Attack transport

USS American Legion was a Harris-class attack transport launched in 1919 that saw extensive service in World War II

Soldiers climb down netting on the sides of the attack transport USS McCawley on 14 June 1943, rehearsing for landings on New Georgia

A loaded Bayfield-class attack transport, USS Hamblen, underway

Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from commercial shipping fleets – that rely on either a quay or tenders, attack transports carry their own fleet of landing craft.

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 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.

Classification

In the early 1940s, as the United States Navy expanded in response to the threat of involvement in World War II, a number of civilian passenger ships and some freighters were acquired, converted to transports and given hull numbers in the AP series. Some of these were outfitted with heavy boat davits and other arrangements to enable them to handle landing craft] for amphibious assault 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 attack transport (APA) was created and numbers assigned to fifty-eight APs (AP #s 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.

The actual reclassification of these ships was not implemented until February 1943, by which time two ships that had APA numbers assigned (USS Joseph Hewes and USS Edward Rutledge) had been lost. Another two transports sunk in 1942, USS George F. Elliott and USS Leedstown, 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") 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 Mariner-class freighters.

Classes

Classes of attack transports included:

In use

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.

Demise

By the end of the 1950s, it was clear that boats would soon be superseded by amphibious tractors (LVTs) and 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 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'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.^[1]

See also

• Amphibious cargo ship (AKA/LKA). Nearly identical ships used to transport vehicles, supplies and landing craft.
• Landing Ship Infantry (Large)

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
• APA/LPA -- Attack Transports by the US Naval Historical Center

Haskell-class attack transports
United States Navy	Completed Haskell Hendry Highlands Hinsdale Hocking Kenton Kittson La Grange Lanier St. Mary's Allendale Arenac Marvin H. McIntyre Attala Bandera Barnwell Beckham Bland Bosque Botetourt Bowie Braxton Broadwater Brookings Buckingham Clearfield Clermont Clinton Colbert Collingsworth Cottle Crockett Audubon Bergen La Porte Latimer Laurens Lowndes Lycoming Mellette Napa Newberry Darke Deuel Dickens Drew Eastland Edgecombe Effingham Fond du Lac Freestone Gage Gallatin Gosper Granville Grimes Hyde Jerauld Karnes Kershaw Kingsbury Lander Lauderdale Lavaca Oconto Olmstead Oxford Pickens Pondera Rutland Sanborn Sandoval Lenawee Logan Lubbock McCracken Magoffin Marathon Menard Menifee Meriwether Sarasota Sherburne / Range Sentinel Sibley Mifflin Talladega Tazewell Telfair Missoula Montrose Mountrail Natrona Navarro Neshoba New Kent Noble Okaloosa Okanogan Oneida Pickaway Pitt Randall Bingham Rawlins Renville Rockbridge Rockingham Rockwall Saint Croix San Saba Sevier Bollinger Bottineau Bronx Bexar Dane Glynn Cancelled APA-181 — APA-186 Harnett Hempstead Iredell Luzerne Medera Maricopa McLennan Mecklenburg
Spanish Navy	Aragón (ex-Noble)
Preceded by: Frederick Funston class Followed by: Paul Revere class
List of United States Navy amphibious warfare ships

1. ↑ AWAY ALL BOATS