The 4 Aces were the quartet of passenger-cargo liners Excalibur, Exochorda, Exeter, and Excambion, originally built for American Export Lines by New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New Jersey between 1929 and 1931. AEL placed the "4 Aces" in service between the US and the Mediterranean, offering cruises of up to 40 days.
Type C2 ships were designed by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in 1937–38. They were all-purpose cargo ships with five holds, and U.S. shipyards built 328 of them from 1939 to 1945. Compared to ships built before 1939, the C2s were remarkable for their speed and fuel economy. Their design speed was 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h), but some could make 19 knots (35 km/h) on occasion. The first C2s were 459 feet (140 m) long, 63 feet (19 m) broad, and 40 feet (12 m) deep, with a 25-foot (8 m) draft. Later ships varied somewhat in size. Some, intended for specific trade routes, were built with significant modifications in length and capacity.
Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from the merchant fleet – that rely on either a quay or tenders, attack transports carry their own fleet of landing craft, such as the landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) or Higgins boat.
USS Sumter (APA-52) was a Sumter-class attack transport that served with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was subsequently sold into commercial service and was scrapped in 1978.
USS Samuel Chase (APA-26), launched as SS African Meteor, was an Arthur Middleton-class attack transport manned by the United States Coast Guard during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Samuel Chase, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence.
USS DuPage (AP-86/APA-41) was a Bayfield-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was then sold into commercial service and was scrapped in 1973.
USS Thomas Jefferson (APA-30), serving from 1 May 1942 until 18 July 1955, was a transport and then reclassified on 1 February 1943 as a President Jackson-class attack transport. She was laid down under Maritime Commission contract as President Garfield on 5 February 1940 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company for the American President Lines. The ship was launched on 20 November 1940, sponsored by Miss Eugenia Merrill. President Garfield was completed 26 March 1941 and acquired by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) 29 November 1941 with American President Lines, the WSA agent, operating the ship as a troop transport. On 1 May 1942 the United States Navy purchased the ship and commissioned her USS Thomas Jefferson, named for Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, on 31 August 1942.
USS Joseph Hewes (AP-50/APA-22), formerly SS Excalibur, was a troop transport for the United States Navy during World War II commanded by Captain Robert McLanhan Smith Jr. A part of the Center Attack Group of Admiral Hewitt's Western Naval Task Force, Operation Torch, Joseph Hewes was sunk on November 11, 1942 by the German submarine U-173 in Fedala Roads off French Morocco coast during the Naval Battle of Casablanca.
USS Hugh L. Scott (AP-43) was a Hugh L. Scott-class transport ship. She was built in 1921 and spent 20 years in merchant service as a passenger and cargo liner. In July 1941 the ship was delivered to the United States Department of War for Army service as the United States Army Transport Hugh L. Scott operating in the Pacific. In August 1942 the ship was transferred to the United States Navy for conversion to an attack transport, served as a troopship in Operation Torch in November 1942, and was sunk by a U-boat four days later. 59 crewmen and soldiers died during the sinking.
SS President Cleveland was originally built as Golden State for the United States Shipping Board (USSB), one of the planned World War I troop transports converted before construction into passenger and cargo vessels launched as Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 ships first known, along with the smaller Design 1095 versions, in the trade as "State" ships due to names assigned for the nicknames of states and later as "535s" for their length overall. Almost all ships of both designs were renamed for United States presidents by May 1921, with Golden State being renamed President Cleveland. As one of the USSB-owned ships operated by agents of the board, President Cleveland was allocated to and operated by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company until sold by the USSB to the Dollar Steamship Line in 1925. After the demise of that line and creation of a new, replacement line, American President Lines, the ship remained with that line until government acquisition for the Second World War.
USS George F. Elliott (AP-13) was a transport acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. The ship was originally ordered for WW I British commercial service as War Haven and requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) before completion as Victorious. The Navy acquired and commissioned Victorious for brief service with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) before return to the USSB for commercial operation both under the USSB and commercial lines, the later as City of Havre and City of Los Angeles.
USS Harry Lee (APA-10) was a Harry Lee-class attack transport that saw service with the US Navy during World War II. She served in the Pacific War, as well as in North Atlantic Ocean operations, and safely returned home post-war with seven battle stars to her credit. She was the only ship in her class.
USS Gemini (AG-38/AK-52/AP-75) was a Stratford-class transport commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering troops and equipment to locations in the war zone.
USS Custer (AP-85/APA-40) was a Bayfield-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was sold into commercial service in 1948 and was scrapped in 1973.
USS John Penn (APA-23) was an attack transport that served with the US Navy during World War II. Named after Founding Father John Penn, a signatory to the American Declaration of Independence, she was the only ship in her class.
USS Crescent City (AP-40/APA-21) was the lead ship of the Crescent City-class attack transports that served with the US Navy during World War II. The ship was built as the cargo and passenger liner Delorleans for the Mississippi Shipping Company's Delta Line. After brief commercial operation the ship was among 28 vessels requisitioned in June 1941 for the Navy and the Army. The Navy renamed the ship Crescent City, a popular nickname for New Orleans, Louisiana, upon commissioning 10 October 1941. The ship was decommissioned and laid up in 1948 before being loaned to the California Maritime Academy to serve as a training ship 1971–1995 and then transferred to a foundation in a failed art colony project. The ship left California for Texas scrapping in 2012.
USS Thomas Stone (APA-29) was a President Jackson-class attack transport that served with the United States Navy (USN) during World War II. She was damaged in combat and consequently did not see out the war. Thomas Stone received one battle star for World War II service.
USS Leonard Wood (APA-12) was built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and launched 17 September 1921 at Sparrows Point, Maryland as Nutmeg State, an Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 ship intended as a World War I troop transport, but redesigned upon the armistice as a passenger and cargo ship and completed as Western World for delivery to the United States Shipping Board. The ship's acceptance on 5 May 1922 and delivery on 9 May 1922 marked the completion of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation and the Shipping Board.
SS President Roosevelt was an ocean liner in service in the 1920s and 1930s. Originally built as a Harris-class attack transport towards the end of World War I, she entered commercial service after her completion. Having been built as Peninsula State, she was soon renamed President Pierce and then President Roosevelt. Requisitioned for service as a troopship with the US Navy during World War II, she was renamed USS Joseph T. Dickman (APA-13) and served in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, being scrapped postwar in 1948.
The President Jackson-class attack transport was a class of seven US Navy attack transport that saw service in World War II.
United States
