as a whole was subsequently demobilized in early 1946, and the individual ships sold into commercial service, mostly as cargo ships. Most of the ships were scrapped in the early-to-mid-1970s, having enjoyed overall service lives of approximately 30 years. A notable exception was the

Texas Maritime Academy in April 1965 and spent the next 30 years as training ship USTS Texas Clipper. She was finally decommissioned in 1995 and sunk as an artificial reef in 2007. Another Windsor class ship, USS Dauphin (APA-97) served as passenger-cargo ship SS Exochorda before becoming dormitory ship SS Stevens for Stevens Institute of Technology
in 1967.

Ships in class

Notes

  1. ^ Outboard Profiles of Maritime Commission Vessels: C3 Cargo Ship, Sub-Designs and Conversions [1]

References

See the individual DANFS ship entries (APA numbers 55, 56, 91, 97, 98, 103, 105, 110 and 111) in the DANFS Online amphibious ship index.

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