_underway%2c_circa_1945-1946_(NH_83472).jpg) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSBland |
| Namesake | Bland County, Virginia |
| Builder | California Shipbuilding Corporation |
| Laid down | 2 August 1944 |
| Launched | 26 October 1944 |
| Acquired | 14 December 1944 |
| Commissioned | 15 December 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 27 April 1946 |
| Stricken | 8 May 1946 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 23 January 1974 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Haskell-classattack transport |
| Displacement | 6,873 tons (lt), 14,837 t (fl) |
| Length | 455 ft (139 m) |
| Beam | 62 ft (19 m) |
| Draft | 24 ft (7 m) |
| Propulsion | 1 × geared turbine, 2 × header-typeboilers, 1 × propeller, designed 8,500 shp (6,338 kW) |
| Speed | 17knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | |
| Capacity |
|
| Complement | 56 officers, 480 enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USSBland (APA-134) was aHaskell-classattack transport in service with theUnited States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1974.
Bland (APA-134) was laid down under aMaritime Commission contract (MCV hull 50) on 2 August 1944 atWilmington, California, by the California Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 26 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Lawrence A. Collins, wife of the editor and publisher of the Long Beach, California,Independent; acquired by the Navy on a loan charter basis from the Maritime Commission on 14 December 1944; and commissioned atSan Pedro, California, on 15 December 1944.
Following her shakedown training in the vicinity ofLos Angeles, California, andamphibious exercises atCoronado Strand, nearSan Diego, California, theattack transport departed San Pedro on 5 February 1945, bound forSeattle, Washington. A strong southeasterly gale forced her to lie to for 15 hours on 7 and 8 February, but she finally reached her destination on the 9th. She then underwent a three-day voyage availability period before embarking 85U.S. Army officers, 1,219 enlisted men, and 42 sailors on 16 February for transportation westward. She sailed forHawaii the following day.
The ship arrived atHonolulu on Washington's Birthday and disembarked 835 men and 68 officers before embarking more westward-bound passengers, both military and civilian. She sailed for theMarshalls inconvoy PD-312T. Touching briefly atEniwetok,Bland resumed her voyage on 13 March in company with an Eniwetok-to-Guam convoy. ReachingApra Harbor on the 13th, she embarked casualties from the invasion ofIwo Jima before heading to Hawaii alone. She arrived inPearl Harbor on the last day of March but returned to sea again on 3 April, bound forSan Francisco, California, with a mixed roster of passengers. Diverted to San Diego en route on the 5th, she reached her new destination three days later.
The ship did not linger on theU.S. West Coast for long, but sailed for Hawaii on the 17th with 1,550 passengers and reached Pearl Harbor a week later. Over the ensuing weeks, the attack transport practiced amphibious landings at bothMaui andOahu.Bland sailed for the west coast on 29 May, reached San Francisco on 4 June, and disembarked 430 sailors and marines. On 6 June, she got underway for Seattle, Washington, and reached her destination two days later.
Following voyage repairs,Bland departed Seattle on 26 June, loaded with cargo and with 1,512 soldiers embarked the previous day. En route toOkinawa, the attack transport reached Eniwetok on 8 July and remained there until pushing on for the WesternCarolines six days later. Making port atUlithi on the 18th,Bland proceeded on to Okinawa, sailing on 29 July with Convoy WOK-42. She arrived atNaha on 5 August, disembarking her passengers and unloading her cargo by means of her ownlanding craft atHagushi Beach. Three days later, she sailed forSaipan.
During her time at Hagushi and the ensuing voyage to theMarianas, theatomic bombs were dropped onHiroshima (6 August) andNagasaki (9 August).Japan's leaders wrestled with the decision to surrender, andBland completed her voyage, reaching Saipan on 14 August. The announcement of the war's end the following day, however, did not signal rest for the attack transport since the occupation of the former enemy's homeland still lay ahead. Ordered to thePhilippines,Bland got underway on 16 August and arrived in San Pedro Bay,Leyte, four days later. She remained at anchor there for three days before sailing forCebu. At that port, she embarked 78 officers and 1,240 men of theAmerical Division and sailed for Japan on 1 September.
Leaving troops and cargo atYokohama on 9 and 10 September,Bland headed back to the Philippines with Task Group (TG) 33.3 on 10 September. Diverted once en route toFormosa to evacuate Allied prisoners of war,Bland was rerouted again on the 12th back to her original destination, Leyte. After a three-day layover there, the attack transport sailed for Cebu where she arrived on 19 September.
Bland sailed for Japan on 25 September with elements of the Army's77th Division embarked, as part of TG 34.8, and arrived offHokkaidō on the 5th. She reachedOtaru that day and began disembarking troops and discharging cargo lifted from the Philippines. Hers was part of the 10,000 men from the 77th Division and IX Corps put ashore to occupy Hokkaidō. Her part in the operation completed,Bland then sailed for Okinawa on the 7th.
After being rerouted once because of atyphoon,Bland reached Hagushi beach, Okinawa, on the 14th and, over the next few days, loaded stores. She then proceeded to an anchorage offNaga Wan, Okinawa, where she embarked men and cargo of the1st Marine Division bound for the occupation of North China between 16 and 21 October. Underway on 21 October,Bland sailed forTientsin and arrived offTaku Bar on the 24th. She commenced disembarking her marines the following day, but did not start discharging cargo until the 29th. She completed the entire process by 1 November and then began her "Operation Magic Carpet" duties by embarking men to be returned to theUnited States.
Underway forKorea on 5 November,Bland reachedJinsen (Inchon) the following day and embarked more dischargees before sailing for Japan on the 7th. ReachingSasebo on the 9th, she took on additional homeward-bound servicemen and sailed for Okinawa two days later. Arriving inBuckner Bay, Okinawa, on Armistice Day 1945,Bland got underway for San Francisco three days later. While en route back to the United States,Bland rendezvoused with the Liberty ShipSS Leonidas Merritt on 20 November to take on board a man "in dire need of medical care" and diverted briefly toMidway Island the following day before resuming her homeward course. She arrived at San Francisco on 3 December 1945 and disembarked her passengers before shifting toHunter's Point for voyage repairs. On 15 December she sailed for the Philippines for her second Magic Carpet run.
Bland completed this mission and carried out one more Magic Carpet voyage before departing San Francisco on 7 February 1946 and proceeding, viaPanama, to theU.S. East Coast. She reachedNorfolk, Virginia, on 7 March and was decommissioned there on 27 April 1946.Bland was turned over to theWar Shipping Administration the next day, and her name was struck from theNavy list on 8 May 1946. Placed in reserve in the James River, she was ultimately sold to the Consolidated Steel Corp. ofBrownsville, Texas, on 23 January 1974, along with sistershipsUSS Bandera (AP-131),USS Buckingham (APA-141),USS Drew (APA-162) andUSS Eastland (APA-163) for scrap.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
