Attack Transports
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Attack transport is a
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
ship classification for a variant of ocean-going
troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable to land troops directly on shore, typic ...
adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from the merchant fleet – that rely on either a
quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...
or tenders, attack transports carry their own fleet of
landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...
, such as the landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) or Higgins boat. They are not to be confused with landing ships, which beach themselves to bring their troops directly ashore, or their general British equivalent, the landing ship, infantry. A total of 388 APA (troop) and AKA (cargo) attack transports were built for service in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in at least fifteen classes. Depending on class they were armed with one or two 5-inch guns and a variety of 40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft weapons. By the late 1960s, 41 of these ships were redesignated with the hull symbol ''(LPA) landing platform, amphibious'', but they all retained their names and hull numbers.


Classification

In the early 1940s, as the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
expanded in response to the threat of involvement in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, a number of civilian
passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...
s and some freighters were acquired, converted to transports and given
hull number A hull number is a serial identification number given to a boat or ship. For the military, a lower number implies an older vessel. For civilian use, the Hull Identification Number (HIN) is used to trace the boat's history. The precise usage varie ...
s in the AP series. Some of these were outfitted with heavy boat
davit Boat suspended from Welin Quadrant davits; the boat is mechanically 'swung out' Gravity multi-pivot on Scandinavia'' file:Bossoir a gravité.jpg, Gravity Roller Davit file:Davits-starbrd.png, Gravity multi-pivot davit holding rescue vessel on ...
s and other arrangements to enable them to handle
landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...
for
amphibious assault Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducte ...
operations. In 1942, when the AP number series had already extended beyond 100, it was decided that these amphibious warfare ships really constituted a separate category of warship from conventional transports. Therefore, the new classification of ''auxiliary personnel, attack (APA)'' was created and numbers assigned to fifty-eight APs (AP Nos. 2, 8-12, 14-18, 25-27, 30, 34-35, 37-40, 48-52, 55-60, 64-65 and 78-101) then in commission or under construction. APA are in the classification of US Navy
auxiliary ship An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense. Auxili ...
s. The actual reclassification of these ships was not implemented until February 1943, by which time two ships that had APA numbers assigned ( and ) had been lost. Another two transports sunk in 1942, and , were also configured as attack transports but did not survive to be reclassified as such. As World War II went on, dozens of new construction merchant ships of the United States Maritime Commission's S4, C2, C3 and VC2 ("
Victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...
") types were converted to attack transports, taking the list of APA numbers to 247, though fourteen ships (APAs 181-186 and APAs 240-247) were cancelled before completion. In addition, as part of the 1950s modernization of the Navy's amphibious force with faster ships, two more attack transports (APA-248 and APA-249) were converted from new Type C4-class ships, the s.


Classes

Classes of attack transports included: * (2 ships) ** both built by the
Furness Shipbuilding Company The Furness Shipbuilding Company was a shipbuilding company in Haverton Hill, Stockton on Tees, England. It was established during the First World War and operated from 1917 until 1979. The company was dissolved multiple times since but thes ...
and acquired by the navy in 1940 ** , originally AP-10 ** , AP-11 * (5 ships) ** all built by the
Alameda Works Shipyard The Alameda Works Shipyard, in Alameda, California, United States, was one of the largest and best equipped shipyards in the country. The only building remaining from the yard is the Union Iron Works Powerhouse, which is listed on the National ...
as merchant ships ca. 1918 and acquired by the navy in 1940 ** , AP-12 ** ** , AP-14 ** , AP-15 ** , AP-16 * , AP-17 * * * * (8 ships) *
Type P1 ship The Type P1 ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II passenger ships. P1 was used in World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. Type P1 were the smallest of the P-class ships, at long. Two P1-S2-L2 sh ...
** (2 ships) * Type S4 ship ** (32 ships) *
Victory Ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by American shipyards during World War II. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slightly larger and had more powerful steam turbine engin ...
** (117 ships) *
Type C2 ship Type C2 ships were designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in 1937–38. They were all-purpose cargo ships with five holds, and U.S. shipyards built 328 of them from 1939 to 1945. Compared to ships built before 1939, the C2s we ...
** (3 ships) ** (4 ships) *
Type C3 ship Type C3-class ships were the third type of cargo ship designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in the late 1930s. As it had done with the Type C1 ships and Type C2 ships, MARCOM circulated preliminary plans for comment. The de ...
** (3 ships) ** (4 ships) ** (2 ships) ** (9 ships) ** (34 ships) ** (7 ships) *
Type C4 ship The Type C4-class ship were the largest cargo ships built by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) during World War II. The design was originally developed for the American-Hawaiian Lines in 1941, but in late 1941 the plans were taken ov ...
** (2 ship)


In use

During World War II, attack transport served in the Pacific Theatre, taking part in many of the Navy's
island hopping Leapfrogging was an amphibious military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea was to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to capture every island i ...
campaigns. Some attack transports were assigned to the European Theatre, participating in the invasions of
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
,
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
and
Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
. The last use was for the final WW2
Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa Island, Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War, Impe ...
.Keegan: ''The Times Atlas of the Second World War'' pg. 169The National Archives: Heroes and Villains
Retrieved July 22, 2015.
Despite an impressive assembly of forces, the Aleutian campaign and the Northern Pacific Theater ranked as Admiral Nimitz's third priority in the overall Pacific Theater for receiving materiel and support. As a result, only attack transport (APA) ships were assigned for the assault, without support from any companion attack cargo (AKA) ships. This created extreme logistics burdens for the invasion force because it resulted in considerable overloading of the transports with both men and equipment. To compound problems, these forces were not able to assemble or train together before executing the Aleutian invasion on 11 May 1943. Lack of equipment and training subsequently resulted in confusion during the landings on Attu.


Notable incidents

* was torpedoed off Cape Palos, Spain, 7 November 1942, and abandoned after going aground in Algiers Harbor, 25 November 1942. * on 12 November 1942 was torpedoed by ''U-130'' off Fedala Bay, Morocco commanded by Ernst Kals who slipped past the escort screen to sink three transports. ''Edward Rutledge''s crew attempted to beach her but all power had been lost; she settled rapidly by the stern and sank with the loss of 15 men. * on 11 November 1942 took a
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
hit in No. 2 hold from ''U-173'' during the Naval Battle of Casablanca. The transport settled by the bow and began filling rapidly with water and the order was given to abandon ship. Sank with Captain Smith and approximately 100 seamen. * was sunk by enemy action off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal on 13 August 1943. * had kamikaze attack damage on 1 April 1945 at
Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
. Over 15 men were killed. The extensive engine room damage was later repaired. * had kamikaze attack damage on 2 April 1945 at Okinawa. 37 Navy and 14 Army personnel were killed. At 1828 two 250-pound bombs penetrated two deck levels and exploded on the main deck, resulting in fires and flooding that were not brought under control until 2100. * on 2 April 1945 was hit by kamikaze attack at Okinawa; the plane hit the side of the ship then dropped into the sea. She was later repaired. * on 13 August 1945 in
Buckner Bay is a bay on the southern coast of Okinawa Island on the Pacific Ocean in Japan. The bay covers and ranges between to deep. The bay is surrounded by the municipalities of Uruma, Kitanakagusuku, Nakagusuku, Nishihara, Yonabaru, Nanjō, all ...
, Okinawa was damaged in last kamikaze attack of WW2, 21 sailors killed and 89 wounded. * had mine damage on 17 September 1945, off Okinawa, this caused the death of three men and damaged the ship extensively.


Demise

By the end of the 1950s, it was clear that boats would soon be superseded by amphibious tractors (LVTs) and
air assault Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, such as helicopters, to seize and hold key terrain that has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind enemy l ...
helicopters for landing combat assault troops. These could not be supported by attack transports in the numbers required, and new categories of amphibious ships began to replace APAs throughout the 1960s. By 1969, when the surviving attack transports were redesignated as "amphibious transports" (LPA) (retaining their previous numbers), only a few remained in commissioned service. The last of these were decommissioned in 1980 and sold abroad, leaving only a few thoroughly obsolete World War II era hulls still laid up in the
Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issu ...
's reserve fleet. The APA/LPA designation may, therefore, now be safely considered extinct.


In fiction

The 1956 movie '' Away All Boats'' presents operations on an attack transport. It was based on a popular novel of the same name, written by an officer who served on one during World War 2.AWAY ALL BOATS
/ref>


See also

*
Amphibious cargo ship Amphibious cargo ships were U.S. Navy ships designed specifically to carry troops, heavy equipment and supplies in support of amphibious assaults, and to provide naval gunfire support during those assaults. A total of 108 of these ships were bui ...
(AKA/LKA). Nearly identical ships used to transport vehicles, supplies and landing craft. * Landing ship, infantry * High-speed transport APD


References

*
APA/LPA -- Attack Transports
by the US
Naval Historical Center The Naval History and Heritage Command, formerly the Naval Historical Center, is an Echelon II command responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage located at the historic Washington Navy Yard ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:attack transport Ship types United States Navy in the 20th century Amphibious warfare vessels