USSWashburn

History
United States
Name	USSWashburn
Namesake	Washburn County, Wisconsin
Builder	North Carolina Shipbuilding Company,Wilmington, North Carolina
Laid down	24 October 1944
Launched	18 December 1944
Commissioned	17 May 1945
Decommissioned	16 May 1970
Reclassified	LKA-108, 1 January 1969
Stricken	1 October 1976
Motto	"Voca Impedimenta"
Honors and awards	5battle stars(Korea) 6 battle stars (Vietnam)
Fate	Scrapped, 1980
General characteristics
Class and 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)
Propulsion	GE geared turbine drive, 1 propeller, 6,000 shp (4,474 kW)
Speed	16.5knots(30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Complement	425
Armament	1 ×5 "/38 caliber gun 4 × twin40 mm guns 16 × single20 mm guns

USSWashburn(AKA-108)was aTolland-classattack cargo shipin service with theUnited States Navyfrom 1945 to 1970 She was scrapped in 1980.

History

Washburnwas named afterWashburn County, Wisconsin.She was laid down as aType C2-S-AJ3 shipon 24 October 1944 atWilmington, North Carolina,by theNorth Carolina Shipbuilding Companyunder aMaritime Commissioncontract (MC hull 1801); launched on 18 December 1944; sponsored by Maj. K. A. Towle, USMCR; delivered to the Navy in an incomplete state on 30 December 1944; and completed at the Todd-Hoboken shipyard at Hoboken, N.J., where she wascommissionedon 17 May 1945.

World War II, 1945

Following two weeks of shakedown training in theVirginia Capesarea,WashburndepartedNorfolk,Virginia, en route to theMediterraneancoast ofFrance.She arrived inMarseilleon the 26th and began loading Army troops and supplies bound for thePhilippines.She stood out of Marseille on 11 July and arrived inManilaon 24 August, nine days after the cessation of hostilities.

Post-war activities, 1945–1950

With the war ended, the attack cargo ship unloaded her passengers and cargo at Manila and began service in support of the occupation of former Japanese holdings in the Far East. She moved toLingayenin northernLuzonto load soldiers of the6th Army's33rd Divisionfor transportation to the Japanese home islands and occupation duty. She departed the Philippines soon thereafter and arrived atWakayamaon the island ofHonshū,Japan,and disembarked her passengers.

For the remainder of the year, she carried passengers and equipment between various locales in thewestern Pacificin continued support of the American occupation. From January to March 1946, she conducted amphibious and fleet training in the eastern Pacific before returning to the Far East to resume her support missions for the occupation forces. In April,Washburnheaded back east to resume her training schedule. That employment — broken only by a voyage to Alaskan waters in July 1948 for a resupply mission — lasted until November 1948.

At that point, the ship returned to the Orient once more for almost a year of duty in support of the occupation forces. During that time, she visitedOkinawa,Iwo Jima,Pearl Harbor,andQingdaoinChina.During the fall of 1949, she returned to the West Coast to participate in Operation "Miki", a large-scale, joint-service exercise staged out ofPuget Sound,Washington, which simulated the invasion and defense of theHawaiian Islands.

In February 1950, she transited thePanama Canalto return to theAtlanticfor the first time since her maiden voyage. She participated in Operation "Port-rex", an Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Forces assault exercise held at a small island nearPuerto Rico.After a liberty call atSan Juan, Puerto Rico,at the operation's conclusion, she retransited the Panama Canal and resumed duty with thePacific Fleet.

Korean War, 1950–1953

That summer, the outbreak of hostilities in Korea called her back to the Far East. Following a resupply mission toPoint Barrow, Alaska,Washburnturned west toward Japan; and, for about 18 months, she plied the waters between Japan andKoreakeeping the flow of supplies and reinforcements to bolster theUnited Nationsforces. She participated in theInchonandWonsanlandings in September and, afterward, resumed her supply and reinforcement shuttles. In June 1951, she returned to the role for which she was designated by participating in the diversionary landings staged at Kangmung, Korea. After a resumption of Japan-to-Korea runs, which she conducted from July to November, she headed back to the United States, arriving on the West Coast on 16 December 1951.

Eastern Pacific operations, including another resupply run to Point Barrow in Alaska during June 1952, occupied her time until the spring of 1953. In March, she again voyaged to the Far East, visitingNagoyaandSaseboin Japan andPusanand Inchon in Korea. She stopped at the latter port during her participation in "Operation Big Switch",the mutual repatriation of prisoners of war at the end of theKorean War.In October,Washburnreturned to the United States and resumed West Coast operations.

1954–1964

In October 1954, she set out upon an eight-month deployment to the Orient. She stopped at many already familiar ports — Nagoya, Sasebo, Pusan, Inchon, and Okinawa — and added some new ones to her itinerary —Yokosukain Japan,Subic Bayin the Philippines, the island ofTaiwan,and, most notably, theTachen Islands.The last-named group of islands came into her sphere of operations because of their proximity to mainland China and the consequent communist threat to theirNationalist Chinesepopulations and garrisons. Early in February 1955,Washburnand the other ships of Rear Admiral Sabin's Amphibious Evacuation Force, TF 76, brought 15,627 civilians and 11,120 military men as well as 8,630 tons of equipment, 166 artillery pieces, and 128 vehicles out of the Tachens to Taiwan while the carriers of TF 77 and the gun ships of TF 75 stood guard.

For almost another decade,Washburncontinued alternating western Pacific deployments of varying length with normal operations along the West Coast. Periodically, crises occurred and took her to some of the world's trouble spots. In January 1962, she showed up at Nationalist Chinese-held offshore islands once again in support of naval forces sent there as a show of force in response to communist Chinese shelling ofQuemoyandMatsuislands. By the following fall, she found herself halfway around the world in theWest Indiessupporting the Navy's quarantine ofCubacalled by President Kennedy to rid that island of offensive Russian missiles. Otherwise, the decade between 1955 and 1965 proved relatively normal, made up of the usual resupply voyages, amphibious and fleet exercises, port visits, and ever-recurring overhauls.

Vietnam War, 1964–1970

Near the end of 1964, however, the attack cargo ship entered a geographic region that dominated her western Pacific deployments for the remainder of her career —South Vietnam.In December of that year, she began hauling supplies and equipment there for use by the South Vietnamese government in its struggle with theVietconginsurgents. Thereafter, she cruised off the coast with Marines embarked as part of a contingency force. That duty lasted until 8 March 1965 when she landed troops nearDa Nang.She returned to amphibious operations in mid-April, landing reinforcements for the defense ofDa Nang Air BaseandPhu Bai Combat Baseand again early in May when three battalion landing teams (BLT's) and a mobile construction battalion went ashore nearChu Laito extend the perimeter and constructChu Lai Air Base.She departed the South Vietnamese coast at the end of May for more routine7th Fleetduties but returned for one more brief tour of duty in the combat zone before heading home early in September.

Almost a year later, in August 1966, the ship returned to the Far East and, late in September, to Vietnamese waters. Her duty again consisted of transporting troops and supplies to, from, and between points in Vietnam. Each month, from September 1966 to February 1967, brought duty off the coast of Vietnam. Between each tour in the combat zone, she visited ports elsewhere in the Orient, calling frequently at places in Japan, on Okinawa, and in the Philippines.

Early in February 1967, she completed her last mission in the combat zone and headed home. Steaming via Okinawa and Yokosuka, Japan, she arrived inSan Diegoon 15 March. She conducted normal operations until the end of July when she entered the Todd Shipyard atSeattle,Washington, for a three-month overhaul.Washburnreturned to San Diego on 2 November and began refresher training on the 20th.

Early in 1968, she headed back to the Far East and, by late February, returned to the coast of Vietnam. During her 1968 deployment,Washburnspent four extended tours of duty off Vietnam again carrying troops and supplies to and from operational areas throughout the southern half of the country.

That fall, she resumed normal operations out of San Diego; but, late the following spring, she headed back to the western Pacific. From May to October, the ship cruised the coast of Vietnam, departing periodically to transport Marines to Okinawa, to make liberty calls at various ports in the Far East, and to replenish in Japan and in the Philippines. She finished the last of four tours in the combat zone on 3 October and, after stopping at Okinawa to participate in an amphibious exercise, headed back to the United States on 9 October.

She arrived in San Diego on 26 October and resumed local operations.Washburnwas reclassified as anamphibious cargo shipand redesignatedLKA-108on 1 January 1969. Her employment continued until 16 May 1970 at which time she was decommissioned.

Decommissioning and fate

Soon thereafter,Washburnwas placed in theNational Defense Reserve FleetatSuisun Bay, California.On 1 September 1971, she was transferred permanently to the custody of theMaritime Administration.On 1 October 1976,Washburn's name was struck from theNavy List,and she was sold for scrapping in December 1979. A large scale model of the ship is in theU.S. Navy Museumin Washington, DC.

Awards

Washburnearned fivebattle starsduring the Korean War and six battle stars for Vietnam service.

References

• This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.The entry can be foundhere.

External links

• Photo galleryof USSWashburnat NavSource Naval History
• Military: USSWashburn
• 51 Years of AKAs