USS Mount McKinley (AGC-7)
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USS Mount McKinley (AGC-7)
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Mount McKinley |
| Laid down: | 31 July 1943 |
| Launched: | 27 September 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 1 May 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 26 March 1970 |
| Struck: | 30 July 1976 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap in 1979 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Mount McKinley-class command ship |
| Displacement: | 12,550 tons |
| Length: | 459 ft 2 in (139.95 m) |
| Beam: | 63 ft (19 m) |
| Draft: | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 664 |
| Armament: |
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USS Mount McKinley (AGC-7/LCC-7) was the lead ship of the Mount McKinley class of amphibious force command ships. She was named after the highest mountain in North America. She was designed as an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations.
Mount McKinley (AGC-7), was laid down as Cyclone, a transport, on 31 July 1943 by North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina; launched on 27 September, sponsored by Mrs. T. L. Lainer; renamed Mount McKinley on 27 December 1943; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 1 May 1944, with Captain Roy W. M. Graham in command.
After a brief shakedown cruise, she departed Norfolk 8 June 1944 for Hawaii, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 27 June. Mount McKinley got underway on 20 July, for Palau with Amphibious Group 5 embarked.
The assault force arrived off Peleliu 15 September, with ComPhibGru 5 directing the landing of the 1st Marine Division. On 28 September, Mount McKinley proceeded to nearby Ngesebus Island to provide shore bombardment coordination.
Mount McKinley left the area 14 October after Peleliu and the other main islands of the chain were secure. After a stop at Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, the ship sailed to San Pedro Bay, Leyte Gulf, for the assault on Leyte and Ormoc. While in San Pedro Bay, the force was under constant air attack, but Mount McKinley was not hit. On 15 December the ship participated in the invasion of Mindoro and proceeded to Lingayen Gulf to direct shore bombardment on 9 January.
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