USS Warren (APA-53)
USS Warren (APA-53) at Hampton Roads, 23 August 1943
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Warren (APA-53) |
| Namesake: | Joseph Warren, American Revolutionary War hero |
| Builder: | Gulf Shipbuilding |
| Laid down: | 19 April 1942 |
| Launched: | 7 September 1942 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs F. L. Leatherbury |
| Acquired: | 19 February 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 2 August 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 14 March 1946 |
| Reclassified: | AP-98 to APA-53, 1 February 1943 |
| Struck: | 17 April 1946 |
| Honours and awards: |
Four battle stars for World War II service |
| Fate: | Sold into commercial service 1947, scrapped 1977 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sumter-class attack transport |
| Displacement: | 13,910 tons (fl) |
| Length: | 468 ft 8 in |
| Beam: | 63 ft |
| Draft: | 23 ft 3 in (limiting) |
| Propulsion: | 1 × General Electric geared drive turbine, 2 Babcock & Wilcox header-type boilers, 1 propeller, designed shaft horsepower 6,000 |
| Speed: | 16.5 knots |
| Capacity: |
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| Complement: | Officers 38, Enlisted 619 |
| Armament: | 2 × 5"/38 caliber dual-purpose gun mount, 4 × twin 40 mm gun mounts, 10 × single 20mm gun mounts |
| Notes: | MCV Hull No. 415, hull type C2-S-E1 |
USS Warren (APA-53) was a Sumter-class attack transport that served with the US Navy during World War II.
Jean Lafitte - named for the legendary pirate of Barataria, Louisiana, who assisted General Andrew Jackson in defending New Orleans against the British in 1815 - was a C2-S-E1-type merchant ship laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 475) on 19 April 1942 at Chickasaw, Alabama, by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation. She was launched on 7 September 1942; renamed Warren and classified a transport, AP-98; redesignated as an attack transport, APA-53, on 1 February 1943; and placed in commission, in ordinary, on 19 February 1943.
Taken to the Key Highway plant of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation soon thereafter, the ship was decommissioned on 10 March 1943; and was recommissioned on 2 August 1943, CDR William A. McHale, USNR, in command.
Warren soon sailed south to the Norfolk Navy Yard, where the work converting her to an attack transport was completed and she was fitted out for service. She next conducted her shakedown and type training in the waters of Chesapeake Bay. In intensive exercises, the ship practiced the amphibious tactics and techniques that she would soon be putting into practice.
On 1 November 1943, Warren departed Hampton Roads and headed for Panama, reaching the Canal Zone on the 5th after a brief stop at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, en route. Following her transit of the Panama Canal, Warren pushed on for San Diego and reached that California port on 17 November. The ship subsequently underwent repairs and a drydocking at Long Beach before she returned to San Diego for more amphibious training. From 26 November 1943 to 13 January 1944, Warren landed troops of the 4th Marine Division in practice assaults at Aliso Canyon and San Clemente Island.
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