USS Shoshone (AKA-65)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Career
USS Shoshone
Laid down:	12 May 1944
Launched:	17 July 1944
Commissioned:	24 September 1944
Decommissioned:	28 June 1946
Struck:	19 July 1946
Fate:	Merchant service to 1971, then scrapped
General Characteristics
Hull Type:	C2-S-AJ3
Displacement:	6,318 tons
Length:	459 ft 2 in (140 m)
Beam:	63 ft (19.2 m)
Draft:	26 ft 4 in (8.0 m)
Speed:	16.5 knots (31 km/h)
Complement:	395
Armament:	1 × 5 in (127 mm)/ 38 caliber dual purpose gun mount, 4 × twin 40 mm gun mounts, 16 × 20 mm gun mounts

USS Shoshone (AKA-65) was a Tolland class attack cargo ship named after a river in Wyoming. She was designed to carry military cargo and landing craft, and to use the latter to land weapons, supplies, and Marines on enemy shores during amphibious operations. USS Shoshone served as a commissioned ship for 21 months.

She was laid down on 12 May 1944 under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1388) by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina; launched on 17 July 1944; sponsored by Mrs. N. J. Smith; and commissioned on 24 September 1944, Lt. Comdr. Stanley E. Melville, USNR, in command.

Prior to her definitive commissioning, Shoshone had been in commission from 31 August to 4 September 1944 for the voyage from Wilmington, North Carolina, to the Charleston Navy Yard, where she completed fitting out. She arrived at Norfolk on 5 October 1944 and underwent shakedown training in Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay from 7 October to 18 October. After repairs, she arrived at Bayonne, New Jersey, on 26 October to load cargo for the Pacific. Underway from Bayonne on 2 November, she transited the Panama Canal on the 9th and arrived on the 22nd at Pearl Harbor, where she discharged her cargo. After undergoing amphibious training from 6 December to 16 December, she loaded assault cargo and personnel of the 5th Marines at Maui, T. H., from 4 January to 9 January 1945. She underwent additional training between 12 January and 14 January; but, on 13 January, USS Muliphen (AKA-61) rammed her stern, necessitating repairs at Pearl Harbor from 14 January to 25 January.

Shoshone departed Pearl Harbor on 25 January and arrived at Saipan on 11 February. She participated in an invasion rehearsal off Tinian on 12 February and departed Saipan on 16 February for the invasion of Iwo Jima. She arrived off Iwo Jima early on 19 February, sent her boats to help offload troops from the attack transports, and discharged small amounts of high priority cargo as called for by the troops ashore. On 26 February, general unloading of cargo began, and Shoshone completed unloading on 1 March and departed Iwo Jima the same day.

Shoshone arrived at Saipan on 4 March and completed loading personnel and equipment of the 2d Marine Division on 8 March. She underwent training at Tinian between 17 March and 19 March, and departed Saipan on 27 March for the Okinawa invasion. She arrived off Okinawa on 1 April, but never landed her troops there—she was ordered to a position 350 miles southeast of Okinawa on 7 April; and, on 11 April, was ordered to return to Saipan. Arriving there on 14 April, she offloaded her troops and supplies on 23 May.

On 4 June 1945, Shoshone departed Saipan; and. for the next three months, she carried cargo between Western Pacific bases. She arrived at Manila on 10 September and sailed on 17 September as part of a force carrying occupation troops of the 81st Army Division and other 8th Army units to Aomori, Honshū, Japan. She arrived there on 25 September, moved to Otaru Harbor, Hokkaido, on 5 October; and offloaded her troops and supplies on 6 October and 7 October. Departing Hokkaido on 12 October, she loaded additional Army troops and equipment at Leyte Gulf between 21 October and 29 October, and arrived at Aomori, Honshu, on 5 November.

On 19 November, Shoshone sailed from Japan for Seattle with 411 homeward-bound servicemen. Arriving on 29 November, she underwent repairs until 23 December, when she sailed for San Francisco. Between 6 January and 15 February 1946, she made a round-trip from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor; and, on 16 May, she departed San Francisco with supplies for Kwajalein and Guam. Departing Guam on 25 April, she transited the Panama Canal on 18 May and 19 May and arrived at Norfolk, Va., on 24 May for deactivation. Shoshone was decommissioned on 28 June, transferred to the War Shipping Administration on 30 June and struck from the Navy list on 19 July 1946. Sold into mercantile service as Alameda in 1947, she was renamed Hawaiian Trader in 1961, Short Hills in 1961, Colorado in 1964, and U. S. Mate in 1966, before being scrapped in 1971 at Kaohsiung, Taiwan.