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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSTrousdale |
| Namesake | Trousdale County, Tennessee |
| Builder | North Carolina Shipbuilding Company,Wilmington, North Carolina |
| Laid down | 22 April 1944 |
| Launched | 3 July 1944 |
| Commissioned | 21 December 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 29 April 1946 |
| Renamed |
|
| Stricken | 8 May 1946 |
| Honors & awards | 1battle star (World War II) |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Tolland-classattack cargo ship |
| Displacement | 13,910 long tons (14,133 t) full |
| Length | 459 ft 2 in (139.95 m) |
| Beam | 63 ft (19 m) |
| Draft | 26 ft 4 in (8.03 m) |
| Speed | 16.5knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) |
| Complement | 395 |
| Armament |
|
USSTrousdale (AKA-79) was aTolland-classattack cargo ship in service with theUnited States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was sold into commercial service and was scrapped in 1968.
Trousdale was named afterTrousdale County, Tennessee. She was laid down as aType C2-S-AJ3 ship under aUnited States Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1386) on 22 April 1944 atWilmington, North Carolina, by theNorth Carolina Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 3 July 1944; sponsored by Mrs. J. R. Craig; delivered to the Navy under loan-charter on 24 July 1944; andcommissioned at Hoboken, N.J., on 21 December 1944.
The attack cargo ship conducted shakedown training offLong Island,New York, and in theVirginia Capes area and proceeded toBayonne, New Jersey, to load cargo earmarked for the Pacific theater of operations. On 27 January,Trousdale headed for the open sea in company withCharles E. Brannon (DE-446), bound forPanama. She transited thePanama Canal on 2 February and sailed forHawaii on 3 February.
ReachingPearl Harbor on 17 February,Trousdale spent the next 25 days unloading cargo; making minor repairs; and waiting for orders. In mid-March 1945, she unloaded her first combat cargo – miscellaneous units of the10th Army, including signal battalions, military police, a weather squadron, communications companies, bomb disposal units, and occupational government personnel, together with 200 vehicles and 900 tons of equipment. On 14 March 1945,Trousdale set out for theMarshall Islands.
After anchoring atEniwetok on 22 March, the ship headed for theCarolines, arriving atUlithi on 29 March. She got underway for theRyukyus on 13 April and arrived offOkinawa on the 17th.
Trousdale anchored offHagushi beach while the amassed battleships, cruisers, and destroyers shelled Japanese defenses further inland. After commencing unloading that evening, she temporarily suspended operations as Japanese "kamikazes" flew in from the north to attempt to crash American ships engaged in the landings.
Hampered by kamikazes and bad weather conditions with heavy seas and high winds, the ship lay off the beach for the next six days, engaged in nearly continuous unloading operations. On 22 April, she joined a south-bound convoy and, on 27 April, made port atSaipan, where she transferred all of herlanding craft, save two, to other ships.
Crossing theequator on 7 May,Trousdale anchored offGuadalcanal on the 9th and soon commenced loading equipment belonging to rear-echelon units of the6th Marine Division. On 18 May, the ship weighed anchor and steamed forTulagi, where she loaded landing craft and set out, viaEniwetok and Saipan, forGuam, arriving there on 7 June.
On 13 June, the attack cargo ship sailed for the west coast, making port atSan Francisco. The ship then underwent minor repairs and loaded a cargo of oil and a new set oflanding craft before setting a westerly course on 10 July, bound forTinian, the American B-29 bomber base in theMarianas.
Meanwhile, the war in the Pacific was drawing to a close as American forces swept close to the Japanese home islands themselves. Carrier planes and ships offshore bombarded coastal targets; planes and ships made the sea lanes untenable for Japanese sea power; and the Japanese air force rapidly dwindled in numbers.
Arriving at Tinian on 27 July, the ship commenced offloading immediately and was working hard at the task on 5 August when anAmerican B-29 bomber exploded anatomic bomb over Hiroshima.Trousdale completed discharging her cargo on the 8th and shifted her anchorage to Saipan the same day. While she was anchored there on 15 August, word came through thatJapan had accepted the terms of thePotsdam Declaration and capitulated to theAllies. The long and bloody war in the Pacific was over.
Yet forTrousdale, and ships like her, the occupation operations were just commencing. Accordingly, the ship departedSaipan on 29 August, arriving atOkinawa on 4 September. The attack cargo ship spent a week loading Army equipment for occupation forces and, in company with three other AKA's, sailed on 11 September forKorea.
En route, lookouts sightedmines drifting in the murky waters of theEast China andYellow Seas. Gunfire from the ships destroyed these menaces to navigation. The ships made port atJinsen on 13 September and commenced offloading soon after arrival. The AKA's encountered difficulties posed by the 20- to 30-foot tidal range which permitted larger landing craft to discharge cargo only at specific times. After completing the unloading operations, the ships headed back to Okinawa, arriving there on 18 September.
Trousdale then embarked marines for passage toTaku, China. Anchoring off Taku Bar, the ship sent her landing boats up theWei River for special duties, while unloading the marines for occupation duty. Orders soon came, sendingTrousdale to thePhilippines. She departed the China coast on 6 October, and – after steaming through atyphoon so intense that the ship's inclinometer recorded 55-degree rolls – reachedManila on 13 October 1945. There, the ship took on fuel and provisions and was soon underway forHong Kong. Upon her arrival in the vicinity of the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, the ship prepared to embark Chinese soldiers for passage to North China.
Chiang Kai-shek, as he had done duringthe war with Japan, sought American assistance in his as yet undeclaredwar against the communists. This included the air lift and sea lift ofNationalist troops to cities in northern China, population centers rapidly coming under the influence of the communist forces who had taken pains to encourage popular support while fighting the Japanese.
Accordingly,Trousdale took on board large contingents of Chinese troops, many of whom had never before been on a ship. Commencing the loading on 24 October, the operation was completed the next day, and the ship sailed with her human cargo forChinwangtao at the base of theGreat Wall of China. Making port on 30 October, she offloaded her troops and returned southward for another load – the Chinese First Division – making port at Hong Kong on 7 November and departing two days later forQingdao where she arrived on 14 November.
While remaining at Qingdao, the ship received urgent boiler repairs. The attack cargo ship got underway again on 14 November for Japan and arrived atSasebo on the 20th. The ship sailed on New Year's Day, 1946, bound, viaMidway Island, for the west coast.
Trousdale moored atSan Diego, California, on 18 January 1946, but soon headed forPanama and steamed through theCanal on 2 February, exactly one year to the day since her first transit. She arrived atNorfolk, Virginia, on 11 February and, six days later, headed for theNew York Navy Yard to prepare for decommissioning.
On 6 March, the attack cargo ship departedNew York City on her last voyage as a United States Navy man-of-war and arrived atNorfolk on the following day.Trousdale was decommissioned on 29 April 1946, returned to theWar Shipping Board of theUnited States Maritime Commission on the 30th, assigned to theNational Defense Reserve Fleet, and berthed in theJames River. Her name was struck from theNavy List on 8 May 1946.
The ship was sold in 1947 to theWaterman Steamship Corporation, ofMobile, Alabama, and served as a merchant ship under the name SSLafayette until purchased in 1954 by the Ocean Transportation Co., Inc., New York, N.Y., and renamed SSOcean Deborah. In 1962, she was purchased by the Central Gulf Steamship Corp.,New Orleans, Louisiana, and renamed SSGreen Dale. She served under that name until 1970 when she was sold to a purchaser inTaiwan and, presumably, she was soon scrapped.
Trousdale received onebattle star for herWorld War II service atOkinawa.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.