| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Mercer |
| Namesake: | Mercer County |
| Builder: | Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts |
| Laid down: | 24 August 1944 |
| Launched: | 17 November 1944 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. Lillian Gaudette |
| Commissioned: | 19 September 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 18 June 1947 |
| Renamed: | Mercer, 14 March 1945 |
| Reclassified: | APB-39, 7 August 1944 |
| Recommissioned: | 12 October 1951 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 February 1956 |
| Recommissioned: | 11 May 1968 |
| Decommissioned: | Date unknown |
| In service: | 1 November 1975 |
| Reclassified: | Miscellaneous Auxiliary IX-502, date unknown Barracks Ship APL-39, 7 March 2001 |
| Honors and awards: |
4 campaign stars, Presidential Unit Citation and Navy Unit Commendation (Vietnam) |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2012[update] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Benewah-class barracks ship |
| Displacement: | 4,080 long tons (4,145 t) |
| Length: | 328 ft (100 m) |
| Beam: | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Draft: | 11 ft 2 in (3.40 m) |
| Speed: | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Troops: | 1,226 |
| Complement: | 141 |
| Armament: | • 8 × 40 mm guns • 8 × 20 mm guns |
The second USS Mercer (APB-39/IX-502/APL-39) is a Benewah-class barracks ship of the United States Navy. Originally classified as Barracks Craft APL-39, the ship was reclassified as Self-Propelled Barracks Ship APB-39 on 7 August 1944. Laid down on 24 August 1944 by Boston Navy Yard, and launched on 17 November 1944 as APB-39, sponsored by Mrs. Lillian Gaudette, the ship was named Mercer, after counties in eight states, on 14 March 1945, and commissioned on 19 September 1945, Lt. Comdr. Edward E. Vezey, Jr., USNR, in command.[1]
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Mercer, a barracks ship built on an LST hull, commenced her career of berthing and messing large numbers of naval personnel at New York on 7 November 1945. Transferred to the Inactive Fleet in January 1946, she remained at New York until 9 September, when she got underway for Orange, Texas, and duty there until the spring of 1947. She then headed for Green Cove Springs, Florida, where she decommissioned on 18 June 1947, but remained in service with the Florida Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet.[1]
She recommissioned on 12 October 1951 and after brief overhaul sailed for Norfolk, Virginia, en route to Naples, Italy, where she served as a receiving ship until 1 July 1952.[1]
Returning to the United States on 21 July, she underwent overhaul and reported to Davisville, Rhode Island, for duty as barracks ship for Mobile Construction Battalions. On such duty into late 1955, Mercer was thrice deployed to Argentia, Newfoundland from 19 March to 3 October 1953, 14 March to 18 October 1954, and 27 February to 25 July 1955. Her Seabee duty was interrupted when she sailed to Washington, D.C., to berth midshipmen of the United States Merchant Marine Academy taking part in President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Inaugural Parade in 1953.[1]
Upon returning from her 1955 Argentia deployment, Mercer sailed to New York for preinactivation overhaul, and 7 November sailed for Green Cove Springs where she decommissioned 17 February 1956, and once again entered the Reserve Fleet. She was ordered reactivated 11 years later and taken to Long Beach for modernization.[1]
She recommissioned on 11 May 1968 and on 2 June reported for duty with the Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet, at San Diego. Within the month she was en route to her ultimate assignment, the Republic of Vietnam. Arriving at Vung Tau on 31 July, into 1969 she supported mobile naval units fighting Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces operating in South Vietnam.[1]
Mercer left Vietnam in August 1969.[2]
Decommissioned and reclassified as Miscellaneous Auxiliary IX-502, a messing and berthing barge, she was placed in service on 1 November 1975 at the US Naval Ship Repair Facility, Sasebo, Japan.[3]
Reclassified as Barracks Ship (non-self propelled) APL-39 on 7 March 2001, APL-39 is part of the CincPacFlt Berthing and Messing Program and is berthed at SRF Det. Sasebo, Japan.[3]
USS Mercer earned four campaign stars for Vietnam War service, in addition to the Presidential Unit Citation and the Navy Unit Commendation.[3]
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