APA / LPA attack transport

In the early 1940s, as the US Navy expanded in response to the threat of involvement in World War II, a large number of civilian passenger ships and larger 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 United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... This article is becoming very long. ... A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. ... Cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship that carries goods and materials from one port to another. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Landing craft Rapière LCU 1656 departs USS Bataan (LHD-5) well deck during Hurricane Katrina relief operations. ... Amphibious Assault began when 17-year-old, former Kittie guitarist, Fallon Bowman was on a plane from Ontario to New Jersey, skimming through a Tom Clancy novel when she came upon the term amphibious assault. ...

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 (AP-50) and USS Edward Rutledge (AP-52)) had been lost. Another two transports sunk in 1942, USS George F. Elliot (AP-13) and USS Leedstown (AP-73), were also configured as attack transports but did not survive to be reclassified as such. 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ...

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, instead of the more desirable 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 1943-05-11. Lack of equipment and training subsequently resulted in confusion during the landings on Attu. Combatants United States, Canada Japan Commanders Thomas C. Kinkaid (navy) Francis W. Rockwell (landings) Albert E. Brown (army) Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... Attu is the name of an island in Alaska and of a LORAN station on that island. ...

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. Categories: Stub ... The Victory ship was a type of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. ...

However, by the end of that decade, 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. The Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) was an amphibious vehicle used by the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Army during World War II. It was widely known as amphtrack, amtrak, amtrac etc. ... Mil (Russian Federation) Mi-8, one of the most common model of military helicopter in the world with more than 12 thousand units built, sixfold quantity comparing to production of the second most common model UH-1 Iroquois. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

Reference

• PD article this is copied from by the US Naval Historical Center