USS Logan (APA-196) was a of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, named for counties in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

, North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

, and West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

. The Haskell-class design, Maritime Commission standard type VC2-S-AP5, is a sub type of the World War II Victory ship

Victory ship

The Victory ship was a type of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace shipping losses caused by German submarines...

 design.

The ship was laid down on 27 May 1944 by Kaiser Co., Vancouver, Washington

Vancouver, Washington

Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...

; launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 19 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Paul E. Lattner; acquired by the Navy; and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 14 October 1944, Comdr. Joseph H. Foley in command.

World War II, 1944–1946

After shakedown

Shakedown (testing)

A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...

 off Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

 during November, the new attack transport steamed to 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...

 for two months of rigorous training with Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner

Richmond K. Turner

-Footnotes:...

's TF 51 in preparation for the assault on Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...

. Departing Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 on 26 January 1945, the ship stopped at Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

, to use that recently liberated rugged atoll for five more days of very realistic training. She left Saipan on 16 February and on the 19th sighted the lamb chop-shaped little island of Iwo Jima, outlined against the morning sky by the battleship barrage that had been pounding the Japanese stronghold for several days. Pulling to within 1000 yards (914.4 m) of the volcanic beaches, Logan lowered all boats, completing the intricate operation in under 30 minutes. Immediately thereafter, the beachmasters, engineers, and quartermasters were quickly dispatched ashore. During the early afternoon of "D-Day", Logan began the daily routine that was to last for nine days; receiving casualties from the beach to be treated by the ship's medical department and meanwhile unloading the vital combat gear as rapidly as possible to the LSMs and LSTs waiting alongside.

With 200 wounded soldiers resting comfortably in sick bay, the ship departed Iwo Jima on 28 February. Stopping briefly at Saipan, she made Guam on 4 March and debarked the casualties. The next day she sailed back to Saipan to prepare for the assault on Okinawa.

Following three weeks of extensive rehearsals off Saipan and Tinian

Tinian

Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....

 with Rear Admiral Wright's TG 51.2, Logan steamed to Okinawa to feint an assault on the southeastern coast on 1 April, diverting the enemy's attention from the real attack which was made successfully on the western coast during the same day. The same maneuver was again successful the following day. For the next six days, Rear Admiral Wright's group laid off Okinawa, fully prepared, if needed, to reinforce the gallant men already ashore. By 11 April the success of the campaign was assured, and the task group steamed back to Saipan.

Logan maintained her combat readiness with amphibious exercises off Saipan and 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...

. Leaving 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...

, on 17 July, the ship made the Marianas

Mariana Islands

The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...

 the 26th, embarked more, than 1,500 passengers and 200 casualties from Saipan, Guam, and Tinian, and sailed for the United States. She reached San Francisco on 13 August, two days before the Japanese surrender.

After V-J Day

Victory over Japan Day

Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event...

 the tremendous job of occupying Japan and bringing home the veteran troops still faced the Navy. Consequently Logan departed San Francisco on 23 August to embark troops at Pearl Harbor for occupation duty in Japan. She arrived at Honshū

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

 on 27 September. On 10 October she proceeded to 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...

, thence to the Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

, embarking 1,932 military passengers for the passage home. The ship arrived Seattle on 27 October 1945.

In November and again in January 1946, Logan made "Magic Carpet

Operation Magic Carpet (World War II)

Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II effort by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and CBI theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships, and troop transports began repatriating soldiers from...

" runs to the Philippines to bring the boys home. She was released from "Magic Carpet" on 6 March, decommissioned on 27 November 1946, and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Francisco.

Korean War, 1951–1955

Logan recommissioned on 10 November 1951, during the height of the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

. After shakedown and refresher training off San Diego, the attack transport departed for Yokosuka

United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka

U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, or Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka is a United States Navy base, in Yokosuka, Japan. Its mission is to maintain and operate base facilities for the logistic, recreational, administrative support and service of the U.S. Naval Forces Japan, U.S. 7th Fleet and...

, Japan, on 9 April 1952, and arrived 26 April. Three weeks later she moved to Sasebo

United States Fleet Activities Sasebo

U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo is a United States Navy naval base, in Sasebo, Japan, on the island of Kyūshū. It provides facilities for the logistic support of forward-deployed units and visiting operating forces of the United States Pacific Fleet and designated tenant activities.- History :Sasebo...

 on the west coast of Japan. From there the ship made a quick 200 miles (321.9 km) cargo run to Koje-do Harbor

Geoje

Geoje is a city located in South Gyeongsang province, just off the coast of the port city of Busan, South Korea. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in Okpo and Samsung Heavy Industries in Gohyeon are both located on Geoje Island. The city also offers a wide range of tourist sights...

, Korea, on 19 May, and returned to Sasebo the next morning.

On 25 June, after returning from Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, the ship left Sasebo for landing exercises at Inchon, scene of the brilliant amphibious assault during October 1950. Following realistic training in this setting, Logan proceeded to the west coast via Sasebo and Yokosuka. She arrived Long Beach on 24 August 1952.

Following nearly a year of amphibious operations, the ship again departed San Diego for Yokosuka on 3 July 1953, just after the s:Korean Armistice Agreement. She made Yokosuka on 25 July. During October she returned to Korea for extensive, month-long amphibious exercises at Inchon. For the next months she operated around Sasebo, then commenced roundabout passage home, stopping at Hong Kong, 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,...

, Guam, and Pearl Harbor. She arrived Long Beach on 23 April 1954.

During the remainder of 1954, Logan exercised with the amphibious forces off the west coast. In January 1955, she steamed to Seattle for inactivation. The ship decommissioned on 14 June 1955 and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Francisco. She was struck from the Navy List

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...

 on 1 July 1960 and transferred to the Maritime Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay is a shallow tidal estuary at in northern California, USA. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, forming the entrance to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta...

, where she remained into 1969.

Logan received two battle stars for World War II service and one for Korean service.