.jpg) USSBingham (APA-225), 1945–1946 photograph. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Bingham |
| Namesake | Bingham County, Idaho |
| Ordered | as aType VC2-S-AP5 hull,MCE hull 573[1] |
| Builder | Permanente Metals Corporation,Richmond, California |
| Yard number | 573[1] |
| Laid down | 22 September 1944 |
| Launched | 20 November 1944 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs John V. Harrell |
| Commissioned | 23 December 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 17 June 1946 |
| Reclassified | redesignated Amphibious Transport (LPA-225), 1 January 1969 |
| Stricken | 3 July 1946 |
| Identification |
|
| Honors & awards | 1 ×battle star for World War II service |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, 17 September 1983 |
| General characteristics[2] | |
| Class & type | Haskell-classattack transport |
| Type | Type VC2-S-AP5 |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 455 ft (139 m) |
| Beam | 62 ft (19 m) |
| Draft | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 17.7 kn (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried |
|
| Capacity |
|
| Troops | 86 officers, 1,475 enlisted |
| Complement | 56 officers, 480 enlisted |
| Armament |
|
| Service record | |
| Part of: | TransRon 24 |
| Operations: | Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto (24–30 June 1945) |
| Awards: | |
USSBingham (APA-225) was aHaskell-classattack transport that saw service with theUS Navy in World War II. She was of the VC2-S-AP5Victory ship design type and named afterBingham County, Idaho.
Pickaway was laid down 22 September 1944, underMaritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCV hull 573, byPermanente Metals Corporation, Yard No. 2,Richmond, California; launched on 20 November 1944; sponsored by Mrs. John V. Harrell; commissioned builder's yard on 23 December 1944.[3]
Followingshakedown training off the coast of southernCalifornia, during which her crew "received intensive drilling inamphibious boat operations" offOceanside andCoronado, the attack transport underwent availability at theStandard Shipbuilding Corporation's dock,San Pedro, from 5 to 13 February 1945.[3]
She loaded supplies atLos Angeles and then proceeded toSan Francisco, before heading thence toPort Chicago, to load ammunition forHawaii. She arrived there late on 22 February; commenced loading the next morning; and, after taking on 2,900 short tons (2,600 t) of assorted ammunition as cargo, got underway for Hawaii on the afternoon of 28 February.[3]
Steaming independently in worsening weather,Bingham encountered "very rough seas" which caused the ship to roll as much as 40 degrees to a side, "recovering very slowly." By late afternoon, the storm had wrenched eight life rafts loose from theirmoorings. Throughout the night of 1 March,Bingham constantly deviated from her "routed track in an effort to lessen the effects of the sea." Thesqually, rainy weather continued the next day, butBingham had passed the worst of it. She made landfall offOahu on the morning of 6 March, andPC-483 escorted her intoPearl Harbor where she moored at the Naval Ammunition Depot.[3]
Her perilous voyage over and cargo delivered safely,Bingham enjoyed a brief respite at Pearl Harbor, taking on stores and fuel while sending ashore as many officers and men as possible to attend various training courses and schools.[3]
On the morning of 27 March, her tropical idyll came to an end, and she shifted toHonolulu Harbor. After embarkingUS Army troops on 28 March, the ship sailed for theMarshalls on 29 March, in convoyPD 355T and reachedEniwetok on the afternoon of 6 April.[3]
The following day, in company withLanier andSteele,Bingham pushed on toward theMarianas. She and her consorts reachedSaipan on the morning of 10 April. Two days later, having disembarked her troops there,Bingham got underway for Hawaii and reached Pearl Harbor on 21 April.[3]
During the first half of May,Bingham took part in amphibious warfare training off Maui. Returning from these evolutions to Pearl Harbor on 14 April, she took on board the Navy's74th Construction Battalion ("Seabees") between 15 and 20 May, and sailed for the Marshall Islands on 20 May.[3]
After steaming in convoy withColbert,Lander, and SSRobin Wentley withLeHardy andEnright as escort,Bingham dropped out of the convoy on the morning of 22 May, because of a bad gasket leak in a high pressure steam line. WhileEnright stood by,Bingham made emergency repairs. By 11:15,Bingham could get underway to overtake the convoy, and she andEnright had resumed their stations in the convoy by 19:27. Arriving at Eniwetok on the afternoon of 28 May,Bingham refueled fromMeredosia and got underway forUlithi on 5 June. From there, she set sail for theRyukyus with Task Unit (TU) 94.18.2 on 20 June.[3]
At 05:42 on 24 June,Bingham was detached from the task unit and directed to proceed to the eastern coast ofOkinawa with SSWhite Swallow andClermont. The three ships enteredNakagusuku Wan shortly after 08:00 and anchored about 3,000 yd (2,700 m) off the town ofYonabaru, a place nearly destroyed by the recent fighting. Early that afternoon,Bingham began landing her "Seabees" and Army passengers. She went togeneral quarters at 21:52, securing at 22:33 when no enemy planes came near her. The next few days brought more of the same.Bingham continued disembarking passengers and discharging her varied cargo intotank landing craft (LCT) and her ownLCM's. To quote her war diary, "Unloading continued day and night except for interruptions for enemy air alerts on the nights of the 25, 27, and 29 June."[3]
Unloading completed by late on 28 June,Bingham put to sea on 30 June, in company with SSSan Bruno andKinzer. After stopping briefly atHagushi anchorage, she moved toKerama Retto on 1 July, and joined Ulithi-bound convoyOKU 10 which reached Ulithi on 5 July. Then, with 119 passengers, 21 of whom were hospital patients,Bingham sailed for the west coast on 6 July. Steaming independently, the attack transport entered San Francisco Bay on 21 July, moored at 16:00, and started disembarking her passengers. Next came an overhaul conducted by theMatson Navigation Company which lasted until early in August.Bingham then loaded supplies and cargo and stood out to sea on 9 August, bound for Hawaii.[3]
On 14 August, while the ship steamed westward, she received "conflicting radio reports thatJapan had surrendered," or had not. "Finally, about 17:00," her war diary records, "we received the announcement, confirmed byPresident Truman, that Japan had agreed to lay down her arms...."Bingham reached Pearl Harbor the following day but soon got underway for Eniwetok. Arriving there on 25 August, she fueled again fromMeredosia and then pushed on for theWestern Carolines on 27 August. She steamed in company with nine other attack transports, a destroyer escort, and two subchasers, and the convoy reached Ulithi on the last day of August.[3]
On 8 September,Bingham sailed for her second visit to Okinawa, as the command ship of a 23 ship convoy (UOK 57).Bingham reachedBuckner Bay on 11 September, and moved in closer to the beach on 12 September, nearer to Awase, where her cargo was to be landed. During the morning of 13 September, she began disembarking her passengers and unloading her cargo. About 06:00 on 16 September, however, the wind and seas began to rise "appreciably." Long swells rolled into Buckner Bay from the southeast, as a typhoon, thought to be slowly recurving northward, headed for Okinawa.Bingham put to sea "in accordance with the current typhoon plan." By the time she cleared Buckner Bay, her bow sliced into 20-foot waves, and the sea continued to rise as she doubled Okinawa's southern tip and labored on to westward.[3]
By the next morning she deemed it safe to return to port, so she came about and headed for Buckner Bay, anchoring at 19:00. After completing her cargo unloading on 18 September,Bingham shifted to the western side of the island and anchored offMachinato on 19 September. The next day, she took on board approximately 2,000 former Alliedprisoners of war "recently liberated from camps in Japan" for passage toManila.Bingham got underway at 07:00 on 21 September; but, when SSCape Diamond missed a planned rendezvous offNaha, the attack transport returned to Naha for the night.Bingham finally sailed for Manila at 17:00 on 22 September, in company withHaskell, thelead ship of her class, andLough. She moored in Manila harbor on 25 September; and, by 19:00, the former prisoners of war all had disembarked, well on their way in returning home.[3]
Bingham, however, had work yet to do. Shortly before midnight on 25 September, she began embarking some of the first 2,000 men she carried homeward inOperation "Magic Carpet". Having embarked her passengers,Bingham sailed for Hawaii the following morning, arrived at Pearl Harbor on 10 October, but got underway again the following day for the west coast.Bingham reached San Francisco on 17 October, and disembarked her passengers. The next day she shifted to theBethlehem Steel'sSan Francisco yard fordry docking and alterations. Among the latter was the conversion of her number five hold to a 312 man troop compartment. A labor dispute, however, slowed the work and prompted her move from Pier 7 to Pier 922, whereBellerophon tied up alongside on 30 October, and completed the alterations.[3]
Converted for "Magic Carpet" duty,Bingham embarked westbound passengers and sailed for the Philippines on 6 November. ReachingSamar on 19 November, she disembarked her passengers there, taking on board others bound for Manila. She then fueled fromWhippet and put to sea again on 21 November. She reached Manila on the morning of 23 November.[3]
Bingham then departed Manila on 29 November, with a "capacity load" of 2,010 passengers, eclectically composed of femaleRed Cross personnel,merchant marine officers, Army officers and enlisted men. Proceeding alone, she reached San Francisco on 16 December. Her passengers disembarked by 10:00, she moved toHunters Point, where she remained for the rest of December 1945, undergoing further alterations and repairs. During this period, all of her ammunition supply and all but two 20-millimenter guns were removed.[3]
Bingham made one final round trip voyage to the Philippines and back as part of the "Magic Carpet" before sailing for the east coast of the United States on 28 March 1946.[3]
The attack transport reachedNorfolk, Virginia, on 3 May, and was decommissioned there on 17 June 1946.Bingham was returned to theWar Shipping Administration (WSA) the next day and laid up in theNational Defense Reserve Fleet,James River Group,Lee Hall, Virginia. She was struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 3 July 1946.[3]
She was briefly removed from the fleet 11 May 1955, byA.L. Burbank Company, Ltd., until 20 June 1955, under a Repair Program.[4]
On 1 January 1969, she was redesignatedLPA-225. In May 1975, her title was transferred from the Navy to theMaritime Administration (MARAD).[2]
On 17 September 1983, she was sold toAguilar Y. Peris, S.A.,Spain, to be scrapped. She was withdrawn for the fleet 14 October 1983.[4]
Bingham received onebattle star for her World War II service.[3]
Online resources
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