Compared to other classes of AKA's, they had a much shallower draft, a lower main deck aft, and a different propulsion system. of Providence, R.I., during World War II. The Artemis-class ships were built by Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc. The Andromeda-class ships were built by Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company in Kearny, New Jersey and Moore Dry Dock Company, in Oakland, California during World War II. The Arcturus-class ships were converted from other ship types by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company in Chester, Pennsylvania, Tampa Shipbuilding Company in Tampa, Florida, and Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company in Kearny, New Jersey during World War II. Navy, USS El Paso (LKA-117), was decommissioned in April, 1994. In the mid 1990s, both the United States Navy and the Royal Navy developed amphibious transport docks which took on this unique amphibious role. The remaining WWII AKA/LKAs were decommissioned shortly thereafter, the last one finally being taken from service in 1971. For example, the all the APAs were redesignated as LPAs. At the same time, the other "A" designations of amphibious ships were changed to similar "L" designations. Navy redesignated all its AKA attack cargo ships as LKA amphibious cargo ships. bases in Antarctica.įive more amphibious cargo ships, much larger and of a completely new design, were built between 19. Several of the AKAs, most notably USS Arneb (AKA-53), saw service in establishing and maintaining U.S. She and some of the WWII AKAs saw service in Vietnam. One AKA, USS Tulare (AKA-112), somewhat larger than her predecessors, was built and commissioned in 1954. Ten of the reserve ships were recommissioned for service in the Korean War. Eight others were converted to ships of different types such as ammunition ships, oceanographic survey ships, repair ships, or cable layers. Within a year of the war's end, 70 of the 108 AKAs had been decommissioned and either sold or put into the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Nine AKA's were present at the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945: USS Libra (AKA-12), USS Medea (AKA-31), USS Pamina (AKA-34), USS Sirona (AKA-43), USS Skagit (AKA-105), USS Todd (AKA-71), USS Tolland (AKA-64), USS Whiteside (AKA-90), and USS Yancey (AKA-93). Construction stopped at the end of the war, 108 AKAs having been built or converted during its duration.Īttack cargo ships played a vital role in the Pacific War, where many were attacked by kamikazes and other aircraft, and several were torpedoed, but none were sunk or otherwise destroyed. A new attack cargo ship was commissioned an average of every nine days during the latter two years. Six new AKAs were built during 1943, 41 during 1944, and 45 during 1946. Attack Cargo Ships were converted from Navy cargo ships that had previously been designated AK. Specifications were drawn up, and beginning in early 1943, the first 16 U.S. Planners saw the need for a special kind of cargo ship-one that could carry both cargo and the LCM and LCVP boats with which to deliver it to the beach, and that carried guns to assist in air defense and shore bombardment. The need for ships of this type became apparent during World War II, when amphibious warfare doctrine underwent a period of rapid development as Japanese strongholds in the Pacific were invaded from the sea. Because these ships went into into forward combat areas, they had Combat Information Centers and significant amounts of equipment for radio communication, neither of which were present in other cargo ships. Their holds were optimized for combat loading, a method of cargo storage where the items first needed ashore were at the top of the hold, and those needed later were lower down. They were also faster, had more armament, and had larger hatches and booms. The biggest difference between these ships and other cargo ships was their ability to carry and handle large numbers of landing craft.
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