Service history
The ship was one of five Navy manned Liberties assigned 8 December 1943, to the Southwest Pacific Area for service under operational control of the Commander, US Seventh Fleet in meeting US Army requirements. Assigned to the Naval Transportation Service (NTS), the auxiliary cargo ship moved up the coast to load cargo at San Francisco, California, and stood out to sea with a convoy on 28 August, bound for the New Hebrides. She arrived at Espiritu Santo on 2 October, and, for the next five months, shuttled troops and cargo between ports in Australia and New Guinea.
Landing troops at Humboldt Bay
Triangulum embarked part of a battalion of Army combat engineers at Lae and sortied on 14 April 1944, with Task Group (TG) 77.1, the Western Attack Group, for the invasion of Hollandia. On the morning of 22 April, she began landing her 700 troops on the beaches of Humboldt Bay. The ship completed discharging cargo by 18:00 the next day and departed in a convoy bound, via Buna, for Milne Bay. She then resumed her supply runs between Australia and New Guinea.
Supplying the troops during the Philippine invasion
The ship loaded combat cargo at Manus and got underway for Hollandia on 7 November, to rendezvous with a convoy proceeding to the Philippines. She arrived at Leyte Gulf on 19 November, and began discharging supplies. During her visit there, Japanese planes frequently attacked Allied shipping; and, during a raid on Thanksgiving Day, four of her men were wounded by friendly antiaircraft fire.
End-of-war activity
On 4 December, she departed the area for Australia and, after calling at Hollandia, arrived at Brisbane, Australia, on 17 December 1944. Triangulum shuttled supplies from Australia to South Pacific bases, mostly in New Guinea, for the next year. The supply runs were broken by three voyages to the Philippines: in January, May, and August 1945. On 8 November, she stood out of Leyte to load cargo at Hollandia, Biak, Milne Bay, and Manus to be transported to the United States.
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USS Rockdale (AK-208) was an Alamosa-class cargo ship that was constructed for the US Navy during the closing period of World War II. She served with distinction in the Pacific Ocean theatre of operations and returned home in 1946 to be placed into the "mothball" fleet and sold in 1947.
United States
2 × battle stars 
