 | This article'slead sectionmay be too short to adequatelysummarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead toprovide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(July 2010) |
_at_Noum%25C3%25A9a_on_4_August_1942_(80-G-K-556).jpg) President Adams (AP-38), probably at Nouméa, New Caledonia, on 4 August 1942, the eve of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi invasion. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSPresident Adams |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.,Newport News, Virginia |
| Laid down | 6 June 1940 |
| Launched | 31 January 1941 |
| Commissioned | 19 November 1941 |
| Decommissioned | 14 June 1950 |
| Reclassified | APA-19, 1 February 1943 |
| Stricken | 1 October 1958 |
| Honors & awards | 9battle stars (World War II) |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1974 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | President Jackson-classattack transport |
| Displacement | 16,175 long tons (16,435 t) full |
| Length | 491 ft 10 in (149.91 m) |
| Beam | 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) |
| Draft | 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 17.9knots (33.2 km/h; 20.6 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | |
| Capacity | 3,600 long tons (3,658 t) |
| Troops | 76 officers and 1,258 enlisted |
| Complement | 36 officers and 477 enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USSPresident Adams (AP-38/APA-19) was aPresident Jackson-classattack transport of theUnited States Navy, named forFounding FatherJohn Adams and his son,John Quincy Adams, the second and sixthPresidents of the United States.
President Adams, built underMaritime Commission contract, was laid down as MC hull 57 by theNewport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.,Newport News, Virginia, on 6 June 1940; launched on 31 January 1941; sponsored by Mrs.Robert H. Jackson; delivered to the Navy on 5 June 1941; converted by theNorfolk Navy Yard; andcommissioned on 19 November 1941.
Stripped for war service with the entry of the United States into World War II, on 7 December 1941,President Adams fired her guns against the enemy, aU-boat, for the first time on Christmas Day. Following the encounter, she continued her shakedown exercises, then, steamed to the Pacific and trained troops off California as she readied for her first amphibious operation. In June 1942, she embarked the3rd Battalion,2nd Marines, and got underway on 1 July for theSouth Pacific. Between 7 and 9 August, as the United States launched the first step on the island-paved path to victory in the Pacific, herLCMs andLCVPs landed theMarines in theGuadalcanal-Tulagi area. Retiring from the area, the converted liner carried casualties to Samoa, whence she began bringing in reinforcements. For six months she transported fresh troops and equipment to, and brought out wounded from, Guadalcanal.
Organized resistance on Guadalcanal ceased on 9 February 1943, but theSolomon Islands campaign was not over.President Adams, redesignatedAPA-19 (effective 1 February) continued to carry men and equipment to and from embattled islands of the south Pacific, escaping serious damage from numerousJapanese air attacks. During March and April she trained assault troops in New Zealand, then transported men andmateriel from there, and from Australia, to Guadalcanal, whence she steamed withUnited States Army forces forRendova. Landing those troops on 30 June, she took on survivors fromMcCawley on 1 July, and sailed to Nouméa.
FromNew Caledonia,President Adams returned to New Zealand, underwent an abbreviated overhaul, then resumed transporting men and equipment to the Solomon Islands and training assault troops for amphibious operations, this time for theBougainville campaign. On 1 November, after bombarding the beaches atTorokina Point, she landed the1st Battalion,3rd Marines, atEmpress Augusta Bay.
During the next six months,President Adams thrice returned to Bougainville with reinforcements; carried ArmyEngineers toEmirau; transported two groups of Army reinforcements toCape Gloucester onNew Britain; and then prepared for action in theMariana Islands. In June 1944, she steamed toKwajalein, thence toSaipan, where, as a floating reserve, she stood by to the east of the island as theBattle of the Philippine Sea raged to the west. With the postponement of the assault onGuam and her troops not needed on Saipan, she steamed toEniwetok where she remained until 17 July. On the 21st, she stood off Guam as theBattle of Guam got underway, and, during the next five days, unloaded men and equipment, sent supplies and provisions, including hot food, to the beaches and took on casualties for evacuation toPearl Harbor and the West Coast.
By 16 October, having undergone overhaul,President Adams embarked construction equipment atPort Hueneme andSeaBees personnel at San Francisco and sailed forManus Island. Thence she returned toNew Caledonia where she took on Army infantrymen for transportation west, to the assault beaches onLingayen Gulf,Luzon.
President Adams landed "passengers" and cargo on 11–12 January 1945, then retired toLeyte, discharging casualties from theInvasion of Lingayen Gulf. She then sailed back to Guam, whence she carried Marine Corps units toIwo Jima, landing them on 19 February. During the first ten days of theBattle of Iwo Jima she stood off the beaches, unloading cargo, receiving casualties, provisioning and repairing small boats.
After retiring to Saipan,President Adams continued on to Nouméa, whence she carried Army personnel to Leyte, and then, for the next two months, she ferried troops fromNew Guinea to the Philippines. On 17 July she got underway for the United States.
Emerging from overhaul atPortland, Oregon, after the cessation of hostilities,President Adams commenced moving occupation troops to the Far East andreturning veterans to the United States.
After the initial post-war transport assignments, she carried dependents to occupied zones and transported military personnel and equipment to ports in Japan, China and the Philippines. On 7 March 1947, she departed the West Coast forNorfolk, Virginia. Arriving on the 24th, she commenced cargo and passenger runs between the East Coast and theCaribbean. Designated for inactivation in October 1949, she completed her last Caribbean run, toPort-au-Prince,Trinidad, andCoco Solo, on 19 January-2 February 1950, and on the 8th departed Norfolk for the West Coast.
On 2 March she arrived at San Francisco, where she decommissioned 14 June 1950 and joined thePacific Reserve Fleet. She remained berthed at San Francisco until stricken from theNavy List on 1 October 1958, and transferred to theMaritime Administration'sNational Defense Reserve Fleet, and was berthed atSuisun Bay, California into 1970.
President Adams was scrapped in Taiwan in 1974.
President Adams earned 9battle stars duringWorld War II.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be foundhere andhere.
| |
| Presidency | |
| Other events | |
| Writings | |
| Life and homes | |
| Electoral history |
|
| Legacy | |
| Popular culture | |
| Adams political family Quincy family |
|
| Related | |
