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USS Bland (APA-134)
Encyclopedia
USS Bland (APA-134) was a acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II
for the task of transporting troops to and from combat areas.
Bland (APA-134) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 50) on 2 August 1944 at Wilmington, California, by the California Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 26 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Lawrence A. Collins, wife of the editor and publisher of the Long Beach, California, Independent; acquired by the Navy on a loan charter basis from the Maritime Commission on 14 December 1944; and commissioned at San Pedro, California, on 15 December 1944, Comdr. Laurence E. Eastman, USNR, in command.
, and amphibious
exercises at Coronado Strand, near San Diego, California
, the attack transport
departed San Pedro on 5 February 1945, bound for Seattle, Washington
. A strong southeasterly gale forced her to lie to for 15 hours on 7 and 8 February, but she finally reached her destination on the 9th. She then underwent a three-day voyage availability period before embarking 85 U.S. Army officers, 1,219 enlisted men, and 42 sailors on 16 February for transportation westward. She sailed for Hawaii
the following day.
in convoy
PD-312T. Touching briefly at Eniwetok, Bland resumed her voyage on 13 March in company with an Eniwetok-to-Guam
convoy. Reaching Apra Harbor
on the 13th, she embarked casualties from the invasion of Iwo Jima
before heading to Hawaii alone. She arrived in Pearl Harbor
on the last day of March but returned to sea again on 3 April, bound for San Francisco, California
, with a mixed roster of passengers. Diverted to San Diego en route on the 5th, she reached her new destination three days later.
The ship did not linger on the U.S. West Coast for long, but sailed for Hawaii on the 17th with 1,550 passengers and reached Pearl Harbor a week later. Over the ensuing weeks, the attack transport practiced amphibious landings at both Maui
and Oahu
. Bland sailed for the west coast on 29 May, reached San Francisco on 4 June, and disembarked 430 sailors and marines. On 6 June, she got underway for Seattle, Washington, and reached her destination two days later.
six days later. Making port at Ulithi
on the 18th, Bland proceeded on to Okinawa, sailing on 29 July with Convoy WOK-42. She arrived at Naha on 5 August, disembarking her passengers and unloading her cargo by means of her own landing craft
at Hagushi
Beach. Three days later, she sailed for Saipan
.
, the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima
(6 August) and Nagasaki (9 August). Japan's
leaders wrestled with the decision to surrender, and Bland completed her voyage, reaching Saipan on 14 August. The announcement of the war's end the following day, however, did not signal rest for the attack transport since the occupation of the former enemy's homeland still lay ahead. Ordered to the Philippines
, Bland got underway on 16 August and arrived in San Pedro Bay, Leyte
, four days later. She remained at anchor there for three days before sailing for Cebu
. At that port, she embarked 78 officers and 1,240 men of the Americal Division and sailed for Japan on 1 September.
on 9 and 10 September, Bland headed back to the Philippines with Task Group (TG) 33.3 on 10 September. Diverted once en route to Formosa
to evacuate Allied prisoners of war, Bland was rerouted again on the 12th back to her original destination, Leyte. After a three-day layover there, the attack transport sailed for Cebu where she arrived on 19 September.
on the 5th. She reached Otaru that day and began disembarking troops and discharging cargo lifted from the Philippines. Hers was part of the 10,000 men from the 77th Division and IX Corps put ashore to occupy Hokkaidō. Her part in the operation completed, Bland then sailed for Okinawa on the 7th.
.
on 5 November, Bland reached Jinsen (Inchon) the following day and embarked more dischargees before sailing for Japan on the 7th. Reaching Sasebo
on the 9th, she took on additional homeward-bound servicemen and sailed for Okinawa two days later. Arriving in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on Armistice Day 1945, Bland got underway for San Francisco three days later. While en route back to the United States, Bland rendezvoused with the Liberty Ship SS Leonidas Merritt on 20 November to take on board a man "in dire need of medical care" and diverted briefly to Midway Island the following day before resuming her homeward course. She arrived at San Francisco on 3 December 1945 and disembarked her passengers before shifting to Hunter's Point
for voyage repairs. On 15 December she sailed for the Philippines for her second Magic Carpet run.
, to the U.S. East Coast. She reached Norfolk, Virginia
, on 7 March and was decommissioned there on 27 April 1946. Bland was turned over to the War Shipping Administration
the next day, and her name was struck from the Navy list
on 8 May 1946. Placed in reserve in the James River, she was ultimately sold to the Consolidated Steel Corp. of Brownsville, Texas
, on 23 January 1974, along with sisterships , , and for scrap.
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...
for the task of transporting troops to and from combat areas.
Bland (APA-134) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 50) on 2 August 1944 at Wilmington, California, by the California Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 26 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Lawrence A. Collins, wife of the editor and publisher of the Long Beach, California, Independent; acquired by the Navy on a loan charter basis from the Maritime Commission on 14 December 1944; and commissioned at San Pedro, California, on 15 December 1944, Comdr. Laurence E. Eastman, USNR, in command.
World War II service
Following her shakedown training in the vicinity of Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, and amphibious
Amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...
exercises at Coronado Strand, near San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, the attack transport
Attack transport
Attack Transport is a United States Navy ship classification.-History:In the early 1940s, as the United States Navy expanded in response to the threat of involvement in World War II, a number of civilian passenger ships and some freighters were acquired, converted to transports and given hull...
departed San Pedro on 5 February 1945, bound for Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. A strong southeasterly gale forced her to lie to for 15 hours on 7 and 8 February, but she finally reached her destination on the 9th. She then underwent a three-day voyage availability period before embarking 85 U.S. Army officers, 1,219 enlisted men, and 42 sailors on 16 February for transportation westward. She sailed for Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
the following day.
From Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima
The ship arrived at Honolulu on Washington's Birthday and disembarked 835 men and 68 officers before embarking more westward-bound passengers, both military and civilian. She sailed for the MarshallsMarshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
in convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
PD-312T. Touching briefly at Eniwetok, Bland resumed her voyage on 13 March in company with an Eniwetok-to-Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
convoy. Reaching Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor is a deep-water port on the western side of Guam in the Mariana Islands. The harbor is formed by Orote Peninsula in the south and Cabras Island in the north. To the south, the harbor narrows and then widens again to form an inner harbor. The southern end of the harbor is the location...
on the 13th, she embarked casualties from the invasion of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
before heading to Hawaii alone. She arrived in Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on the last day of March but returned to sea again on 3 April, bound for San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, with a mixed roster of passengers. Diverted to San Diego en route on the 5th, she reached her new destination three days later.
The ship did not linger on the U.S. West Coast for long, but sailed for Hawaii on the 17th with 1,550 passengers and reached Pearl Harbor a week later. Over the ensuing weeks, the attack transport practiced amphibious landings at both Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
and Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
. Bland sailed for the west coast on 29 May, reached San Francisco on 4 June, and disembarked 430 sailors and marines. On 6 June, she got underway for Seattle, Washington, and reached her destination two days later.
Delivering troops to Okinawa
Following voyage repairs, Bland departed Seattle on 26 June, loaded with cargo and with 1,512 soldiers embarked the previous day. En route to Okinawa, the attack transport reached Eniwetok on 8 July and remained there until pushing on for the Western CarolinesCaroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
six days later. Making port at Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
on the 18th, Bland proceeded on to Okinawa, sailing on 29 July with Convoy WOK-42. She arrived at Naha on 5 August, disembarking her passengers and unloading her cargo by means of her own landing craft
Landing craft
Landing craft are boats and seagoing vessels used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. Most renowned are those used to storm the beaches of Normandy, the Mediterranean, and many Pacific islands during WWII...
at Hagushi
Hagushi
Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American supplies during the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The bay, at the mouth of the Bishi River , was the dividing line between the First and Sixth US Marine divisions, which landed on the Hagushi beaches to the north, and the Seventh...
Beach. Three days later, she sailed for Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
.
End-of-war operations
During her time at Hagushi and the ensuing voyage to the MarianasMariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
, the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
(6 August) and Nagasaki (9 August). Japan's
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
leaders wrestled with the decision to surrender, and Bland completed her voyage, reaching Saipan on 14 August. The announcement of the war's end the following day, however, did not signal rest for the attack transport since the occupation of the former enemy's homeland still lay ahead. Ordered to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Bland got underway on 16 August and arrived in San Pedro Bay, Leyte
Leyte
Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
, four days later. She remained at anchor there for three days before sailing for Cebu
Cebu
Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...
. At that port, she embarked 78 officers and 1,240 men of the Americal Division and sailed for Japan on 1 September.
Evacuating prisoners-of-war
Leaving troops and cargo at YokohamaYokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
on 9 and 10 September, Bland headed back to the Philippines with Task Group (TG) 33.3 on 10 September. Diverted once en route to Formosa
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
to evacuate Allied prisoners of war, Bland was rerouted again on the 12th back to her original destination, Leyte. After a three-day layover there, the attack transport sailed for Cebu where she arrived on 19 September.
Providing occupation troops for Hokkaidō
Bland sailed for Japan on 25 September with elements of the Army's 77th Division embarked, as part of TG 34.8, and arrived off HokkaidōHokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
on the 5th. She reached Otaru that day and began disembarking troops and discharging cargo lifted from the Philippines. Hers was part of the 10,000 men from the 77th Division and IX Corps put ashore to occupy Hokkaidō. Her part in the operation completed, Bland then sailed for Okinawa on the 7th.
China operations
After being rerouted once because of a typhoon, Bland reached Hagushi beach, Okinawa, on the 14th and, over the next few days, loaded stores. She then proceeded to an anchorage off Naga Wan, Okinawa, where she embarked men and cargo of the 1st Marine Division bound for the occupation of North China between 16 and 21 October. Underway on 21 October, Bland sailed for Tientsin and arrived off Taku Bar on the 24th. She commenced disembarking her marines the following day, but did not start discharging cargo until the 29th. She completed the entire process by 1 November and then began her "Operation Magic Carpet" duties by embarking men to be returned to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Mission of mercy at sea
Underway for KoreaKorea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
on 5 November, Bland reached Jinsen (Inchon) the following day and embarked more dischargees before sailing for Japan on the 7th. Reaching Sasebo
Sasebo, Nagasaki
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2011, the city has an estimated population of 259,800 and the density of 609 persons per km². The total area is 426.47 km². The locality is famed for its scenic beauty. The city includes a part of Saikai National Park...
on the 9th, she took on additional homeward-bound servicemen and sailed for Okinawa two days later. Arriving in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on Armistice Day 1945, Bland got underway for San Francisco three days later. While en route back to the United States, Bland rendezvoused with the Liberty Ship SS Leonidas Merritt on 20 November to take on board a man "in dire need of medical care" and diverted briefly to Midway Island the following day before resuming her homeward course. She arrived at San Francisco on 3 December 1945 and disembarked her passengers before shifting to Hunter's Point
Hunters Point, San Francisco, California
Bayview-Hunters Point or The Bayview, is a neighborhood in the southeastern corner of San Francisco, California, United States. The decommissioned Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is located within its boundaries and Candlestick Park is on the southern edge....
for voyage repairs. On 15 December she sailed for the Philippines for her second Magic Carpet run.
Post-war decommissioning
Bland completed this mission and carried out one more Magic Carpet voyage before departing San Francisco on 7 February 1946 and proceeding, via PanamaPanama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, to the U.S. East Coast. She reached Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, on 7 March and was decommissioned there on 27 April 1946. Bland was turned over to 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....
the next day, and her name was struck from the Navy list
Navy List
A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....
on 8 May 1946. Placed in reserve in the James River, she was ultimately sold to the Consolidated Steel Corp. of Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville is a city in the southernmost tip of the state of Texas, in the United States. It is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, directly north and across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Brownsville is the 16th largest city in the state of Texas with a population of...
, on 23 January 1974, along with sisterships , , and for scrap.