USS ''Fayette'' (APA-43) was a that served with the

United States 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 ...

from 1943 to 1946. In 1947, she was sold into commercial service, where she served as SS ''Robin Gray'' until being scrapped in 1972.

History

''Fayette'' was launched 25 February 1943 by

Ingalls Shipbuilding Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, HII. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 ...

, Pascagoula, Mississippi, as ''Sea Hawk''; acquired by the Navy 30 April; placed in ferry commission between 30 April and 14 May; and commissioned in full 14 October 1943. She embarked

marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

for transportation to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, where she arrived 21 December 1943.

Kwajalein

After training, she embarked soldiers, and sailed from

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

22 January 1944 for

Kwajalein Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...

, where she landed her troops on 1 February, one day after the initial assault. For 4 days, she offloaded combat cargo, and acted as receiving ship for casualties whom she transferred to a hospital ship before sailing 5 February for Funafuti.

Marianas

After training in landing exercises at Nouméa, ''Fayette'' redeployed Marines and soldiers between March and May 1944, calling at

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

, Kwajalein, Cape Gloucester, and in the Russell Islands on this duty before sailing from Kwajalein 12 June for the assault on the

Marianas The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

. With her troops destined for

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, she was called back to

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

when the invasion was delayed, and sortied once more 17 July for Guam. ''Fayette'' sent her boats away with assault troops 21 July, then received casualties from the shore for 4 days, returning with them to

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...

5 August.

Palaus

In the Russells, ''Fayette'' loaded troops and rehearsed for the assault of the

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

s. She arrived off Peleliu for the initial landings 15 September 1944, and within 5 days was loaded to capacity with wounded from the bitter fighting ashore. These she carried to Manus, then sailed on to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

to prepare for the liberation of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Leyte

''Fayette'' landed her troops at

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

20 October, and before the Battle for Leyte Gulf exploded, sailed for

Humboldt Bay Humboldt Bay is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, United States. It is the largest protected body of water on the West Coast between Sa ...

and

Morotai Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...

to load reinforcements. ''Fayette'' twice fired to drive off Japanese air attacks before clearing Morotai 10 November 1944 for San Pedro Bay, P.I., where she arrived and unloaded 14 November.

Lingayen Gulf

Returning to Manus and

Aitape Aitape is a small town of about 18,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the ...

to replenish, reload troops, and rehearse landings, ''Fayette'' sailed from New Guinea 28 December for

Lingayen Gulf The Lingayen Gulf is a large gulf on northwestern Luzon in the Philippines, stretching . It is framed by the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union and sits between the Zambales Mountains and the Cordillera Central. The Agno River and the Balili ...

. The task force in which she sailed met a variety of resistance from the Japanese, and ''Fayette'' joined in the general barrage which drove a dive-bomber off before it could strike a nearby

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

on the morning of the landings, 9 January 1945. Unloaded by mid-afternoon, she fired to fight off several dusk attacks on the transport area, and the next day sailed for

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao Isl ...

, firing several times to drive off air attacks.

Iwo Jima

After 6 days at Leyte, ''Fayette'' sailed to replenish at

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest i ...

and to embark Marines at Guam. These she landed at

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

as reinforcements 24 February 1945, then sailed with casualties for

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 18 ...

and Nouméa. There she loaded soldiers, and began a period of training during which she was in reserve for the

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

invasion. With her troops not required there, she carried them to the Philippines, and sailed from Leyte 25 May for a

west coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

overhaul which lasted through the close of the war.

After hostilities

''Fayette'' voyaged to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

between 28 August 1945 and 13 November 1945, carrying out occupation troops, and returning with servicemen eligible for discharge. Similar duty took her to Pearl Harbor, Guam, and

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

between 28 November and 17 January 1946. From the west coast she sailed to

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 6 March 1946. Fayette was transferred to the Maritime Commission 19 April 1946. Fayette received six

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

s for World War II service.

Commercial service

''Fayette'' was sold for commercial service in 1947 and renamed SS ''Robin Gray''. In 1971, she was renamed SS ''Grey''. She was scrapped at

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...

, Taiwan in 1972.

References

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USS ''Fayette'' (APA-43)
Navsource Online {{DEFAULTSORT:Fayette (APA-43) Bayfield-class attack transports Fayette County, Alabama Fayette County, Georgia Fayette County, Illinois Fayette County, Indiana Fayette County, Iowa Fayette County, Kentucky Fayette County, Ohio Fayette County, Pennsylvania Fayette County, Tennessee Fayette County, Texas Fayette County, West Virginia Ships built in Pascagoula, Mississippi 1943 ships World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States