U.S.S. Joseph T. Dickman
APA-31
1943
(Wirral HM-331)
- Type: Harris - 8 transports of 1941
- Displacement: 13,869 tons
- Dimensions: 535'2" x 72'4" x 31'3"
- Machinery: Steam turbines, twin screws 10,000shp = 17 knots
- Armament: 4-3"/50 DP (4x1), 6-40mm AA (1x4+1x2), 18-20mm AA (18x1) guns
- Troops: 2,056
- Crew: 693
- Builder: New York Shipbuilding Corp, Camden, NJ, 1922
- Laid Down: 20 Jul 1920
- Launched: 6 Jul 1921
- Completed: 8 Feb 1922
- Commissioned: 20 Jun 1941
- Decommissioned: 7 Mar 1946
- Service: Launched as the combination passenger-cargo vessel Peninsular State for the U.S.Shipping Board. Assigned to the United States Lines, she made her maiden voyage from New York to Bremen in Feb 1922. Soon renamed President Pierce and then President Roosevelt by Jul 1922. Capacity for 437 passengers. Chartered by U.S.Army as transport in Nov 1940 and then transferred to U.S.Navy, commisioning 10 Jun 1941 as the Joseph T. Dickman AP-26 with a Coast Guard crew. Transported British troops from Halifax to Bombay Nov-Dec 1941. Returning to US, she made several trips to Caribbean in 1942. Participated in Operation Torch landings at Casablanca Nov 1942. Made one trip to Noumea in South Pacific during which she was reclassified as an assault transport APA-13. Returned to Atlantic and took part in landings at Sicily Jul 1943, at Salerno Sep 1943, at Utah beach in Normandy Jun 1944, and for Southern France Aug 1944. Returned to Pacific to take part in Okinawa operations Apr 1945. Refitted at Pearl Harbor later in 1945 as casualty evacuation ship for the projected invasion of Japan. Returned POWs (including four British enlisted men who had sailed on her in 1941) from Manila to US in Sep 1945.
Laid up in Mar 1946 and broken up in 1948 at Oakland, CA.
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