USS ''Darke'' (APA-159) was a in service with the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1974.

History

''Darke'' was a

Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were sli ...

design, VC2-S-AP5 and was named after

Darke County, Ohio Darke County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,881. Its county seat is Greenville. The county was created in 1809 and later organized in 1817. It is named for William Darke, an officer in the ...

, United States. She was launched 29 August 1944 by Oregon Shipbuilding Corp.,

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, under a

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

contract; sponsored by Mrs. J. Hanson; transferred to the Navy 10 October 1944; and commissioned the same day.

World War II

Departing

Port Hueneme, California Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits. P ...

, 4 December 1944, ''Darke'' joined in training in Hawaiian waters from 10 December to 27 January 1945, then sailed to Saipan for rehearsal landings. On 16 February she cleared for Iwo Jima, landing men of the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines, 5th Marine Division during the assault on 19 February. She lay off the bitterly contested island unloading cargo and receiving casualties until 25 February when she sailed for Saipan, arriving 5 March. She sailed to

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...

to embark

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

troops, and carried them by way of Saipan to

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the larges ...

, staging point for the invasion of Okinawa. ''Darke'' landed these men as reinforcements at

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

from 9 to 14 April, returning to Ulithi 23 April to replenish. Loading two new LCMs at

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, she got underway for San Pedro Bay,

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

, arriving 29 May for duty training Army troops until the end of the war. From 27 August to 6 October 1945 ''Darke'' made two voyages carrying troops from San Pedro Bay to Japan for the occupation. Assigned to "Magic Carpet" duty returning servicemen eligible for discharge to the United States, she cleared Hiro, Honshū, 11 October, embarking passengers at Guam, Guadalcanal, and

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and ...

and arriving at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

18 November. From 30 November 1945 to 3 February 1946 she made two more voyages to bring home veterans from

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with i ...

, and

Kwajalein Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civil ...

. On 10 February she got underway from San Francisco for the East Coast, arriving at

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

27 February. ''Darke'' was decommissioned 17 April 1946 and transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 22 April 1946.

Decommissioning and fate

Ex-''Darke'' was laid up in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

James River, Virginia The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

. Between 26 January and 14 March 1955 she was withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet for a Repair Program, GAA- Polarus, and returned. Ex-''Darke'' was sold for $732,500 to Union Minerals & Alloys Corporation for scrapping on 16 July 1974. At 1110 EDT, on 5 September 1974 she was withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet and sent to the breaker's yard.

Awards

''Darke'' received two

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

s for World War II service.

References

External links

NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive - USS ''Darke'' (APA-159)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darke (APA-159) Haskell-class attack transports Darke County, Ohio World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Ships built in Portland, Oregon 1944 ships