The ''Heywood''-class attack transport was a class of

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

attack transport Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from the merchant fleet – that rely on ...

built in 1919 that saw service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Like all attack transports, the purpose of the ''Heywood'' class ships was to transport troops and their equipment to hostile shores in order to execute

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

invasions. To fulfill their mission, attack transports were fitted with a substantial number of integral

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

, and were well armed with

antiaircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

weaponry to protect themselves and their vulnerable cargo of troops from air attack in the battle zone.

Background

The ''Heywood'' class is amongst the few classes of attack transport that were converted from pre-war tonnage rather than built from either

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slight ...

hull types during the war. The origins of the ''Heywood'' class go back to the U.S. entry into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. At that time, the US Shipping Board was set up to modernize America's merchant cargo fleet, and to provide ships suitable for service as naval auxiliaries. One of the Board's contracts was subsequently with

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...

for the building of a class of ships which were to be long. They were known as the "444 class" after their length in feet. Although they arrived too late to see service in the First World War, four ships of the class were duly completed in 1919. As the Navy no longer had use for them, they remained idle in the hands of the USSB through the 1920s, but around 1930 they were purchased by the

Baltimore Steamship Company Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and substantially modified into passenger/cargo vessels according to a

Gibbs & Cox Gibbs & Cox is an American naval architecture firm that specializes in designing surface warships. Founded in 1922 in New York City, Gibbs & Cox is now headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The firm has offices in New York City; Washington, D.C. ...

design. The modifications included lengthening the ships to from 444 to , installing accommodation for 81 tourist class passengers, and upgrading their powerplants to provide greater power and speed. Baltimore Steamship subsequently employed them on passenger, fast freight and mail runs between various US ports and between the US and Europe. In November–December 1940, the US Navy acquired all four of the ships and converted them into troop transports, a process that took three to five months. The ships subsequently entered service between November 1940 and May 1941. In 1942, they underwent further modification into attack transports.

In service

The ships saw most of their action in the Pacific Theatre, but the ''William P. Biddle'' also participated in

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

(the

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

n landings), and both ''Biddle'' and ''Neville'' took part in the

invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...

. All but ''Biddle'' took part in the

Guadalcanal campaign The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in th ...

, and all four participated in various other Pacific Theatre landings. The class as a whole earned 28 battle stars for

service, an average of seven stars apiece. Immediately after the war, most of the ships were occupied in deploying troops for occupation duties in newly conquered Japan and in bringing home demobilizing servicemen in

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II operation by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships ...

. All four ships were decommissioned shortly after the war in March–April 1946. They appear to have been scrapped in the mid-1950s.

References

*See the individual DANFS Online ship entries fo
''Heywood''''William P. Biddle''
an
''Neville''
Further information at the individual ship entries in the Navsource Onlin

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heywood Class Attack Transport