USAT Chateau Thierry
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Name: | Chateau Thierry |
| Builder: | American International Shipbuilding |
| Cost: | ~$2,000,000 |
| Yard number: | 678 |
| Laid down: | 25 January 1919 as Skanamania |
| Launched: | 24 December 1919 |
| Completed: | June 1920 |
| Acquired: |
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| Commissioned: |
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| Honors and awards: |
One battle star for World War II service |
| Fate: | Unknown |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Design 1024 ship |
| Displacement: | 9,050 tons (lt) |
| Length: | 448 ft |
| Beam: | 58 ft |
| Draft: | 28 ft |
| Propulsion: | Steam turbine |
| Speed: | 15 knots |
| Complement: | 253 |
| Armament: | (WWII) 1 x 5"/38 caliber dual purpose gun, 4 x 3"/50 caliber dp guns, 8 x 0.5 in (12.7 mm) machine guns |
Chateau Thierry was a troop transport that served with the US Army and US Navy. Originally built for service during the First World War, the ship arrived too late to see service in that war, but operated as an army transport, USAT Chateau Thierry, between the wars. With America's entry into World War II, the vessel was transferred to the US Navy and redesignated USS Chateau Thierry (AP-31). In 1943 she was transferred back to the Army and converted into a hospital ship, USAHS Chateau Thierry, in which role she was to serve for the remainder of the war.
Chateau Thierry was built in 1921 by the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at Hog Island, Pennsylvania. She was transferred from the Army to the Navy 15 July 1941, and commissioned into the latter 6 August 1941, Commander J. K. Davis in command.
Chateau Thierry played a part in the assumption by the United States of responsibilities in the western Atlantic in the period before entrance into World War II as she carried Army and civilian personnel and cargo from Brooklyn, New York, to ports in Greenland, Iceland, and Nova Scotia, between 13 September 1941 and 2 January 1942.
The ship's first captain, Jerry Allen, sailed her maiden voyage as a U.S. Army Transport from Baltimore to Manila in 1921. He captained the Chateau Thierry on a number or trips from the east coast to Pacific ports. One started in 1925 in Manila, stopped in San Francisco, traversed the Panama Canal and docked in New York.
War Department plans to establish bases in Greenland, known by the code name "Bluie" were at risk when Navy notified Army that ships could not be spared ships for a required two month layover. The recently acquired Munargo being transferred to Navy for that purpose and addition of Chateau Thierry was the solution. The Army's Greenland force had been scheduled to depart 19 May 1941 but repairs were required for Munargo delayed departure until 19 June when Chateau Thierry and Munargo with 469 officers and men of the force departed New York bound for Argentia, Newfoundland where they would refuel and await news of ice conditions. The ships departed Argentia 30 June and arrived off Narsarssuak, Greenland to establish Bluie West One as the major Army and Navy base in Greenland.
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