USS American Legion (APA-17)
Encyclopedia
USS American Legion (AP-35/APA-17) was a that served with the US Navy during World War II
.
A steel-hulled, twin-screw passenger and cargo steamship, the vessel was laid down as Badger State on 10 January 1919 under a United States Shipping Board
(USSB) contract at Camden, New Jersey
, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation and launched on 11 October 1919. Delivered to the USSB upon completion on 15 July 1921, she was renamed American Legion.
for operation on the New York
-to-South America run. For the next fourteen years, American Legion and her running-mates were familiar sights on that particular passenger-and-cargo route, until financial difficulties forced foreclosure of the Munson Line on 13 March 1939. She was then laid up in the Patuxent River
.
of Poland
, triggering World War II in Europe, the Maritime Commission (the successor to the USSB) transferred American Legion to the War Department
on 28 November 1939 for use as a troop transport. On 19 December 1939, the ship was formally transferred, and taken to New York for rehabilitation and conversion by the Atlantic Basin Iron Works
of Brooklyn, New York.
USAT American Legion departed New York City
early in February 1940, on her maiden voyage, bound for Panama
. Over the next few months, the ship made five round-trip voyages to the Canal Zone
, with stops at Charleston, South Carolina
, and San Juan, Puerto Rico
, carrying civilian and military passengers. The worsening situation in Europe, though, soon resulted in the ship's receiving a special mission.
directed that American Legion leave New York immediately and proceed to Petsamo
in northern Finland
. There, she was to embark the Crown Princess Märtha
of Norway
, and her party, to bring them to the United States
, their homeland having fallen to the Germans
the previous spring. Further, as Acting Secretary of State
Sumner Welles
reported to the United States Minister in Sweden
, the President also desired that Mrs. J. Borden Harriman
, the former American Minister to Norway
, return in the same vessel. The transport would "likewise bring back to this country such Americans in Scandinavia
n countries as can be accommodated and as may not be able to return safely in any other way."
American Legion — her neutrality shown clearly by the U.S. flags painted prominently on her sides — sailed for Finland on 25 July, and reached Petsamo on 6 August, as scheduled. On the 15th, she embarked Crown Princess Märtha, and her three children, the Princesses Ragnhild
and Astrid
, and Crown Prince Harald
. The Army troopship also embarked a host of American nationals and refugee
s from a variety of countries: Finland, Estonia
, Latvia
, Lithuania
, Sweden, Norway, Denmark
, Germany, and the Netherlands
, the total number of people being 897. Among the passengers was a young Danish comedian and musician, Victor Borge
. The American Legation in Stockholm, Sweden, also consented to the embarkation of 15 "prominent nationals of American republics...including the Mexican
minister..."
Unbeknownst to probably all but a handful of individuals, American Legion also took on board an important cargo during her brief stay at Petsamo. Before she sailed on the 16th, after an almost Herculean effort involving taking this special cargo by truck the entire length of Sweden, the transport loaded a twin-mount 40-millimeter Bofors antiaircraft gun
, "equipped with standard sight, and accompanied by spare parts and 3,000 rounds of ammunition." The State Department had obtained the cooperation of no less than three governments to make possible the shipment of the Bofors gun: British
, Swedish, and Finnish. The move had been made none too soon, for American Legion was the last neutral ship permitted to leave Petsamo.
American Legion sailed for the United States on 16 August, and reached New York
, 12 days later, escorted the final leg of the voyage by several American destroyer
s. The transport unloaded the Bofors
brought from Petsamo, whence it was shipped to Dahlgren, Virginia
, where it would be tested, and ultimately adopted by the US Navy and produced domestically. Its installation in American warship
s from late 1942 proved a significant upgrading to the antiaircraft capability of the ships of the US Navy.
. Ultimately, as the United States expanded her defense perimeter, American Legion supported this movement, transporting men and cargo to such ports as Hamilton, Bermuda
, and Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
, as well as to Cristóbal
, in the Canal Zone.
As the United States began assuming a greater share of the Battle of the Atlantic, to aid the hard-pressed British, the 6th Marine Regiment was taken to Iceland
, where it relieved a British garrison of defense duties. A second troop and supply movement followed. American Legion from New York on 27 July 1941, as part of a convoy which included within its escort the aircraft carrier .
American Legion — whose cargo included Army Air Corps
gear earmarked for use by the 33rd Pursuit Squadron (whose Curtiss P-40 fighter
s were flown off from Wasp) — reached Reykjavík
, Iceland, on 6 August. Unable to enter the inner harbor because of her deep draft, American Legion discharged her cargo and disembarked her passengers into tank lighters and motor launch
es over the days that followed, the cargo movement facilitated by marines and sailors from the ships.
American Legion, having shed her white Army transport livery for a more businesslike and somber dark gray, was towed to Pier 3, Army Transport Service Pier of Embarkation, Brooklyn
, by four tug
s, on 12 September, and commenced taking on cargo that afternoon. Shortly before noon the following day, she began embarking civilian passengers for her maiden voyage as a Navy transport.
— under the supervision of a detail of Coast Guardsmen
from USCGC Arundel (WYT-90) — early that afternoon, and, after loading the balance of the cargo the following day, weighed anchor for Charleston, South Carolina, at 14:12. She reached her destination on the afternoon of 18 September.
There, she embarked contingents of troops slated for garrison
duties, and sailed for Bermuda
on the morning of the 19th. On the afternoon of the 22nd, as she neared her destination, her local escort — two Army planes — arrived overhead and accompanied the ship on the last leg of her voyage. Ultimately, at 19:45 on 22 September, she moored in Hamilton harbor. She disembarked troops the following morning, and, the following afternoon, sailed for Puerto Rico
.
American Legion reached San Juan
three days later, mooring at Pier 7, Puerto Rico Dock Company, shortly after noon. There, she debarked civilian passengers as well as 33 Army officers and 176 men, and embarked passengers for the rest of the voyage. Underway on the afternoon of 29 September, the transport reached "Ceriseport" — the code name for St. John's, Antigua
— the next morning. The ship there discharged more cargo and took on board another group of passengers on 2 October before she sailed on the morning of 4 October for Puerto Rico.
, USCGC Acacia. Ultimately, though, it was the small seaplane tender
that came to the rescue, passing a line to the crippled transport at 16:50 and taking her in tow back to San Juan.
Following repairs, American Legion sailed for Hamilton on the morning of 18 October. Anchoring in Murray's Anchorage on the morning of the 21st, she embarked New York-bound passengers and took departure the same day. Ultimately, on 23 October, American Legion reached Pier 2, Army Base, Brooklyn, and disembarked her passengers — civilian workers and naval dependents evacuated from Puerto Rico. Underway soon afterwards, the transport anchored off Staten Island
that same afternoon.
, the transport was taken, instead, to the Bethlehem Steel Company yard in Brooklyn, for completion of an overhaul. She remained there into January 1942.
Assigned to the Naval Transportation Service (NTS) on 6 February American Legion embarked men slated for duty at a destroyer base being established at Derry
, Northern Ireland
, and sailed, in convoy, on the first leg of her voyage, bound for Halifax
. Engineering difficulties, however, soon came to the fore again, and "engineering unreliability" caused her to be sent to the Boston Navy Yard
for repairs. Accordingly, escorted by and , American Legion reached Boston
on 4 March after a two-day passage from Nova Scotia
. Ultimately deemed ready for service one more, American Legion reported for duty with the NTS on 28 March 1942.
, in the Tonga
, or Friendly Islands, which she reached on 8 May 1942. There she disembarked her passengers — Army officers, nurses, and enlisted men who were to establish a field hospital on Tongatapu — and proceeded on to Wellington, New Zealand, arriving there on 29 May. American Legion remained at Wellington through mid-July, earmarked for participation in the United States' first offensive landing operation in the Pacific War — the invasion of Guadalcanal
, in the Solomons
.
. Under the direction of the ship's executive officer, Comdr. Ratcliffe C. Welles, and the gunnery
officer, Lt. Comdr. Elmore S. Pettyjohn, USNR, American Legions ship's force installed the battery
on the ship's former sun deck in 48 hours, laboring continuously in inclement weather and having the battery in firing order by the time the ship upped-anchor and sailed on 18 July. Rendezvousing with Task Force 44 (TF-44) on the following day, the transport, with elements of the 1st Marine Division embarked, proceeded to Koro Island
, in the Fiji Islands, for rehearsals for Operation Watchtower. During that training and practice evolution, the ship embarked war correspondent Richard Tregaskis
, whose experiences would later be chronicled in the book, Guadalcanal Diary
.
Assigned to Task Group "X-ray", ten attack transports and five attack cargo ships, American Legion proceeded thence to the Solomon Islands. On the morning of 7 August 1942, she went to general quarters
at 05:45 and manned "ship to shore" stations fifteen minutes later. At 06:14, attending cruiser
s and destroyers opened fire on the beachhead
s, softening up the beaches for the impending landing. American Legion and soon landed the first troops to go ashore on Guadalcanal.
That afternoon, while the landings proceeded apace, American Legion joined in the antiaircraft barrage that repelled the initial Japanese air attacks on the invasion fleet, as she did the next day. Discharging cargo at "Red" Beach on the morning of 8 August, the transport got underway as a wave of Japanese twin-engined bomber
s came after the shipping off Guadalcanal. At noon, American Legion sighted the incoming planes, which dropped their bomb
s near the supporting cruisers and destroyers before heading toward the amphibious
ships.
During the action, one Mitsubishi G4M1 Type 97
land attack plane ("Betty") passed from starboard to port
directly over American Legion stern, at 100 feet (30.5 m). The aft
er 20-millimeter guns and .50-caliber machine guns — as well as the larger 3 inches (76.2 mm) guns — all opened up in a deadly fusillade, while men on board the transport could see the Japanese aircrew manning their own machine guns to sweep the decks with gunfire. Some of this return fire fatally wounded Seaman 1st Class Charles Kaplan. Riddled from practically all quarters, the "Betty" crashed into the water close aboard on the port quarter.
, in which three American heavy cruiser
s were sunk, one American heavy cruiser damaged and an Australia
n heavy cruiser sunk.
The next morning, the transport began embarking survivors from the sunken heavy cruiser and from the destroyer , completing the transfer by 14:00. Within a half hour, American Legion got underway, the majority of her cargo having been unloaded by her busy boat crews who had labored almost continuously since the 7th with almost no sleep and subsisting only on sandwiches and coffee. She left behind one officer and 19 enlisted men as part of the burgeoning naval base at Guadalcanal, having transferred them on the evening of the 8th.
American Legion, with the rest of the amphibious ships of TF 62, then proceeded to Nouméa
, New Caledonia
, which she reached on 13 August. Soon afterwards she transferred her Quincy survivors to the auxiliary and the transport .
; Auckland, New Zealand; Nouméa; Brisbane, Australia; and Espiritu Santo
, in the New Hebrides
. She arrived at Brisbane on New Year's Day 1943 and sailed soon afterwards for Melbourne
, Australia; thence she proceeded to Tongatapu
, Pago Pago, Espiritu Santo, and Guadalcanal. Early in this period, on 1 February 1943, the ship was reclassified to an attack transport APA-17. She then carried out a series of training landings at Upolu
, American Samoa
, between 9 April and 10 May 1943, and then later at New Zealand, at Paekakariki
, between 13 and 16 June. While there, a landing accident claimed the lives of one officer and nine enlisted men when one of American Legion landing boats
capsized in a heavy surf.
, in the New Hebrides, on 22 October 1943, in preparation for the invasion of Bougainville
, Solomon Islands.
Arriving off Cape Torokina
, Bougainville, on the morning of 1 November 1943, American Legion proceeded into the earmarked transport area in Empress Augusta Bay
and anchored at 06:46. Japanese planes arriving in the vicinity prompted the ships to get underway, the transport's men observing Aichi D3A2 Type 99
"Val" carrier attack planes attacking nearby destroyers and losing two or three of their number in the process. "Zeke" (Mitsubishi A6M "Zero"
) fighters then strafed the beach area; sinking an LCPL
from American Legion.
s and four LCVP
s from American Legion among them. Ordered to cease unloading off Beach Red 2 and to proceed to Beach Blue 3, the transport got underway and proceeded thence, soon noting the presence of shoal water. At 12:46, the ship's war diary recounts "several slight shocks to hull" as American Legion grounded. Ten minutes later, enemy planes were reported approaching, as the ship began using her engines in an attempt to work herself free of her predicament. While the other ships in the task unit got underway and stood out, American Legion remained fast aground. The ship, assisted in the effort by and , fired on "Vals" attacking the beachhead, and eventually worked free by 15:06. After standing out to sea during the night, the transport returned to the transport area the following morning and completed discharging cargo.
Following the landings at Cape Torokina
, American Legion returned to the United States via Pago Pago, Samoa
, and reached San Francisco on 8 December 1943, having traveled 83140 nmi (153,975.3 km; 95,676 mi) since leaving New York the previous spring. She then underwent repairs at San Francisco into the spring of 1944.
, American Legion operated in the training capacity for the duration of World War II, exercising off Coronado, off Aliso Canyon
, near Oceanside, California
, and the Marine Corps
Base, Camp Pendleton, and at Pyramid Cove, near San Clemente Island
.
Departing San Diego on 7 September 1945, American Legion proceeded to San Francisco, stopping there only briefly before sailing on 11 September for Pearl Harbor
and Guam
. Returning to San Pedro on 24 October, American Legion sailed for her second Pacific voyage on 8 November, bound for the Philippines
. After calling at Manila
and Tacloban, the veteran transport returned to the United States, reaching San Francisco on 12 December 1945.
, on the 9th. She was decommissioned there on 28 March 1946 and was turned over to the War Shipping Administration
for disposal. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
the same day. She was ultimately sold for scrap on 5 February 1948 to Zidell Ship Dismantling Company, of Portland, Oregon
.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
A steel-hulled, twin-screw passenger and cargo steamship, the vessel was laid down as Badger State on 10 January 1919 under a United States Shipping Board
United States Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board was established as an emergency agency by the Shipping Act , 7 September 1916. It was formally organized 30 January 1917. It was sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board.http://www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/Hurley/bridgeTC.htm | The Bridge To France by Edward N....
(USSB) contract at Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation and launched on 11 October 1919. Delivered to the USSB upon completion on 15 July 1921, she was renamed American Legion.
Commercial service
For over four years, American Legion remained in the hands of the Federal Government, under the auspices of the USSB. However, on 18 December 1925, as part of a "package deal" which involved the sale of the liners American Legion, Southern Cross, Pan America, and Western World, the government sold these ships to the Munson LineMunson Line
The Munson Steamship Line, frequently shortened to the Munson Line, was an American steamship company that operated in the Atlantic Ocean primarily between U.S. ports and ports in the Caribbean and South America...
for operation on the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
-to-South America run. For the next fourteen years, American Legion and her running-mates were familiar sights on that particular passenger-and-cargo route, until financial difficulties forced foreclosure of the Munson Line on 13 March 1939. She was then laid up in the Patuxent River
Patuxent River
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast passing through Baltimore, and the Patuxent River between...
.
Army troopship service
Her enforced idleness did not last long. A little under three months after the German invasionInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, triggering World War II in Europe, the Maritime Commission (the successor to the USSB) transferred American Legion to the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
on 28 November 1939 for use as a troop transport. On 19 December 1939, the ship was formally transferred, and taken to New York for rehabilitation and conversion by the Atlantic Basin Iron Works
Atlantic Basin Iron Works
The Atlantic Basin Iron Works was an ironworks that operated in Brooklyn, New York, in the early to mid-20th century. It built U.S. Navy warships during World War I and II.Founded before 1910, the yard had its headquarters at 18-20 Summit Street...
of Brooklyn, New York.
USAT American Legion departed New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
early in February 1940, on her maiden voyage, bound for Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
. Over the next few months, the ship made five round-trip voyages to the Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
, with stops at Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, and San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
, carrying civilian and military passengers. The worsening situation in Europe, though, soon resulted in the ship's receiving a special mission.
Vital mission to Petsamo
President Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
directed that American Legion leave New York immediately and proceed to Petsamo
Pechengsky District
Pechengsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the five in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It is located to the northwest of the Kola Peninsula on the coast of the Barents Sea and borders with Finland in the south and southwest and with Norway in the west, northwest, and north...
in northern Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. There, she was to embark the Crown Princess Märtha
Princess Märtha of Sweden
Princess Märtha of Sweden , full name Märtha Sofia Lovisa Dagmar Thyra was the granddaughter of King Oscar II of Sweden and the consort of Crown Prince Olav of Norway . She was the first Crown Princess of Norway in modern times who was not also Crown Princess of Sweden or Denmark...
of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and her party, to bring them to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, their homeland having fallen to the Germans
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
the previous spring. Further, as Acting Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
Sumner Welles
Sumner Welles
Benjamin Sumner Welles was an American government official and diplomat in the Foreign Service. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1937 to 1943, during FDR's presidency.-Early life:Benjamin Sumner Welles was born in...
reported to the United States Minister in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, the President also desired that Mrs. J. Borden Harriman
Florence Jaffray Harriman
Florence Jaffray "Daisy" Harriman was an American socialite, suffragist, social reformer, organizer, and diplomat...
, the former American Minister to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, return in the same vessel. The transport would "likewise bring back to this country such Americans in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n countries as can be accommodated and as may not be able to return safely in any other way."
American Legion — her neutrality shown clearly by the U.S. flags painted prominently on her sides — sailed for Finland on 25 July, and reached Petsamo on 6 August, as scheduled. On the 15th, she embarked Crown Princess Märtha, and her three children, the Princesses Ragnhild
Princess Ragnhild of Norway
Princess Ragnhild of Norway, Mrs. Lorentzen, is the eldest daughter of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. She is the older sister of His Majesty King Harald V of Norway and of Princess Astrid of Norway.Princess Ragnhild married Erling S...
and Astrid
Princess Astrid of Norway
Princess Astrid of Norway, Mrs. Ferner, is the second daughter of King Olav V of Norway and his wife, Princess Märtha of Sweden...
, and Crown Prince Harald
Harald V of Norway
Harald V is the king of Norway. He succeeded to the throne of Norway upon the death of his father Olav V on 17 January 1991...
. The Army troopship also embarked a host of American nationals and refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s from a variety of countries: Finland, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, Sweden, Norway, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Germany, and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, the total number of people being 897. Among the passengers was a young Danish comedian and musician, Victor Borge
Victor Borge
Victor Borge ,born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,The Unmelancholy Dane,and The Great Dane.-Early life and career:...
. The American Legation in Stockholm, Sweden, also consented to the embarkation of 15 "prominent nationals of American republics...including the Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
minister..."
Unbeknownst to probably all but a handful of individuals, American Legion also took on board an important cargo during her brief stay at Petsamo. Before she sailed on the 16th, after an almost Herculean effort involving taking this special cargo by truck the entire length of Sweden, the transport loaded a twin-mount 40-millimeter Bofors antiaircraft gun
Bofors 40 mm gun
The Bofors 40 mm gun is an anti-aircraft autocannon designed by the Swedish defence firm of Bofors Defence...
, "equipped with standard sight, and accompanied by spare parts and 3,000 rounds of ammunition." The State Department had obtained the cooperation of no less than three governments to make possible the shipment of the Bofors gun: British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Swedish, and Finnish. The move had been made none too soon, for American Legion was the last neutral ship permitted to leave Petsamo.
American Legion sailed for the United States on 16 August, and reached New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, 12 days later, escorted the final leg of the voyage by several American destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s. The transport unloaded the Bofors
Bofors
The name Bofors has been associated with the iron industry for more than 350 years.Located in Karlskoga, Sweden, the company originates from the hammer mill "Boofors" founded 1646. The modern corporate structure was created in 1873 with the foundation of Aktiebolaget Bofors-Gullspång...
brought from Petsamo, whence it was shipped to Dahlgren, Virginia
Dahlgren, Virginia
Dahlgren is a census-designated place in King George County, Virginia, United States. The population was 997 at the 2000 census. The community is located within the Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace American Viticultural Area winemaking appellation established by the United States...
, where it would be tested, and ultimately adopted by the US Navy and produced domestically. Its installation in American warship
Warship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
s from late 1942 proved a significant upgrading to the antiaircraft capability of the ships of the US Navy.
Other transport missions
American Legion soon returned to the more prosaic calling she had pursued since earlier in the year, that of an Army transport, and resumed the regularly scheduled service between New York and the Panama Canal ZonePanama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
. Ultimately, as the United States expanded her defense perimeter, American Legion supported this movement, transporting men and cargo to such ports as Hamilton, Bermuda
Hamilton, Bermuda
Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:...
, and Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, as well as to Cristóbal
Cristóbal, Colón
Cristóbal is a port in the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. It is located on the western edge of Manzanillo Island and is part of the Panamanian city and province of Colón...
, in the Canal Zone.
As the United States began assuming a greater share of the Battle of the Atlantic, to aid the hard-pressed British, the 6th Marine Regiment was taken to Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, where it relieved a British garrison of defense duties. A second troop and supply movement followed. American Legion from New York on 27 July 1941, as part of a convoy which included within its escort the aircraft carrier .
American Legion — whose cargo included Army Air Corps
United States Army Aviation Branch
The Aviation Branch of the United States Army is the administrative organization within the Army responsible for doctrine, manning and configuration for all aviation units....
gear earmarked for use by the 33rd Pursuit Squadron (whose Curtiss P-40 fighter
Curtiss P-40
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational...
s were flown off from Wasp) — reached Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
, Iceland, on 6 August. Unable to enter the inner harbor because of her deep draft, American Legion discharged her cargo and disembarked her passengers into tank lighters and motor launch
Motor Launch
A Motor Launch is a small military vessel in British navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing or for armed high speed air-sea rescue....
es over the days that followed, the cargo movement facilitated by marines and sailors from the ships.
Navy commission
Having delivered the men and goods to Reykjavik, the convoy sailed on the 12th with its heavy escort and reached New York on 21 August. The next day, American Legion was acquired by the Navy and classified as a transport, AP-35. She was placed in commission on the afternoon of 26 August 1941, Comdr. Thomas D. Warner in command.American Legion, having shed her white Army transport livery for a more businesslike and somber dark gray, was towed to Pier 3, Army Transport Service Pier of Embarkation, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, by four tug
Tug
Tuğ is a village in the Khojavend Rayon of Azerbaijan....
s, on 12 September, and commenced taking on cargo that afternoon. Shortly before noon the following day, she began embarking civilian passengers for her maiden voyage as a Navy transport.
Transport missions
Underway for the Gravesend Bay Explosive Anchorage soon afterwards, American Legion loaded a cargo of ammunitionAmmunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
— under the supervision of a detail of Coast Guardsmen
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
from USCGC Arundel (WYT-90) — early that afternoon, and, after loading the balance of the cargo the following day, weighed anchor for Charleston, South Carolina, at 14:12. She reached her destination on the afternoon of 18 September.
There, she embarked contingents of troops slated for garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
duties, and sailed for Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
on the morning of the 19th. On the afternoon of the 22nd, as she neared her destination, her local escort — two Army planes — arrived overhead and accompanied the ship on the last leg of her voyage. Ultimately, at 19:45 on 22 September, she moored in Hamilton harbor. She disembarked troops the following morning, and, the following afternoon, sailed for Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
.
American Legion reached San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
three days later, mooring at Pier 7, Puerto Rico Dock Company, shortly after noon. There, she debarked civilian passengers as well as 33 Army officers and 176 men, and embarked passengers for the rest of the voyage. Underway on the afternoon of 29 September, the transport reached "Ceriseport" — the code name for St. John's, Antigua
St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda
St John's is the capital and largest city of Antigua and Barbuda, a country located in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. St John's is located at...
— the next morning. The ship there discharged more cargo and took on board another group of passengers on 2 October before she sailed on the morning of 4 October for Puerto Rico.
Taken in tow after breakdown
American Legion returned once more to San Juan on 8 October, mooring at 09:56 and disembarking naval enlisted passengers brought from Trinidad. Once more, her turnaround was comparatively swift, for she was underway again on the morning of 10 October, bound for Hamilton. late that afternoon, though, the ship's port main engine and steering engine proved troublesome. As American Legion limped back to San Juan, two Navy tugs came out to assist, as did the lighthouse tenderLighthouse tender
A lighthouse tender is a ship specifically designed to maintain, support, or tend to lighthouses, or lightvessels, providing supplies, fuel, mail and transportation....
, USCGC Acacia. Ultimately, though, it was the small seaplane tender
Seaplane tender
A seaplane tender is a ship that provides facilities for operating seaplanes. These ships were the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.-History:...
that came to the rescue, passing a line to the crippled transport at 16:50 and taking her in tow back to San Juan.
Following repairs, American Legion sailed for Hamilton on the morning of 18 October. Anchoring in Murray's Anchorage on the morning of the 21st, she embarked New York-bound passengers and took departure the same day. Ultimately, on 23 October, American Legion reached Pier 2, Army Base, Brooklyn, and disembarked her passengers — civilian workers and naval dependents evacuated from Puerto Rico. Underway soon afterwards, the transport anchored off Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
that same afternoon.
Overhaul and repairs
American Legion weighed anchor on the morning of the 24th and moored at the New York Navy Yard. Initially slated for repair work at the Morse Dry Dock Company, BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, the transport was taken, instead, to the Bethlehem Steel Company yard in Brooklyn, for completion of an overhaul. She remained there into January 1942.
Assigned to the Naval Transportation Service (NTS) on 6 February American Legion embarked men slated for duty at a destroyer base being established at Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, and sailed, in convoy, on the first leg of her voyage, bound for Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
. Engineering difficulties, however, soon came to the fore again, and "engineering unreliability" caused her to be sent to the Boston Navy Yard
Boston Navy Yard
The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...
for repairs. Accordingly, escorted by and , American Legion reached Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
on 4 March after a two-day passage from Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. Ultimately deemed ready for service one more, American Legion reported for duty with the NTS on 28 March 1942.
Transfer to Pacific Theatre
On 9 April 1942, American Legion sailed from New York for the Panama Canal Zone, bound, ultimately, for TongatapuTongatapu
Tongatapu is the main island of the Kingdom of Tonga and the location of its capital Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with approximately 71,260 residents , 70.5% of the national population...
, in the Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
, or Friendly Islands, which she reached on 8 May 1942. There she disembarked her passengers — Army officers, nurses, and enlisted men who were to establish a field hospital on Tongatapu — and proceeded on to Wellington, New Zealand, arriving there on 29 May. American Legion remained at Wellington through mid-July, earmarked for participation in the United States' first offensive landing operation in the Pacific War — the invasion of Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
, in the Solomons
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
.
Invasion of Guadalcanal
Three days before she was to sail from Wellington, she received an augmentation of her antiaircraft battery — a dozen Oerlikon 20 mm cannonOerlikon 20 mm cannon
The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...
. Under the direction of the ship's executive officer, Comdr. Ratcliffe C. Welles, and the gunnery
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
officer, Lt. Comdr. Elmore S. Pettyjohn, USNR, American Legions ship's force installed the battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
on the ship's former sun deck in 48 hours, laboring continuously in inclement weather and having the battery in firing order by the time the ship upped-anchor and sailed on 18 July. Rendezvousing with Task Force 44 (TF-44) on the following day, the transport, with elements of the 1st Marine Division embarked, proceeded to Koro Island
Koro Island
Koro is a volcanic island of Fiji that forms part of the Lomaiviti Archipelago. The Koro Sea is named after this volcanic island, which has a chain of basaltic cinder cones extending from north to south along its crest. With a land area of 108.9 square kilometers , it is the sixth largest island...
, in the Fiji Islands, for rehearsals for Operation Watchtower. During that training and practice evolution, the ship embarked war correspondent Richard Tregaskis
Richard Tregaskis
Richard William Tregaskis was an American journalist and author whose best-known work is Guadalcanal Diary , an account of just the first several weeks of the U.S. Marine Corps invasion of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands during World War II. This was actually a six-month-long campaign...
, whose experiences would later be chronicled in the book, Guadalcanal Diary
Guadalcanal Diary (book)
Guadalcanal Diary is a memoir written by war correspondent Richard Tregaskis and published by Random House. The book recounts the author's time with the United States Marine Corps on Guadalcanal in the early stages of the pivotal months-long battle there starting in 1942.-Narrative style:Tregaskis...
.
Assigned to Task Group "X-ray", ten attack transports and five attack cargo ships, American Legion proceeded thence to the Solomon Islands. On the morning of 7 August 1942, she went to general quarters
General quarters
General Quarters or Battle Stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal the crew to prepare for battle or imminent damage....
at 05:45 and manned "ship to shore" stations fifteen minutes later. At 06:14, attending cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
s and destroyers opened fire on the beachhead
Beachhead
Beachhead is a military term used to describe the line created when a unit reaches a beach, and begins to defend that area of beach, while other reinforcements help out, until a unit large enough to begin advancing has arrived. It is sometimes used interchangeably with Bridgehead and Lodgement...
s, softening up the beaches for the impending landing. American Legion and soon landed the first troops to go ashore on Guadalcanal.
That afternoon, while the landings proceeded apace, American Legion joined in the antiaircraft barrage that repelled the initial Japanese air attacks on the invasion fleet, as she did the next day. Discharging cargo at "Red" Beach on the morning of 8 August, the transport got underway as a wave of Japanese twin-engined bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
s came after the shipping off Guadalcanal. At noon, American Legion sighted the incoming planes, which dropped their bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
s near the supporting cruisers and destroyers before heading toward the amphibious
Amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...
ships.
During the action, one Mitsubishi G4M1 Type 97
Mitsubishi G4M
The Mitsubishi G4M 一式陸上攻撃機, 一式陸攻 Isshiki rikujō kōgeki ki, Isshikirikkō was the main twin-engine, land-based bomber used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II. The Allies gave the G4M the reporting name Betty...
land attack plane ("Betty") passed from starboard to port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
directly over American Legion stern, at 100 feet (30.5 m). The aft
Aft
Aft, in naval terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning, towards the stern of the ship, when the frame of reference is within the ship. Example: "Able Seaman Smith; lay aft!". Or; "What's happening aft?"...
er 20-millimeter guns and .50-caliber machine guns — as well as the larger 3 inches (76.2 mm) guns — all opened up in a deadly fusillade, while men on board the transport could see the Japanese aircrew manning their own machine guns to sweep the decks with gunfire. Some of this return fire fatally wounded Seaman 1st Class Charles Kaplan. Riddled from practically all quarters, the "Betty" crashed into the water close aboard on the port quarter.
Rescue mission
American Legion, still lay off "Red" Beach in the predawn hours of the 9th, too, and began observing heavy gunfire commencing at 01:48 to the northwestward. Lookouts also saw flares and tracers, with parachute flares brightly lighting up the area to the northeastward. Transport Group "X-ray" ceased discharging cargo and darkened ship, remaining shut down for the rest of the night, crews at general quarters. American Legion men did not know it at the time, but they were witnessing the disastrous Battle of Savo IslandBattle of Savo Island
The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the , was a naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces...
, in which three American heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
s were sunk, one American heavy cruiser damaged and an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n heavy cruiser sunk.
The next morning, the transport began embarking survivors from the sunken heavy cruiser and from the destroyer , completing the transfer by 14:00. Within a half hour, American Legion got underway, the majority of her cargo having been unloaded by her busy boat crews who had labored almost continuously since the 7th with almost no sleep and subsisting only on sandwiches and coffee. She left behind one officer and 19 enlisted men as part of the burgeoning naval base at Guadalcanal, having transferred them on the evening of the 8th.
American Legion, with the rest of the amphibious ships of TF 62, then proceeded to Nouméa
Nouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, which she reached on 13 August. Soon afterwards she transferred her Quincy survivors to the auxiliary and the transport .
Supply runs
Over the next several months, American Legion carried out a series of supply runs, including as ports of call Guadalcanal;TulagiTulagi
Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...
; Auckland, New Zealand; Nouméa; Brisbane, Australia; and Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....
, in the New Hebrides
New Hebrides
New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...
. She arrived at Brisbane on New Year's Day 1943 and sailed soon afterwards for Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia; thence she proceeded to Tongatapu
Tongatapu
Tongatapu is the main island of the Kingdom of Tonga and the location of its capital Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with approximately 71,260 residents , 70.5% of the national population...
, Pago Pago, Espiritu Santo, and Guadalcanal. Early in this period, on 1 February 1943, the ship was reclassified to an attack transport APA-17. She then carried out a series of training landings at Upolu
Upolu
Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long, in area, and is the second largest in geographic area as well as the most populated of the Samoan Islands. Upolu is situated to the east of...
, American Samoa
American Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...
, between 9 April and 10 May 1943, and then later at New Zealand, at Paekakariki
Paekakariki
Paekakariki is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It is 22 km north of Porirua and 45 km north-east of Wellington, the nation's capital city....
, between 13 and 16 June. While there, a landing accident claimed the lives of one officer and nine enlisted men when one of American Legion landing boats
Landing craft
Landing craft are boats and seagoing vessels used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. Most renowned are those used to storm the beaches of Normandy, the Mediterranean, and many Pacific islands during WWII...
capsized in a heavy surf.
Invasion of Bougainville
Troop and cargo runs then followed, between Auckland, New Zealand; Nouméa, New Caledonia; and Guadalcanal, before she put into EfateÉfaté
Efate is an island in the Agean Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in The Republic of Maliki. It is also known as Île Vate. It is the most populous island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third largest island. Most inhabitants of Efate live in Port Vila, the national...
, in the New Hebrides, on 22 October 1943, in preparation for the invasion of Bougainville
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...
, Solomon Islands.
Arriving off Cape Torokina
Cape Torokina
Cape Torokina is a promontory at the north end of Empress Augusta Bay, along the central part of the southeastern coast of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea....
, Bougainville, on the morning of 1 November 1943, American Legion proceeded into the earmarked transport area in Empress Augusta Bay
Empress Augusta Bay
Empress Augusta Bay is a major bay on the western side of the island of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, at . It is a major subsistence fishing area for the people of Bougainville. It is named after Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein, wife of German Emperor William II.In November 1943, the...
and anchored at 06:46. Japanese planes arriving in the vicinity prompted the ships to get underway, the transport's men observing Aichi D3A2 Type 99
Aichi D3A
The , Allied reporting name "Val") was a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy . It was the primary dive bomber in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and participated in almost all actions, including Pearl Harbor....
"Val" carrier attack planes attacking nearby destroyers and losing two or three of their number in the process. "Zeke" (Mitsubishi A6M "Zero"
A6M Zero
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long-range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the , and also designated as the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen and Mitsubishi Navy 12-shi Carrier Fighter. The A6M was usually referred to by the...
) fighters then strafed the beach area; sinking an LCPL
LCPL
The Landing Craft Personnel was a landing craft used extensively in the Second World War. Its primary purpose was to ferry troops from transport ships to attack enemy-held shores. The craft derived from a prototype designed by the Eureka Tug-Boat Company of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA...
from American Legion.
Temporarily grounded
Securing from general quarters at 09:37, American Legion anchored in the transport area a few moments later, observers on board noting beaches Red 2 and 3 littered with broached landing craft, two LCMLanding Craft Mechanized
The Landing Craft Mechanized or Landing Craft Mechanical was a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. They came to prominence during the Second World War when they were used to land troops or tanks during Allied amphibious assaults....
s and four LCVP
LCVP
The Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively in amphibious landings in World War II. The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana, United States, based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes...
s from American Legion among them. Ordered to cease unloading off Beach Red 2 and to proceed to Beach Blue 3, the transport got underway and proceeded thence, soon noting the presence of shoal water. At 12:46, the ship's war diary recounts "several slight shocks to hull" as American Legion grounded. Ten minutes later, enemy planes were reported approaching, as the ship began using her engines in an attempt to work herself free of her predicament. While the other ships in the task unit got underway and stood out, American Legion remained fast aground. The ship, assisted in the effort by and , fired on "Vals" attacking the beachhead, and eventually worked free by 15:06. After standing out to sea during the night, the transport returned to the transport area the following morning and completed discharging cargo.
Following the landings at Cape Torokina
Cape Torokina
Cape Torokina is a promontory at the north end of Empress Augusta Bay, along the central part of the southeastern coast of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea....
, American Legion returned to the United States via Pago Pago, Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
, and reached San Francisco on 8 December 1943, having traveled 83140 nmi (153,975.3 km; 95,676 mi) since leaving New York the previous spring. She then underwent repairs at San Francisco into the spring of 1944.
Amphibious warfare training ship
Departing San Francisco on 12 April 1944, American Legion proceeded to San Diego where she became part of the Transport Training Division, Amphibious Training, Pacific. Based at the Amphibious Training Case at Coronado, CaliforniaCoronado, California
Coronado, also known as Coronado Island, is an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,697 at the 2010 census, up from 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive...
, American Legion operated in the training capacity for the duration of World War II, exercising off Coronado, off Aliso Canyon
Aliso Canyon
Aliso Canyon is a canyon cut through the San Joaquin Hills by Aliso Creek. Located in Orange County in the U.S. state of California, the canyon's name derives from the Spanish word for alder....
, near Oceanside, California
Oceanside, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Oceanside had a population of 167,086. The population density was 3,961.8 people per square mile...
, and the Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Base, Camp Pendleton, and at Pyramid Cove, near San Clemente Island
San Clemente Island
San Clemente Island is the southernmost of the Channel Islands of California. It is owned and operated by the United States Navy, and is a part of Los Angeles County. Defined by the United States Census Bureau as Block Group 2 of Census Tract 5991 of Los Angeles County, California, it is long and...
.
Departing San Diego on 7 September 1945, American Legion proceeded to San Francisco, stopping there only briefly before sailing on 11 September for Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
. Returning to San Pedro on 24 October, American Legion sailed for her second Pacific voyage on 8 November, bound for the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. After calling at Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
and Tacloban, the veteran transport returned to the United States, reaching San Francisco on 12 December 1945.
Decommission
Clearing that port for the last time on 6 March 1946, she reached Olympia, WashingtonOlympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
, on the 9th. She was decommissioned there on 28 March 1946 and was turned over to the War Shipping Administration
War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....
for disposal. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
the same day. She was ultimately sold for scrap on 5 February 1948 to Zidell Ship Dismantling Company, of Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
.