11/24/2023 0 Comments Recordit by crescentIt was also during the Bougainville campaign that the ship’s slogan: “Heads Up and Tails Over the Dashboard” was introduced. Crescent City took part in the assault landings on Bougainville and conducted follow up supply runs during November 1943-February 1944. Due to the Crescent City’s and other ships efforts, the US Navy reclassified them to Attack Transports (APA) to differentiate them from standard cargo carriers and to reflect their status as transports that took part in the assault landings themselves.Īt the end of 1943 and throughout 1944, the Crescent City would be a very busy ship. In total, the Crescent City made 14 trips and brought 7,000 men to Guadalcanal between August 1942 and February 1943. While the outcome of the battle hung in the balance, the Crescent City made numerous trips to and from the island, delivering desperately needed men and supplies to try to hold off the Japanese attempting to throw the Americans off the island. What followed was months of continuous, fierce, and deadly combat in the air, on the sea, and on land. The landings began on August 7, 1942, at Guadalcanal and Tulagi, and initially, met little Japanese resistance. The discovery of a Japanese airstrip being constructed on Guadalcanal forced the United States into action, and on July 31, 1942, the Crescent City, 18 other transports, 8 cruisers, 24 destroyers, screened by aircraft carriers, set off for the island. The practice landings were a disaster, but the lessons learned would quickly be put to use as the United States would be going on the offensive at a place few people had ever heard of: Guadalcanal. After it was concluded, she went back to San Diego and picked up US Marines for practice amphibious landings in the Fiji Islands. ![]() In March/April 1942, the Crescent City saw her first action when she took part in the Efate operation. In the following weeks, the ship made numerous trips between Hawaii and California bringing civilians back to the mainland and military personnel and supplies to Pearl Harbor. The ship had a crew of 500, and would be able to carry over 1,100 men into combat.Īfter the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Crescent City sailed for Norfolk, Virginia and joined a convoy headed for the Panama Canal Zone, before sailing to San Diego, and eventually, Pearl Harbor itself. Calhoun and commissioned in the US Navy on October 10, 1941, as the USS Crescent City (AP-40). The conversion to a troop transport was done at Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company in Mobile, Alabama where she was placed under the control of Commander Walter C. Originally built for the Delta Line as a coffee hauler and passenger ship to go between the United States and Africa, she only made one voyage before the US Navy, desperate for ships, took her over in June 1941. She was built at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company in Sparrow’s Point, Maryland and was launched on Februas the Del Orleans. The Crescent City started off as just another cargo vessel. One such vessel was the USS Crescent City (AP-40/APA-21). Sometimes, though, one of these vessels rises to the top and separates itself from the rest. ![]() Without these ships moving men and materiel from place to place, the whole machinery of war grinds to a halt. While warships like battleships, aircraft carriers, and submarines usually grab the attention and admiration of people, it is the ships in the background, like transports, that usually make some of the largest contributions to victory.
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