USS President Polk (AP-103)
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USS President Polk (AP-103)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: |
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| Namesake: | US President James Polk |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding |
| Laid down: | 7 October 1940 |
| Launched: | 28 June 1941 |
| Sponsored by: | Miss Patricia Kennedy |
| Acquired: | (by the Navy): 6 September 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 4 October 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 26 January 1946 |
| Struck: | 25 February 1946 |
| Identification: | MCV Hull Type C3-P&C, MCV Hull No. 110 |
| Honours and awards: |
Six battle stars for World War II service |
| Fate: | Scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan 1970 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | President Jackson-class attack transport |
| Displacement: | 9,000 tons (lt), 11,760 t. (fl) |
| Length: | 491 ft 10 in (149.91 m) |
| Beam: | 63 ft (19 m) |
| Draft: | 25 ft 10 in (7.87 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Capacity: | Unknown |
| Complement: | 354 |
| Armament: |
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USS President Polk (AP-103) was a President Jackson-class attack transport in the service of the United States Navy during World War II.
President Polk was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Newport News, Virginia (MC hull 110) 7 October 1940; launched 28 June 1941; sponsored by Miss Patricia Kennedy. The ship was delivered to American President Lines (APL) in 1941 when she began operating as of 5 December as SS President Polk, a transport under government charter in the Pacific reinforcing Pacific bases, until 6 September 1943 when the ship was requisitioned and acquired by the Navy for conversion to a troop ship. The ship commissioned as USS President Polk (AP-103) at San Diego 4 October 1943, Commander Clarence J. Ballreich in command. After the war she was returned to APL for commercial operations.
Shortly after delivery in 1941 the SS President Polk began operating under government charter to supply and reinforce Pacific bases. The ship was then acquired by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 5 December 1941 with American President Lines operating the ship as WSA's agent.
In a particularly critical delivery the ship was diverted from a planned shipment to Hawaii and departed San Francisco on 19 December 1941 along with a tanker and two freighters with arrival in Brisbane, Australia on 12 January 1942. There she delivered 55 P-40E and 4 C-53 aircraft including 55 pilots, 20 million .30 caliber, 447,000 .50 caliber, 30,000 three-inch AA and 5,000 75 mm rounds of ammunition along with five carloads of torpedoes, over 615,000 pounds of rations and 178 officers and men in addition to the pilots. From Brisbane Polk, making a stop at Townsville, sailed to Soerabaja arriving on 30 January with ammunition, bombs, airplanes, and rations for forces in Java. Of eight vessels planned for relief of Java, and indirectly the Philippines, only Polk and the chartered Dutch vessel Bloemfontein, one of the Pensacola convoy vessels, arrived before that island fell on 9 March.
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