U.S.S. Lakehurst
APM-9
1943
(Saratoga Model Shipyard SMY-54)
- Class: Kitty Hawk - 1 mechanized artillery transport of 1942
- Displacement: 7,450 tons light / 16,480 tons full load
- Dimensions: 483' x 63'6" x 27'2"
- Machinery: Steam turbine, 1 screw, 8,800 SHP = 16 knots
- Armament: 1-5"/38 DP, 4-3"/50 (4x1) DP, 8-20mm (8x1) AA guns
- Complement: 216
- Builder: Sun Shipbuilding Co, Chester, PA
- Launched: 26 Mar 1940
- Commissioned: 13 Oct 1942
- Decommissioned: 2 Aug 1943
- Notes: Built as railroad ferry SS Seatrain New Jersey for Seatrain Lines' New York-Texas service. She and her sister Seatrain Texas were slightly larger versions of the earlier railroad ferries Seatrain New York and Seatrain Havana which were converted for use as aviation transports. Acquired by War Shipping Administration 8 Jun 1942, intended as a transport for Army tanks. Taken over by Navy 13 Oct 1942, commissioned as Transport and Aircraft Ferry USS Lakehurst (APV-3), and sailed to participate in the Operation Torch landings at Safi, Morocco 8 Nov 1942. (Her sister made a rush trip around the Cape of Good Hope to deliver 250 Sherman tanks to the British 8th Army in time for the Battle of El Alamein.)
Reclassified as Mechanized Artillery Transport APM-1 on 3 Dec 1942, but subsequently renumbered APM-9 on 17 Dec 1942. Made three more trips to North Africa by May 1943.
Returned to New York for transfer to WSA and turned over to US Army Transportation Service.
Returned to Seatrain Lines 29 May 1946. In commercial service, she participated in the Vietnam War, being shot up on numerous occasions.
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