List of United States Army transport ships
Encyclopedia
During World War II
the U.S. Army operated approximately 127,793) ships and watercraft. Those included large troop and cargo transport ships that were Army owned hulls, vessels allocated by the War Shipping Administration
, bareboat charters and time charters. In addition to the transports the Army fleet included specialized types. Those, included vessels not related to transport such as mine vessels and waterway or port maintenance ships and other service craft. The numbers below give an idea of the scope of that Army maritime operation:
Limiting the number to only the named and numbered vessels, discounting the various simple barges and amphibious assault craft, the remaining number is 14,044 vessels.
This fleet and the Army’s Ports of Embarkation operated throughout the war’s massive logistics in support of the worldwide operations. After the war the Army’s fleet began to resume its peacetime role and even regain the old colors of gray hulls, white deck houses and buff trimming, masts and booms with the red, white and blue stack rings. An example may be seen in the photos of the U.S.A.T. Fred C. Ainsworth.
Then came the reorganization that led to the U.S. Department of Defense rather than a separate United States Department of War
and Department of the Navy with the decision on maritime logistics going in favor of it being administered by the Navy. As a result Army lost almost all its big vessels. Many of the Army vessels were transferred to Navy with the transport types becoming components of the new Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS now MSC) under Navyhttp://www.history.navy.mil/books/field/ch4b.htm | History of United States Naval Operations: Korea - Chapter 4: Help on the Way - Part 2. Troops and Supplies. Some of the Army’s specialized vessels became Navy commissioned ships (USS) or non-commissioned utility vessels. Digital photographs of a few of these vessels in Army service are provided at the Naval History and Heritage Command. Others were sold commercially or simply scrapped.
The Army heritage of civilian crewed transports and cargo ships continued in the operating model for MSTS and its “in service” non-commissioned ships designated as U.S. Naval Ship (USNS). Some Army vessels, still crewed by Army civilians, just transferred were suddenly sailing before fully taking on the new service’s administrative functions and colors.
ships.
s were converted at Point Clear, Alabama
into floating aircraft repair depots, operated by the Army Transport Service, starting in April 1944 to provide mobile depot support for B-29 Superfortress
and P-51 Mustang
s based on Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa beginning in December 1944. They were also fitted with landing platforms to accommodate four R-4 helicopters
, creating the first seagoing helicopter-equipped ships, and provided medical evacuation of combat casualties in both the Philippines and Okinawa.
and directly procured vessels and water craft that were
under 200 feet or under 1,000 gross tons.
Army F-ships (100-dwt) were little freighters built on the lines of a Dutch wooden shoe and had a capacity of about 100 tons with a maximum speed of 8 knots.
During the war these little ships plied back and forth between Navy PT boat
bases, Crash Rescue Boat
bases, and Engineer Special Brigade
bases in the pacific for the purpose of transporting personnel, hauling supplies and cargo, or occasionally for towing fuel barges and water craft, to bases along the coasts or to nearby islands.
Design 216 (Boat, Supply, Diesel, Steel, 99')
Design 225 (Boat, Supply, Ice-Breaker, Diesel, Steel, 102')
The Army entered the field of undersea cable work in connecting the military installations in the Philippine Islands. As with other cable work, some vessels were chartered. For example the vessel Orizaba (not the later Army owned vessel of the same name) was under Army charter from the Pacific Coast Steamship Company
before being lost in 1900 . The first ship supplied by the Quartermaster Corps to the Signal Corps for cable work was the U. S. Army Transport Burnsidehttp://www.qmfound.com/army_fleet.htm | US Army Quartermaster Foundation - The Work of the Army's Fleet by Col. T.M. Knox, QMC. That Spanish American War prize was replaced by the larger Dellwood for work with Alaskan cables.
There is some confusion on ship designators within even official records. The conventional commercial and nautical term for such ships was “C.S. (name)” for “Cable Ship.” The mix of U.S.A.T., C.S. and even the simple “Steam Ship” (S.S.) as seen in postwar construction of the SS William H. G. Bullard
, later the USS/USNS Neptune can be somewhat confusing. All three terms are found in official usage. For example, Smithsonian Institution
library records clearly show some of these Army ships as C.S. Dellwood, C.S. Silveradohttp://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/fa_wu_container23.aspx | Lemelson Center - Western Union Telegraph Company Records 1820-1995 - Subseries 5: Cable Ships, 1924-1954 (not inclusive). Army’s ship management lay in the Quartermaster Corps and later the Transportation Corps. Technical management of the cable ships was under Signal Corps and the entire enterprise of undersea cable work was the very specialized realm of several large communications corporations which operated their own cable vessels and provided experts in handling cable equipment and cable. Each appears to have used familiar terms when noting the ships in records as seen in the Quartermaster reference and the records elsewhere.
The nature of the work is such that specialized crews are required to operate the cable machinery and so the actual cable splicing and technical work. The ex-Coast Artillery ships involved in mine planting were military crewed. The C.S. Restorer was under charter and used civilians, many from its commercial crew, under Army contract. The remaining ships were probably mixed crews.
Eleven Transportation Corps ships under technical management of Signal Corps are known to have been active in WW II:
. The other ship, first obtained for the purpose, was a commercial ship allocated by the War Shipping Administration
. All the ships were managed and crewed by the Army Engineers organized into Engineer Port Repair Ship Crew units, named for Army Engineers killed in action during WW II and heavily modified from their original design.
WSA allocated the WW I vintage Josephine Lawrence to be converted to:
N3-M-A1 types:
with a 3,000-ton displacement and a crew complement of 60-plus men.
They were seagoing diesel-electric hydraulic dredging vessels,
normally functioning under the Corps of Engineers control and used for maintaining
and improving the coastal and harbor channels around the U.S. coasts.
During World War II , five seagoing hopper dredges already in civil service, were fitted with 3-inch deck guns and 20-millimeter antiaircraft guns. Four were sent to the ETO and one, the 'Hains', was sent to the PTO
along with the cutter dredge 'Raymond', additionally four new Hains class armed dredges were constructed for use in the PTO.
Hains Class hopper dredge
Towed cutter dredge
(AMPS), under the Coast Artillery Corps, operated ships designated as U.S. Army Mine Planter (USAMP)
to plant the controlled mines
guarding approaches to coastal fortifications. Numerous smaller vessels not designated as USAMP worked with the planters in a mine flotilla.
Numbered planters constructed during WW IIhttp://patriot.net/~eastlnd2/army-amps.htm | Army Ships -- The Ghost Fleet; Coast Artillery Corps - Army Mine Planter Service:
Note: Cyrus W. Field was a Signal Corps ship closely associated with mine cable work and sometimes listed with the planters. Joseph Henry was a cable ship transferred to the Coast Artillery Corps. Both were associated with the next generation of mine planter development that incorporated some cable capability into the 1917 and 1909 ships.
Ships known to fall in each of these categories appear in the list below.
In general only ships owned, under long term bareboat charter or allocation to the Army, first through the Quartermaster Corps and later the Transportation Corps, were formally designated as a U.S. Army Transport (U.S.A.T.). Those under other arrangements continued operating as SS NAME. Essentially all maritime commercial cargo and passenger type vessels were under strict control of WSA under Executive Order No. 9054. Exempted from WSA control were combatants, vessels owned by Army or Navy and coastal and inland vessels.
The FS numbered vessels and Army tugs do not normally have U.S.A.T. in their names. They and other smaller Army craft were simply designated as Army with "U.S. Army" over the number (photos).
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the U.S. Army operated approximately 127,793) ships and watercraft. Those included large troop and cargo transport ships that were Army owned hulls, vessels allocated by the War Shipping Administration
War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....
, bareboat charters and time charters. In addition to the transports the Army fleet included specialized types. Those, included vessels not related to transport such as mine vessels and waterway or port maintenance ships and other service craft. The numbers below give an idea of the scope of that Army maritime operation:
- Troop and cargo ships over 1,000 gross tons that often carried the U.S. Army Transport (U.S.A.T.) with their name if they were Army owned or long term allocated: 1,557 ships
- Other ships over 1,000 gross tons, including hospital ships (U.S.A.H.S.), cable ships, aircraft repair ships, port repair ships and others without any title other than “U.S. Army” and a number or name: 108 ships
- Vessels under 1,000 gross tons of numerous that include the 511 FS ("Freight and Supply") small nonstandard coastal freighters of numerous designs, 361 Minecraft with the large Mine Planters carrying U.S. Army Mine Planter (USAMP) with a number above a name, 4,343 tugs of all types and a varied array of 4,697 launches and small service craft just designated U.S. Army with a number or name: 12,379
- Barges and non-propelled watercraft that included 16,787 pontoons: 25,383
- Amphibious assault craft: 88,366
Limiting the number to only the named and numbered vessels, discounting the various simple barges and amphibious assault craft, the remaining number is 14,044 vessels.
This fleet and the Army’s Ports of Embarkation operated throughout the war’s massive logistics in support of the worldwide operations. After the war the Army’s fleet began to resume its peacetime role and even regain the old colors of gray hulls, white deck houses and buff trimming, masts and booms with the red, white and blue stack rings. An example may be seen in the photos of the U.S.A.T. Fred C. Ainsworth.
Then came the reorganization that led to the U.S. Department of Defense rather than a separate United States Department of War
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
and Department of the Navy with the decision on maritime logistics going in favor of it being administered by the Navy. As a result Army lost almost all its big vessels. Many of the Army vessels were transferred to Navy with the transport types becoming components of the new Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS now MSC) under Navyhttp://www.history.navy.mil/books/field/ch4b.htm | History of United States Naval Operations: Korea - Chapter 4: Help on the Way - Part 2. Troops and Supplies. Some of the Army’s specialized vessels became Navy commissioned ships (USS) or non-commissioned utility vessels. Digital photographs of a few of these vessels in Army service are provided at the Naval History and Heritage Command. Others were sold commercially or simply scrapped.
The Army heritage of civilian crewed transports and cargo ships continued in the operating model for MSTS and its “in service” non-commissioned ships designated as U.S. Naval Ship (USNS). Some Army vessels, still crewed by Army civilians, just transferred were suddenly sailing before fully taking on the new service’s administrative functions and colors.
Currently Active Ship Classes
The Army still operates vessels of many types. These are the ships currently active under the U.S. Army, excluding the United States Army Corps of EngineersUnited States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
ships.
- Spearhead high speed logistics shipUSAV Spearhead (TSV-X1)USAV Spearhead is the first ship of the US Army's theater support vessel program . The Army leased Spearhead from Australian fast ferry builder Incat in October 2002. Modifications included helicopter pads suitable for large military helicopters and a two-part, hydraulic vehicle ramp that allows...
- General Frank S. Besson, Jr. class Logistics Support VesselGeneral Frank S. Besson, Jr. class Logistics Support VesselThe General Frank S. Besson class Logistics Support Vessels are the largest powered watercraft in the United States Army, and are designed to give the Army a global strategic capability to deliver its vehicles and cargo.-Design:...
- Stalwart class ocean surveillance shipUSNS Worthy (T-AGOS-14)USNS Worthy was a Stalwart class Modified Tactical Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance Ship of the United States Navy.-History:...
- Runnymede class large landing craftRunnymede class large landing craftThe Runnymede class large landing craft are powered watercraft in the United States Army. They replaced older USN-design landing craft. Typical LCU design with a bow ramp and large aft superstructure. Several are deployed to Europe and aboard Afloat Prepositioning Ships...
- MGen. Nathanael Greene class large coastal tugsMGen. Nathanael Greene class large coastal tugsThe MGen. Nathanael Greene class large coastal tug are powered watercraft in the United States Army. They are a new class of large tugs built for US Army service, primarily intended to assist in docking of transports. -Ships:...
Aircraft Repair Unit
Six Liberty shipLiberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
s were converted at Point Clear, Alabama
Point Clear, Alabama
Point Clear is an unincorporated census-designated place in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 1,876. It is part of the Daphne–Fairhope–Foley Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
into floating aircraft repair depots, operated by the Army Transport Service, starting in April 1944 to provide mobile depot support for B-29 Superfortress
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
and P-51 Mustang
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
s based on Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa beginning in December 1944. They were also fitted with landing platforms to accommodate four R-4 helicopters
Sikorsky R-4
The Sikorsky R-4 was a two-place helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky with a single, three-bladed main rotor and powered by a radial engine. The R-4 was the world's first large-scale mass-produced helicopter and the first helicopter to enter service with the United States Army Air Forces, Navy, and...
, creating the first seagoing helicopter-equipped ships, and provided medical evacuation of combat casualties in both the Philippines and Okinawa.
- 1st ARU(F) Major General Robert Olds
- 2d ARU(F) Major General Herbert A. Dargue
- 3rd ARU(F) Major General Walter R. Weaver
- 4th ARU(F) Brigadier General Asa N. Duncan
- 5th ARU(F) Brigadier General Clinton W. Russell
- 6th ARU(F) Brigadier General Alfred J. Lyon
Auxiliary Aircraft Repair Ship
Design 427 (Vessel, Supply, Aircraft Repair, Diesel, Steel, 180')- 180-foot 573 ton steel vessels built by Higgins
- FS-204 Col. Clifford P. Bradley
- FS-205 Col. Richard E. Cobb
- FS-206 Col. John D. Corkille 1 2
- FS-207 Col. Demas T. Craw
- FS-208 Col. Everett S. Davis
- FS-209 Col. Sam L. Ellis
- FS-210 Col. Oliver S. Ferson
- FS-211 Col. Percival E. Gabel
- FS-212 Col. Donald M. Keiser
- FS-213 Col. Douglas M. Kilpatrick
- FS-214 Col. Raymond T. Lester
- FS-215 Col. Donald R. Lyon
- FS-216 Col. William J. McKiernan
- FS-217 Col. Armand Peterson
- FS-218 Col. Charles T. Phillips
- FS-219 Col. Edgar R. Todd
- FS-220 Col. Harold B. Wright
- FS-221 Col. Francis T. Ziegler
Army Marine Repair Ship
Through allocation from the War Shipping Administration the Army assembled a motley collection of 6 repair ships. Five similar in size, 350-390 feet and the 202 foot James B. Houston, previously named the USAT Kivichak, which had been grounded in British Columbia in 1941. She was salvaged and pressed back into service because of the wartime shortage of ships. The transportation Corps was spared the challenge of manning these vessels by turning them over to Coast Guard crews while retaining administrative control. These ships all served in the southwest Pacific area, operating in New Guinea and the Philippines- USARS Vessels That Fell Through the Cracks of World War II History
- USARS Duluth (1903)
- USARS J. E. Gorman (1909)
- USARS W. J. Connors (1901)
- USARS J. M. Davis (1913)
- USARS William F. Fitch (1902)
- USARS James B. Houston (1900)
Army Repair Ship
- Concrete shipConcrete shipConcrete ships are ships built of steel and ferrocement instead of more traditional materials, such as steel or wood. The advantage of ferrocement construction is that materials are cheap and readily available, while the disadvantages are that construction labor costs are high, as are operating...
- 265-foot BCL (barge, concrete, large)
- 5 Builders of Concrete Ships
- Design MC B7-D1, 2 ships for US Army
- World War II in the Pacific Concrete Ships
- Concrete Ship hulks
- 22 covered lighters (Army floating stores warehouse or BCL), 265 feet, used by Army as floating warehouses.
- 3 lighters used as refrigerated warehouses.
- 2 Army repair ships (Army repair ship or FMS).
- Floating Marine Repair Shop
- USS Lignite (IX-162)USS Lignite (IX-162)USS Lignite , a designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for lignite. Her keel was laid down on 8 December 1943 by Barrett & Hilp, Belair Shipyard, San Francisco, California, under a Maritime Commission contract...
- USS Limestone (IX-158)USS Limestone (IX-158)USS Limestone , a designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for limestone, a rock consisting chiefly of calcium carbonate, which yields lime when burned....
- USS Lignite (IX-162)
Army Schooners
- p262 The Signal Corps: The Outcome ( Mid-1943 through 1945 )
- U.S. Army Transportation in the Southwest Pacific Area 1941-1947
- US ARMY SMALL SHIPS SECTION
- Wawona
- C.A. Thayer
- Coringle (S-31)
- Tuhoe (S-132)
- USS Echo (IX-95)USS Echo (IX-95)USS Echo , an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the nymph Echo. A sailing scow, she was used as a supply ship in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1944.- History :...
- SWPASouth West Pacific theatre of World War IIThe South West Pacific Theatre, technically the South West Pacific Area, between 1942 and 1945, was one of two designated area commands and war theatres enumerated by the Combined Chiefs of Staff of World War II in the Pacific region....
CP Fleet- Army CS ships provided communications relays and acted as command posts (CP) for forward elements ashore. CSM (Maintenance) ships, in addition to acting as CS ships, were also equipped for radio repair operations to supply floating maintenance. CSQ (Quarters) ships acted as floating dormitories. CSN (News) ships were used by civilian reporters.
- Argosy Lemal (S-6)Booya (ship)Booya was a three-masted schooner with a steel hull built in the Netherlands in 1917. She was originally named De Lauwers. Booya was last seen anchored off Fort Hill wharf in Darwin Harbour at about 8.00pm on 24 December 1974, the evening Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin...
- Harold (S-58, CS-3)
- Geoanna (IX-61, TP-249, S-382, CS-1)USS Geoanna (IX-61)Geoanna was an unclassified miscellaneous vessel that was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation. Geoanna, the only ship of the United States Navy to be given that name, was a steel auxiliary schooner built in 1934 by Craig Shipbuilding Company in Long Beach, California. She...
- Volador (IX-59, TP-248, S-385, CSM-1)USS Volador (IX-59)The first USS Volador , was a wooden-hulled schooner of the United States Navy during World War II.The schooner was designed by William Gardiner and built in 1926 at Wilmington, California, by William Müller and Company. The vessel was acquired for the Navy by the Port Director, San Pedro,...
Small Ships
The Army had its own program for small boat constructionand directly procured vessels and water craft that were
under 200 feet or under 1,000 gross tons.
Army F-ships (100-dwt) were little freighters built on the lines of a Dutch wooden shoe and had a capacity of about 100 tons with a maximum speed of 8 knots.
During the war these little ships plied back and forth between Navy PT boat
PT boat
PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...
bases, Crash Rescue Boat
Crash rescue boat
Crash Rescue Boat is a name used in the USA to describe military high-speed offshore rescue boats, similar in size and performance to Motor Torpedo Boats, used to rescue pilots and aircrews of crashed aircraft...
bases, and Engineer Special Brigade
Engineer Special Brigade (United States)
Engineer Special Brigades were amphibious forces of the United States Army developed during World War II. Initially designated Engineer Amphibian Brigades, the first four brigades were redesignated ESBs in 1943.- Concept and Development :...
bases in the pacific for the purpose of transporting personnel, hauling supplies and cargo, or occasionally for towing fuel barges and water craft, to bases along the coasts or to nearby islands.
Design 216 (Boat, Supply, Diesel, Steel, 99')
Design 225 (Boat, Supply, Ice-Breaker, Diesel, Steel, 102')
- Three design number 225 vessels were built by Equitable Equipment Company in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1942, they most likely operated in Alaska.
- F-4, F-17, F-18
Retrieving Vessel
Eleven of these small ships were built for the U.S. Army Air Corps/Army Air Forces in late 1942 through mid 1943. The official designation was "Design No. 210, 150 Foot Steel Diesel Retrieving Vessel", sometimes termed "Aircraft Retrieving Vessel" in later references. Name format was "U.S. Army" over "H.A.# NAME" as indicated by a builder's model. Dimensions were 158' 3" LOA X 32' beam (moulded) at deck X 8' draft powered by two 300 hp diesels. and was equipped with a 30 ton jumbo lift boom along with regular cargo booms and had a cargo capacity of 500 measurement tons. These vessels were primarily used as supply ships, that could retrieve aircraft if needed.-
- H.A. 2 Morrow
- H.A. 3 Van Nostrand
- H.A. 4 Miller
- H.A. 5 Beck
- H.A. 6 Colgan
- H.A. 7 Chandler
- H.A. 8 Bane
- H.A. 9 Bower
- H.A. 10 Stone
- H.A. 11 (?)
- H.A. 12 (?)
Cable laying ships
The Army had a history of submarine cable work by the time of World War II operations dating back to the 1899-1900 periodhttp://www.atlantic-cable.com/CableCos/USMilitary/index.htm | History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications - U.S. Armed Forces Cables. Much of this work had been in relation to communications with far flung Army forces in the Philippines and Alaska. The Army Signal Corps used a number of cable ships for that work including Burnside, Romulus, Liscum, Dellwood and two vessels intimately associated with the Coast Artillery Corps controlled mine work at the coastal fortifications; Cyrus W. Field and Joseph Henry. That cable laying capability had been allowed to deteriorate to the point that the Army had to charter the C.S. Restorer in 1941.The Army entered the field of undersea cable work in connecting the military installations in the Philippine Islands. As with other cable work, some vessels were chartered. For example the vessel Orizaba (not the later Army owned vessel of the same name) was under Army charter from the Pacific Coast Steamship Company
Pacific Coast Steamship Company
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company was an important early shipping company that operated steamships on the west coast of North America.-Organization and operations:...
before being lost in 1900 . The first ship supplied by the Quartermaster Corps to the Signal Corps for cable work was the U. S. Army Transport Burnsidehttp://www.qmfound.com/army_fleet.htm | US Army Quartermaster Foundation - The Work of the Army's Fleet by Col. T.M. Knox, QMC. That Spanish American War prize was replaced by the larger Dellwood for work with Alaskan cables.
There is some confusion on ship designators within even official records. The conventional commercial and nautical term for such ships was “C.S. (name)” for “Cable Ship.” The mix of U.S.A.T., C.S. and even the simple “Steam Ship” (S.S.) as seen in postwar construction of the SS William H. G. Bullard
William H. G. Bullard
William Hannum Grubb Bullard was an admiral of the United States Navy, whose service included duty during the Spanish-American War and World War I. After World War I, he established the Navy's patrol on China's Yangtze River...
, later the USS/USNS Neptune can be somewhat confusing. All three terms are found in official usage. For example, Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
library records clearly show some of these Army ships as C.S. Dellwood, C.S. Silveradohttp://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/fa_wu_container23.aspx | Lemelson Center - Western Union Telegraph Company Records 1820-1995 - Subseries 5: Cable Ships, 1924-1954 (not inclusive). Army’s ship management lay in the Quartermaster Corps and later the Transportation Corps. Technical management of the cable ships was under Signal Corps and the entire enterprise of undersea cable work was the very specialized realm of several large communications corporations which operated their own cable vessels and provided experts in handling cable equipment and cable. Each appears to have used familiar terms when noting the ships in records as seen in the Quartermaster reference and the records elsewhere.
The nature of the work is such that specialized crews are required to operate the cable machinery and so the actual cable splicing and technical work. The ex-Coast Artillery ships involved in mine planting were military crewed. The C.S. Restorer was under charter and used civilians, many from its commercial crew, under Army contract. The remaining ships were probably mixed crews.
Eleven Transportation Corps ships under technical management of Signal Corps are known to have been active in WW II:
- Dellwood
- Silverado
- Restorer (Commercial Cable Ship under Army charter)
- Col. William A. Glassford (BSP - Self Propelled Barge )http://patriot.net/~eastlnd2/o_arc.htm | ARC-1, ARC-5 & Nashawena (AG-142) - Short discussion of Army Coast Artillery and Signal Corps cable ships with complete list of the ARC designation. (Col. Basil O. Lenoir painting) Later USS Nashawena (YAG-35/AG-142)
- Basil O. Lenoir (BSP - Self Propelled Barge)
- Gen. Samuel M. Mills (1942 Mine Planter)
- Joseph Henry (Associated with Coast Artillery Corps mine work)
- Lt. Col. Ellery W. Niles (1937 Mine Planter)
- USACS Albert J. Myer
- William Bullard
- Brico (ex-fishing vessel turned cable barge)
Hospital ships
- USAHS Acadia
- USAHS Aleda E. Lutz
- USAHS AlgonquinUSAHS AlgonquinAlgonquin was an ocean liner built in 1926 for the Clyde Mallory Line. She was involved in a collision in 1929 and rescued survivors from another in 1935. Repaired after a fire in 1940, she was requisitioned for use as a troopship and later a hospital ship...
- USAHS Blanche F. SigmanUSAHS Blanche F. SigmanUSAHS Blanche F. Sigman was a United States Army hospital ship during World War II. The ship was completed in April 1943 as Liberty ship SS Stanford White. When selected for conversion to a hospital ship, she was originally assigned the name USAHS Poppy, but never operated under that name. After...
- USAHS Charles A. Stafford
- USAHS Chateau Thierry
- USAHS ComfortUSS Comfort (AH-3)USS Comfort was a hospital ship for the United States Navy in World War I. She was the sister ship of but the two ships were not of a ship class. Comfort was known as SS Havana in passenger service for the Ward Line, and as USAT Havana in United States Army service before her Navy service...
- USAHS Dogwood
- USAHS Emily H. M. Weder
- USAHS Ernest Hinds
- USAHS Ernestine Koranda
- USAHS Francis Y. Slanger
- USAHS HopeUSS Hope (AH-7)USS Hope was a launched under Maritime Commission contract by Consolidated Steel Corporation, Wilmington, California, 30 August 1943; sponsored by Miss Martha L. Floyd; acquired by the Navy the same day for conversion to a hospital ship by U.S. Naval Dry Dock, Terminal Island, Calif.; and...
- USAHS Jarrett M. Huddleston
- USAHS Jasmine
- USAHS John J. Meany
- USAHS John L. Clem
- USAHS Larkspur
- USAHS Louis A. Milne
- USAHS Mactan
- USAHS Maetsuckyer
- USAHS Marigold
- USAHS MercyUSS Mercy (AH-8)The second USS Mercy was a laid down under Maritime Commission contract by Consolidated Steel Corporation at the Wilmington Yard, Wilmington, California, on 4 February 1943. She was acquired by the US Navy from the Maritime Commission on 25 March 1943 and launched the same day, sponsored by...
- USAHS Poppy
- USAHS Relief USS Relief (1896)The second USS Relief was a hospital ship in the United States Navy. She was later named Repose.-Construction and design:Relief was built for the Maine Steamship Company in 1895-96 by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works of Chester, Pennsylvania as the passenger ship John Englis...
- USAHS Republic
- USAHS Seminole
- USAHS Shamrock
- USAHS St. Mihiel
- USAHS St. Olaf
- USAHS Tasman
- USAHS Thistle
- USAHS Wisteria
U.S. Army Port Repair ship
Ten ships, nine being Maritime Commission type N3-M-A1 cargo vessel hulls being built at Penn Jersey Shipbuilding for the U.S. Navy or Lend Lease, were transferred to the Army for operation as Engineer Port Repair ShipsU.S. Army Port Repair ship
The U.S. Army acquired ten ships during World War II as Engineer Port Repair Ships, also sometimes known as Port Rehabilitation ships, for use by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clear war damaged harbors...
. The other ship, first obtained for the purpose, was a commercial ship allocated by the War Shipping Administration
War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....
. All the ships were managed and crewed by the Army Engineers organized into Engineer Port Repair Ship Crew units, named for Army Engineers killed in action during WW II and heavily modified from their original design.
WSA allocated the WW I vintage Josephine Lawrence to be converted to:
- Junior N. Van NoyJunior N. Van Noy (ship)Junior N. Van Noy was a Great Lakes steamer converted as one of ten U.S. U.S. Army Port Repair ships to be operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in rehabilitating war damaged ports. The other nine ships were Maritime Commission type N3–M–A1 cargo ship hulls built under U.S. Navy supervision...
N3-M-A1 types:
- Arthur C. Ely
- Glenn Gerald Griswold
- Henry Wright Hurley
- Joe C. Specker
- Madison Jordan ManchesterUSS Hydra (AK-82)USS Hydra was an Enceladus-class cargo ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.Hydra , formerly SS Eben H...
- Marvin Lyle ThomasUSNS Sagitta (T-AK-87)Sagitta was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation..The ship, contracted as the Maritime Commission MV Moses Pike, transferred to Navy supervision for construction and was then transferred shortly after launch as Sagitta to the Army to become the Engineer Port Repair Ship...
- Richard R. Arnold
- Robert M. Emery
- Thomas F. Farrel Jr.
Dredge Vessels
Some of these were substantial vessels, 300 feet long,with a 3,000-ton displacement and a crew complement of 60-plus men.
They were seagoing diesel-electric hydraulic dredging vessels,
normally functioning under the Corps of Engineers control and used for maintaining
and improving the coastal and harbor channels around the U.S. coasts.
- Port Restoration - WWII
- The dredge "William L. Marshall" in World War II
- The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany: CHAPTER XVI Developing Beaches and Reconstructing Ports
- The District, A History of the Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1866-1971, Marine Design - Unique Mission
- United States Army in World War II - The Corps of Engineers: Troops and Equipment - Chapter XVII - Preparing to Reconstruct Ports
- LT638 & LT152
- Historic Dredging Photos
- Sergeant Floyd (towboat)Sergeant Floyd (towboat)Sergeant Floyd is a towboat in Sioux City, Iowa. It is "[o]ne of only a handful of surviving U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vessels".It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989....
- William M. Black (dredge)William M. Black (dredge)The William M. Black is a steam-propelled, sidewheel dustpan dredge.It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992. It is open for tours as part of the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. According to information provided on the tour, the Black, one of the last paddle steamers built...
- Montgomery (snagboat)Montgomery (snagboat)The Montgomery is a steam-powered sternwheel-propelled snagboat built in 1925 by the Charleston Dry Dock and Machine Company of Charleston, South Carolina, and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers...
- WT PrestonWT PrestonThe W.T. Preston is a specialized sternwheeler that operated as a snagboat, removing log jams and natural debris that prevented river navigation on several Puget Sound-area rivers. It is now the centerpiece of the Snagboat Heritage Center in Anacortes, Washington. It was designated a National...
- Sergeant Floyd (towboat)
During World War II , five seagoing hopper dredges already in civil service, were fitted with 3-inch deck guns and 20-millimeter antiaircraft guns. Four were sent to the ETO and one, the 'Hains', was sent to the PTO
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
along with the cutter dredge 'Raymond', additionally four new Hains class armed dredges were constructed for use in the PTO.
- Chester Harding (dredge)
- William T. Rossell (dredge)
- William L. Marshall (dredge)
Hains Class hopper dredge
- Hains (1943)
- Hoffman (1943)
- Hyde (1945)
- Barth (1945)
- Lyman (1945)
- Davidson (1945)
Towed cutter dredge
- Raymond (1926)
Mine Planters
The U.S. Army Mine Planter ServiceMine Planter Service (U.S. Army)
The U.S. Army Mine Planter Service was an outgrowth of civilian crewed Army mine planter ships dating back to 1904. It was established in 1918 under the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps to install and maintain the mine fields that were part of the principal armament of U.S...
(AMPS), under the Coast Artillery Corps, operated ships designated as U.S. Army Mine Planter (USAMP)
Mine Planter (ship)
Mine planter and the earlier "torpedo planter" was a term used for mine warfare ships into the early days of World War I. In later terminology, particularly in the United States, a mine planter was a ship specifically designed to install controlled mines or contact mines in coastal fortifications...
to plant the controlled mines
Controlled mines
A Controlled Mine was a circuit fired weapon used in coastal defenses with ancestry going back to 1805 when Robert Fulton termed his underwater explosive device a torpedo:...
guarding approaches to coastal fortifications. Numerous smaller vessels not designated as USAMP worked with the planters in a mine flotilla.
- Col. George Armistead (1904)
- Cyrus W. Field (1904) (See note)
- Col. Henry J. Hunt (1904)
- Gen. Henry Knox (1904)
- Maj. Samuel Ringgold (1904)
- Gen. Royal T. Frank (1909)
- Joseph Henry (1909) (See note)
- Gen. Samuel M. Mills (1909)
- Gen. E. O. C. Ord'' (1909)
- Gen. John M. Schofield (1909)
- Gen. William M. Graham (1917)
- Col. George F. E. Harrison (1919)
- Gen. Absalom Baird (1919)
- Gen. J. Franklin Bell / Brig. Gen. John J. Hayden (1919)
- Brig. Gen. Edmund Kirby (1919)
- Gen. Wallace F. Randolph (1919)
- Gen. John P. Storey (1919)
- Col. Albert Todd (1919)
- Col. Garland N. Whistler (1919)
- Col. John V. White (1919)
- Lt. Col. Ellery W. Niles (1937)
Numbered planters constructed during WW IIhttp://patriot.net/~eastlnd2/army-amps.htm | Army Ships -- The Ghost Fleet; Coast Artillery Corps - Army Mine Planter Service:
- USAMP General Henry Knox (MP-1) (1942)
- USAMP Colonel Henry J. Hunt (MP-2) (1942)
- USAMP Colonel George Armistead (MP-3) (1942)
- Gen. Samuel M. Mills (MP-4) (1942)
- USAMP 1st Lt. William G. Sylvester (MP-5) (1942)
- Brig. Gen. Henry L. Abbott (MP-6) (1942)
- USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph (MP-7)Major General Wallace F. Randolph (ship)USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph, sometimes also known as MG Wallace F. Randolph, was a mine planter built by the Marietta Manufacturing Company, and delivered to the United States Army Mine Planter Service in 1942. The ship was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1951 as auxiliary minelayer...
(1942) - USAMP Colonel John Storey (MP-8) (1942)
- Maj. Gen. Arthur Murray (MP-9) (1942)
- Maj. Gen. Erasmus Weaver (MP-10) (1942)
- Maj. Samuel Ringgold (MP-11) (1942) NavSource photo showing USAMP name usage format.
- Brig. Gen. Royal T. Frank (MP-12) (1943)
- Col. Alfred A. Maybach (MP-13) (1943)
- Col. Horace F. Spurgin (MP-14) (1943)
- Col. Charles W. Bundy (MP-15) (1943)
- Col. George Ricker (MP-16) (1943)
Note: Cyrus W. Field was a Signal Corps ship closely associated with mine cable work and sometimes listed with the planters. Joseph Henry was a cable ship transferred to the Coast Artillery Corps. Both were associated with the next generation of mine planter development that incorporated some cable capability into the 1917 and 1909 ships.
Junior Mine Planters
Smaller vessels known as, "junior mine planters", or "pup planters", were occasionally employed as mine planters, but for the most part they served as freight and passenger boats for river and harbor duty.- General Richard Arnold (1909)
- JMP Major Albert G. Jenkins (1921)
- JMP Lt. Col. M.N. Greeley
- FS-63
- FS-64
- FS-70
Transport ships
This is a list, presently incomplete, of ships in Army service under one of the following arrangements:- Army owned
- Under bareboat charterBareboat charterA bareboat charter is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat, whereby no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement; instead, the people who rent the vessel from the owner are responsible for taking care of such things....
(Army management of all operational aspects including crewing) - Allocated by the War Shipping AdministrationWar Shipping AdministrationThe War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....
(WSA) for varying periods with commercial crews - Under a charter of the time or voyage type to Army with normal commercial crews
Ships known to fall in each of these categories appear in the list below.
In general only ships owned, under long term bareboat charter or allocation to the Army, first through the Quartermaster Corps and later the Transportation Corps, were formally designated as a U.S. Army Transport (U.S.A.T.). Those under other arrangements continued operating as SS NAME. Essentially all maritime commercial cargo and passenger type vessels were under strict control of WSA under Executive Order No. 9054. Exempted from WSA control were combatants, vessels owned by Army or Navy and coastal and inland vessels.
The FS numbered vessels and Army tugs do not normally have U.S.A.T. in their names. They and other smaller Army craft were simply designated as Army with "U.S. Army" over the number (photos).
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M
(became USAT Logan)- USAT M.I.T. Victory
- USAT MontereySS MontereySS Monterey was a luxury ocean liner launched on 10 October 1931; one of four ships in the Matson Lines "White Fleet" which included , and . Monterey, the third of four Matson ships designed by William Francis Gibbs was identical to Mariposa and very similar to her sister ship Lurline...
S
- USAT Sgt. Sylvester AntolakUSNS Sgt. Sylvester Antolak (T-AP-192)USNS Sgt. Sylvester Antolak was a that served as a United States Army Transport, and in the United States Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service, in the post-World War II period....
- USAT Sea Train Texas
USAS
- USAS Report (AGP-289)
- USAS American MarinerUSAS American MarinerThe USAS American Mariner was a U.S. Army research vessel from January 1959 to 30 September 1963. She was originally assigned to DAMP Project by the Advanced Research Projects Agency to attempt to collect radar signature data on incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles in the Caribbean, the...
- USAS Muskingum (V-108)USS Muskingum (AK-198)USS Muskingum was an Alamosa-class cargo ship that was constructed for the U.S. Navy during the closing period of World War II. Muskingum supported the end-of-war Navy effort and was subsequently placed in service with the U.S. Army as USAT V-108...