USS Pierce (APA-50)
USS Pierce (APA-50) at anchor, date and place unknown
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Pierce (APA-50) |
| Builder: | Moore Dry Dock |
| Laid down: | 22 July 1942 |
| Launched: | 10 October 1942 |
| Christened: | Northern Light |
| Commissioned: | 30 June 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 11 March 1946 |
| Renamed: | USS Pierce (APA-50), American Planter |
| Reclassified: | AP-95 to APA-50, 1 February 1943 |
| Struck: | 17 April 1946 |
| Identification: | MCV Hull Type C2-S-B1, MCV Hull No. 289 |
| Honours and awards: |
Six battle stars for World War II service |
| Fate: | Scrapped May 1969 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ormsby-class attack transport |
| Displacement: | 7,300 tons (lt), 13,910 t. (fl) |
| Length: | 459 ft 3 in |
| Beam: | 63 ft |
| Draft: | 24 ft |
| Propulsion: | 1 x General Electric geared drive turbine, 2 x Foster-Wheeler D-type boilers, 1 x propeller, designed shaft horsepower 6,000 |
| Speed: | 16 knots |
| Capacity: |
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| Complement: | Officers 43, Enlisted 478 |
| Armament: | 2 x 5"/38 caliber dual-purpose gun mounts, 2 x Bofors 40mm gun mounts, 4 x twin 20mm gun, 14 x 20mm single gun mounts. |
USS Pierce (APA-50) was an Ormsby-class attack transport that served with the US Navy during World War II.
Pierce (APA-50) was laid down as Northern Light (MC hull 289) by Moore Dry Dock of Oakland, California 22 July 1942; launched 10 October 1942; and commissioned 30 June 1943, Comdr. A. R. Ponto in command.
After a brief shakedown period Pierce sailed for Hawaii to join the Fifth Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet. Immediately upon arrival at Pearl Harbor the ship was assigned to a transport division and was given an intensive two weeks of training in amphibious warfare and gunnery.
Following a dress rehearsal, Pierce sailed as a unit of the task force assigned to capture, occupy and defend the Japanese held island of Makin, Gilbert Islands.
Off the western end of Makin 20 November 1943, Pierce made her first assault landing. During the night of the 23rd the Japanese made their final banzai charge. In the early pre-dawn hours of the next morning there was a terrific explosion and huge pillars of flame shot skyward as the escort carrier Liscome Bay was torpedoed.
With Makin secured, Pierce's boats and LSTs brought back to the ship the ragged, weary assault troops of the 27th Infantry Division.
Arriving in Pearl Harbor 2 December the transport discharged her troops and spent the next week overhauling equipment and boats. Pierce was occupied for the ensuing five weeks off Maui, T.H., training some 200 officers and 4000 enlisted men of the Army and Marine Corps in the art of amphibious warfare.
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Wikipedia