USS Sumter (APA-52) was a that served with the US Navy during World War II

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...

.

APA-52 was the second US Navy vessel named Sumter. The ship was laid down on 3 April 1943 as Iberville by Gulf Shipbuilding of Chickasaw, Alabama

Chickasaw, Alabama

Chickasaw is a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. As of July 2007, the population was 5,979. It is included in the Mobile metropolitan statistical area.-Geography:Chickasaw is located at . According to the U.S...

, for the Waterman Steamship Company; launched on 4 October 1942; sponsored by Mrs. J. F. McRae; and acquired by the Navy on 30 April 1943 as AP-97. She was converted into an attack transport (APA-52) by the Maryland Drydock Company

Maryland Drydock Company

The Maryland Drydock Company was a shipbuilding company that operated in Baltimore, Maryland during the 20th century.The company started life in 1920 as the Globe Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Maryland. Its President at this time was B. C. Cooke. The company bought land along the Patapsco...

 of Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, and commissioned on 1 September 1943, Capt. A. D. Blackledge in command.

World War II

Sumter sailed to Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 and completed fitting out at the Norfolk Navy Yard. She then loaded a complement of 31 landing craft and a Beach Party unit before sailing to the West Coast where she became the flagship of Transport Division (TransDiv) 26. She spent most of December 1943 conducting landing exercises off San Clemente, California

San Clemente, California

San Clemente is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 63,522 at the 2010 census. Located on the California Coast, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego at the southern tip of the county, it is known for its ocean, hill, and mountain views, a pleasant climate and its Spanish...

, with elements of the 25th Regimental Combat Team, 4th Marine Division.

Invasion of Marshall Islands

Sumter stood out of San Diego on 13 January 1944 en route to Lahaina Roads

Lahaina Roads

Lahaina Roads, also called the Lahaina Roadstead is a channel of the Pacific Ocean in the Hawaiian Islands. The surrounding islands of Maui, and Lānai make it a sheltered anchorage....

, 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...

, to rendezvous with other units of Task Force (TF) 53, the Northern Attack Force for the Marshall Islands

Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign

In the Pacific Theater of World War II, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, from November 1943 through February 1944, were key strategic operations of the United States Pacific Fleet and Marine Corps in the Central Pacific. The campaign was preceded by a raid on Makin Island by U.S...

 operation. She arrived there on 21 January and the force sortied the next day. Sumter and three other transports landed three battalion landing teams of the 25th Marines on the atolls of Ennumennet and Ennubirr on 31 January to establish field artillery positions in support of the main landings at Roi

ROI

-Roi:Roi may refer to:*Roi, a 1993 song by The Breeders in their album Last Splash*Roi Et and Roi Et province in Thailand*Roi Klein, an Israeli Defense major*Roi-Namur, an island in the Marshall Islands...

 and Namur

Roi-Namur

Roi-Namur is an island in the northern part of the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands.Occupied by Japanese forces prior to World War II, it was the target of the U.S. 4th Marine Division in the Battle of Kwajalein, in February 1944....

.

Sumter completed landing all of her troops by 3 February and sailed the next day for the South Pacific for amphibious training. After exercises in New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

 and the Ellice and Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

, she returned to 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 8 April.

Invasion of Saipan

As a component of Task Group (TG) 54.4, Admiral R. K. Turner's Northern Attack Force for the invasion of 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...

 and Tinian

Tinian

Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....

, the transport again loaded elements of the 4th Marine Division and sailed on 29 May. The attack force refueled at Eniwetok and was off the landing beaches at Saipan before daybreak on 15 June. Covered by an intensive air-sea bombardment, and receiving incoming fire from enemy artillery, mortars, and automatic weapons, the assault wave of marines landed at 0843.

The transport remained off the beaches until the 24th when she sailed to Eniwetok

Enewetak

Enewetak Atoll is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its land area totals less than , surrounding a deep central lagoon, in circumference...

 and Pearl Harbor. Before leaving Saipan

Battle of Saipan

The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June-9 July 1944. The Allied invasion fleet embarking the expeditionary forces left Pearl Harbor on 5 June 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was...

, she had sent more supplies and equipment to Blue Beach One, treated wounded direct from the beaches and, prior to sailing, received on board an additional 85 battle casualties from LST-218.

Invasion of Palaus

Sumter arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 July and trained there until 12 August when she was routed to Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

 for additional amphibious exercises with the 81st Infantry Division. She sailed from Lunga Point

Lunga Point

Lunga Point is a promontory on the northern coast of Guadalcanal, the site of a naval battle during World War II. It was also the name of a nearby airfield, later named Henderson Field....

, on 8 September, with the troops embarked to participate in the invasion of the Palau Islands.

After landing advance assault troops and a Beach Party at Anguar on the 15th, she stood off the island as the floating reserve for the 1st Marine Division's attack on Peleliu Island

Battle of Peleliu

The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, was fought between the United States and the Empire of Japan in the Pacific Theater of World War II, from September–November 1944 on the island of Peleliu, present-day Palau. U.S...

. The transport landed troops of the 81st Division on Anguar on 17 September and remained as a casualty evacuation ship until sailing to Manus, Admiralty Islands, on the 23d.

Invasion of the Philippines

Sumter was routed from there to Finschhafen

Finschhafen

Finschhafen is a district on the northeast coast of the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea. It is named after the port of the same name.The port was discovered in 1884 by the German researcher Otto Finsch. In 1885 the German colony of German New Guinea created a town on the site and named it...

, New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, where she embarked men of the 10th Army Corps and sailed with Reinforcement Group 1 for the Philippine Islands. The troops were landed at San Pedro Bay

San Pedro Bay (Philippines)

San Pedro Bay is a bay in the Philippines, at the northwest end of Leyte Gulf, about 15 km east-west and 20 km north-south. The bay is bounded on the north and east by Samar and on the east by Leyte Island. It is connected by San Juanico Strait to Carigara Bay of the Samar Sea. The...

 on 2 October, two days after the initial assault. The ship steamed 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...

, loaded elements of the 77th army Division and disembarked them at 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...

 on 23 November. She next steamed south to New Guinea and Sansapor. At the latter port, she loaded troops of the 6th Army Division and sailed with the San Fabian

San Fabián

San Fabián is one of 21 communes in the Ñuble Province of central Chile's Biobío Region. The capital is the town of San Fabián de Alico. The commune spans an area of .-Administration:...

 Attack Force on 30 December 1944 for the Lingayen Gulf

Lingayen Gulf

The Lingayen Gulf is an extension of the South China Sea on Luzon in the Philippines stretching . It is framed by the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union and sits between the Zambales Mountains and the Cordillera Central...

 area of the Philippines.

Invasion of Lingayen

On 8 January 1945 a kamikaze

Kamikaze

The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....

 plane crashed into approximately 600 yards ahead of Sumter, and Sumter took over as formation guide. The next morning the assault troops, including those from Callaway, were landed on the Lingayen beaches. She steamed back to San Pedro

San Pedro, Los Angeles, California

San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area...

 three days later and made a turn around voyage back to Lingayen with reinforcements which were landed on the 27th. She sailed for Seeadler Harbor

Seeadler Harbor

Seeadler Harbor, also known as Port Seeadler, is located on Manus Island, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and played an important role in World War II...

 and voyage repairs, thence to the Solomon Islands.

Invasion of Okinawa

Sumter arrived at Guadalcanal on 19 February 1945 and began amphibious exercises with the 22d Regimental Combat Team of the 6th Marine Division in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa

Battle of Okinawa

The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...

. She stood out of the Guadalcanal area on 14 March for 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...

, Caroline Islands

Caroline 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...

, where final staging was completed. The invasion force sortied on the 27th, and Sumter arrived off the beaches near Yontan Airfield in the early morning of 1 April. After landing 1,352 marines of the assault waves, the transport remained off the beach until sailing for the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, via the Mariana Islands

Mariana 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...

 and Pearl Harbor, on 5 April.

Sumter arrived at San Pedro, California, on 30 April for overhaul. Following repairs, she trained in the San Diego area until 21 July when she sailed for the Phillppine Islands loaded with army troops. After calling at the Marshall and Caroline Islands, the ship arrived in San Pedro Bay

San Pedro Bay (California)

San Pedro Bay is an inlet on the Pacific Ocean coast of southern California, United States. It is the site of the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which together form the fifth-busiest port facility in the world and easily the busiest in the Western Hemisphere...

 on 15 August, as hostilities with Japan

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...

 ceased.

After hostilities

The transport embarked a contingent of the Army 33rd Infantry Division and departed for Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 on 9 September. The troops were landed at Wakayama, Honshū

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

, on 25 September; and Sumter headed back to the Philippines for more Army occupation troops which were disembarked at Matsuyama, Japan. She returned to Subic Bay

Subic Bay

Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...

 on 1 November and embarked Navy veterans for transportation to the United States.

Sumter arrived at 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...

, on 22 November 1945 and remained there until 25 January 1946 when she moved to San Pedro, California, to unload her 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...

. Five days later, she sailed from there for the East Coast, via the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

. The ship arrived at New Orleans on 15 February but left there the following month for Mobile, Alabama

Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

.

Decommission

Sumter was decommissioned on 19 March in the yard of the Gulf Shipbuilding Corp., Chickasaw, Alabama, and struck from the Navy List on 17 April 1946. She was returned to custody of 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....

 on 1 August 1946 for disposal.

Commercial service

After being sold by the Navy, Sumter was converted into a container ship at Mobile SR Inc., of Chickasaw, Alabama in September 1957. She was scrapped at Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

in October 1978.