USS Wakefield (AP-21)

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USS Wakefield, Aug 1945

The USS Wakefield (AP-21) was a troop transport that served with the US Navy during World War II.

Manhattan years (1931-1941)

Before her war service, the USS Wakefield was the luxury ocean liner SS Manhattan. The Manhattan was built for the United States Lines (a subsidiary of J.P. Morgan's Roosevelt International Mercantile Marine Co.) at Camden, New Jersey by the New York Shipbuilding Company. She was launched on December 5, 1931, sponsored by Mrs. Edith Kermit Roosevelt, widow of former President Theodore Roosevelt.

After trials in and off the Delaware River, Manhattan departed New York City at midnight on August 10, 1932 for her maiden Atlantic crossing. Arriving at Hamburg 10 days later, she made the return voyage to New York in 5 days, 14 hours, and 28 minutes, a record for passenger liners at that time. Proudly carrying the title of "the fastest cabin ship in the world", the liner continued to ply the North Atlantic from New York to Hamburg, via Cobh, Ireland, Southampton, England; and Le Havre, France, into the late 1930s. When Germany recalled her ships from the high seas during the Sudeten Crisis in September 1938, Manhattan was en route to Hamburg but immediately came about and put into British and French ports instead, to bring back anxious American travelers who feared that they would be engulfed in a European war.

After war broke out in 1939, she made voyages to Genoa and Naples, Italy. Following the Allied collapse in the lowlands of western Europe in the spring of 1940, she made a transatlantic crossing in July to repatriate American nationals from Portugal. With the European war endangering commercial shipping of neutral nations, Manhattan was then withdrawn from the once-lucrative transatlantic trade and placed in inter-coastal service from New York to San Francisco, via the Panama Canal and Los Angeles.In February 1941, during her third voyage to California, Manhattan ran aground off West Palm Beach, Florida, but was pulled free by tugs after the ship was lightened.

Early Navy years (1941-1942)

After repairs at New York the ship was delivered to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on June 14, 1941 which immediately delivered the ship to the Navy for operation under bare boat charter. The Navy renamed her Wakefield, after the place where George Washington was born. Converted to a troop transport at Brooklyn, New York by the Robins Drydock Company, her costly furnishings and trappings of a luxury ocean liner were carefully removed and stored for future use. All of the ship's external surfaces were painted in Navy camouflage colors. The ship's crew was all Coast Guard except for the medical department which was Navy. On June 15, 1941, Wakefield was commissioned, with Comdr. W. N. Derby, USCG in command.

The Wakefield was 705 feet long with an 86-foot beam and a 31-foot draft. It was over 24,000 gross tons with a 33,650-ton displacement. The transport had powerful steam turbines driving two screws that could propel the vessel at high speed. For war service, the vessel was painted battleship gray and equipped with numerous rubber life rafts in case of loss or sinking. The ship was manned with a complement of 50 officers and 900 enlisted men, and a detachment of 30 Marines. It could carry up to 7000 passengers.

On July 13, 1941, Wakefield departed New York to participate in joint Navy – Marine – Army – Coast Guard amphibious training exercises at New River Inlet, North Carolina, in late July and early August. In early November, the troopship proceeded to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to take on board British troops, the 18th Division. The Wakefield, with 6,000 men embarked, and five other transports got underway on 10 November for Cape Town, South Africa. This whole operation was classified top secret and was not publicly revealed until after the war had ended. The Chicago Tribune announced Task Force 14 on March 15, 1953 in it's headlines. Escorted by a strong screen, which, as far as Trinidad, included Ranger (CV-4), the convoy arrived at Cape Town on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This drastic change in the strategic situation prompted the convoy to be rerouted to the Far East. On January 29, 1942, Wakefield and West Point arrived at Singapore to disembark troops. These troops were later doomed to be captured by the Japanese upon the fall of the city in the following month.

On January 30, 1942, Wakefield commenced fueling at Keppel Harbour for the return voyage and awaited the arrival of some 400 British women and children who were being evacuated to Ceylon. At 1100, lookouts spotted two formations of Japanese bombers – 27 planes in each – approaching the dock area at Keppel Harbor. Unhampered by anti-aircraft fire or British fighter planes, the enemy bombers droned overhead and released a brief rain of bombs on the waterfront. One bomb hit 50 yards off Wakefield's port quarter, and another blew up in the dock area 40 feet from the transport's bow before a third struck the ship's "B" deck and penetrated through to "C" deck where it exploded in the sick bay spaces. A fire broke out, but it was extinguished in less than one-half hour. The ship's official damage report notes that wood furniture and fittings are contribute to the fires following such bomb hits, though in this case fires were brought under control quickly. The report noted that fire in a medical storeroom completely destroyed a wooden door allowing spread. One of the features of the ship as the liner Manhattan had been the lavish use of rare hardwood panels, moldings and furnishings in passenger spaces. Using oxygen masks, fire-fighting and damage control crew extricated five dead and nine wounded. Medical assistance soon came from West Point.

Completing her fueling, Wakefield embarked her passengers and got underway soon thereafter, burying her dead at sea at 2200 and pushing on for Ceylon. After disembarking her passengers at Colombo, the ship found that port authorities would not cooperate in arranging for repair of her damage. Wakefield, therefore, promptly sailed for Bombay, India, where she was able to effect temporary repairs and embark 336 American evacuees. Steaming home via Cape Town, the transport reached New York on March 23 and then proceeded to Philadelphia for permanent repairs.

Underway on May 11, 1942 for Hampton Roads, Wakefield arrived at Norfolk, Virginia two days later to load cargo in preparation for Naval Transportation Service Operating Plan Lone Wolf. This provided for Wakefield to travel, for the most part, without escorts, relying on her superior speed to outrun or outmaneuver enemy submarines. On May 19,1942, she embarked 4,725 Marines and 309 Navy and Army passengers for transportation to the South Pacific and moved to Hampton Roads to form up with a convoy bound for the Panama Canal Zone. Arriving at Cristóbal on May 25, 1942, Wakefield was released from the convoy to proceed west. After Borie (DD-215) escorted her out of the Canal Zone, Wakefield proceeded independently to New Zealand and arrived at Wellington on June 14, 1942. Departing one week later, the transport steamed via the Panama Canal and reached New York on July 11, 1942.

On August 6, 1942, Wakefield departed New York with Convoy AT-18 – the largest troop convoy yet assembled. A dozen troop transports made up the bulk of the convoy, escorted by 12 warships, cruisers and destroyers. After proceeding via Halifax to Great Britain, Wakefield received orders routing her and three other transports to the River Clyde, where they arrived without incident. On August 27, 1942, Wakefield departed the Clyde estuary as part of Convoy TA-18, bound for New York.

Navy years after fire and rebuilding (1942-1946)

While the transport was en route to her destination, on the evening of September 3, 1942, fire broke out deep within the bowels of the ship and spread rapidly. In the port column of the formation, Wakefield swung to port to run before the wind while fire-fighting began immediately. Ready service ammunition was thrown overboard to prevent detonation, code room publications were secured, and sick bay and brig inmates were released. Mayo (DD-422) and Brooklyn (CL-40) closed to windward to take off passengers, a badly-burned officer, and members of the crew not needed to man pumps and hoses. Other survivors were disembarked by boat and raft, to be picked up forthwith by the screening ships. At 2100, Brooklyn again came alongside to remove the remainder of the crew, while a special salvage detail boarded the ship. On September 5, 1942, towing operations commenced led by the Canadian salvage vessel Foundation Franklin and the big transport was put aground at McNab's Cove, near Halifax, at 1740 on September 8. When fire-fighting details arrived alongside to board and commence the mammoth operation, fires still burned in three holds and in the crew's quarters on two deck levels. Four days later, the last flames had been extinguished, and the ship was re-floated on the 14th. On September 18, 1942 the ship was purchased by the Navy.

While Wakefield was undergoing partial repairs in Halifax harbor, a torrential rainstorm threatened to fill the damaged ship with water and capsize her at her berth. Torrents of rain, at times in cloudburst proportions, poured into the ship and caused her to list heavily. Salvage crews, meanwhile, cut holes in the ship's sides above the waterline, draining away the water to permit the ship to regain an even keel. For the next 10 days, the salvage crew engaged in extensive initial repair work – cleaning up the ship, pumping out debris, patching up holes, and preparing the vessel for her voyage to the Boston Navy Yard for complete rebuilding.

Temporarily decommissioned, the charred liner proceeded for Boston with a four-tug tow, and was declared a "constructive total loss." The Government purchased the hulk from the United States Lines and stripped the vessel to the waterline. The repairs and alterations began in the fall of 1942, and lasted through 1943. On February 10. 1944, Wakefield was recommissioned at Boston, with Capt. R. L. Raney, USCG, in command and most of the original Coast Guard back on board.

She departed Boston on April 13, 1944, beginning the first of 23 round trips in the Atlantic theater, and three in the Pacific. Between April 13, 1944 and 1 February 1946, Wakefield transported 110,563 troops to Europe and brought some 106,674 men back to America – a total of 217,237 passengers.

In the build-up to 1944’s D-Day, the Wakefield played a vital role in ferrying troops to the U.K., including U.S. Army, Army Air Corps, and Army nurses. After D-Day, the transport shipped captured German prisoners of war (POW) back to the U.S. The troopship also served as a casualty-evacuation vessel bringing back wounded GIs and treating them in the transport’s 92-bed sickbay staffed by five medical officers and 14 pharmacist mates.

Aboard Wakefield, the troops entertained themselves on deck with cards, reading, smoking, gambling, music and loafing. Coast Guard jazz bands played music for jitterbug dancing and crew members occasionally played the bagpipes. On one crossing, heavyweight boxer and Coast Guard officer, Jack Dempsey, refereed boxing matches. Chaplains held Protestant and Catholic services. There were also unit exercises for the troops. The ship’s canteen sold candy, peanuts and cigarettes. Since the ship had a modern ventilation system, smoking was even allowed below decks.

Troops wore inflatable life belts at all times and ate two meals a day standing-up cafeteria-style. The soldiers moved in four chow lines with 1,000 troops fed every 20 minutes. The galley cooked food in large pot kettles with dehydrated potatoes and eggs the staple food as well as toast, oatmeal and coffee. Every day, the troops consumed 2,500 loaves of bread and hundreds of pounds of butter. The Coast Guard crew dined in a separate mess hall.

The Wakefield produced 90,000 gallons of freshwater daily for washing, but there were days when saltwater was used for washing with Hershey’s Soap. Latrines were a series of outhouse like holes over a galvanized metal trough irrigated from a large pipe at one end sloped to drain at the other. The decks had to be hosed-down on a regular basis due to seasick troops.

In many cases, Wakefield operated as a "lone wolf", except for air coverage a few miles out of a port. Her primary port of call in the European theater was Liverpool, visited so often in fact that the transport's crew nicknamed her "The Boston and Liverpool Ferry." The average round-trip voyage took 18 days.

In Boston, loading troops, their gear and supplies took most of a day. Passenger trains would pull onto the docks and unload thousands of men to board the Wakefield. The troopship also loaded nearly 20,000 bags of mail for personnel in the European Theater of Operations. The transport could load 1,200 troops per hour with each man getting an assignment card indicating the location of his bunk. The card was also used as a meal ticket indicating the dining schedule. On the reverse side of the card were listed ship’s rules for general quarters, fire drills, and abandoning ship.

The Navy kept Wakefield’s departures a secret. Troops were not allowed to leave their bunk areas until the afternoon of the first day at sea. Bunks below decks were stacked five high with only the top man able to sit upright. In sleeping quarters, the aisles were narrow and often crammed with gear and Wakefield’s complement of Marines kept these spaces in order.

Each morning after leaving port, crew and passengers drilled at general quarters with guns manned. Wakefield’s armament varied at times, but normally included a five-inch dual-purpose gun in the bow and two on the stern. It also had three three-inch dual-purpose gun mounts, four 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, numerous 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, and eight .50 cal machine guns.

After D-Day, June 6, 1944, Wakefield began the first of her trips as a casualty-evacuation ship, bringing home wounded GIs. On occasion, she also brought back German prisoners of war for internment in the United States. Sometimes she even carried both evacuees and prisoners on the same voyage. After 13 trips to Liverpool, Wakefield was sent to the Mediterranean theater to carry men and equipment to Italy. She made three visits to Naples and a run each to Marseille, Oran, Taranto, Le Havre, and Cherbourg-Octeville.

Returning from her 22nd voyage to Europe, the transport departed Boston on December 4, 1945 for Taku, China, and a Magic Carpet mission. returning to San Diego, California, on February 1, 1946. Two round trips to Guam, in February through April 1946, rounded out the ship's active service as a Navy transport.

Final years after decommissioning (1946-1965)

Mooring at New York on May 27, 1946, Wakefield was decommissioned on June 16, 1946, five years to the day since she first entered service. There she was laid up in reserve, out of commission, with the Maritime Administration's Hudson River Reserve Fleet at Jones Point, New York. She was struck from the Navy Register in 1959. She was sold for scrap to Union Minerals & Alloys Corporation for $263,000 in 1965.

Wakefield earned one battle star for her World War II service.