USS ''Neville'' (AP-16/APA-9) was a in service 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 1918 to 1919 and from 1940 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1957.
Alameda, California
Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...
yard as hull #162 for the British Shipping Controller, London, requisitioned during construction and completed by the
United States Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...
(USSB) as ''Independence'' and assigned official number 217172.
U.S. Navy service (1918-1919)
She was acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 16 November 1918 and made one Atlantic crossing from New York to England with foodstuffs in 1919. After
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 ...
service, she decommissioned on 20 March 1919 and was returned to the USSB for
US Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...
service.
Commercial service (1920-1940)
Rebuilt and renamed ''City of Norfolk'' in 1930, she was run by the Baltimore Mail Steamship Company until reacquired by the Navy on 14 December 1940. Converted by the
Willamette Iron and Steel Works
Willamette Iron Works (also known as Willamette Iron and Steel Company or WISCO) was a general foundry and machine business established in 1865 in Portland, Oregon, originally specializing in the manufacture of steamboat boilers and engines. In ...
,
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
, she recommissioned as ''Neville'' (AP-16), on 14 May 1941.
U.S. Navy service (1940-1957)
On 18 June 1941, ''Neville'' reported for duty with the Atlantic Fleet and for the remaining days of quasi-peace in 1941 transported military and naval personnel to various points along the East Coast and in the Caribbean.
World War II
On 7 December 1941 she was at San Juan, en route from
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
to New York. Within the month, however, she was conducting landing exercises with Army units along the Virginia coast. Detached from that duty in mid-February, she embarked Army and Navy personnel and equipment and departed the East Coast, on 19 February 1942, on the first trans-oceanic run of her second world war.
She completed the round-trip voyage to
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, including a stop at
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, on 25 March, at New York, disembarked
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
,
RCAF
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
, and
British Merchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom and comprises the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard ...
personnel, and then continued on to Norfolk for voyage repairs. At the same time, she received 20 mm guns and more modern landing craft for use in her new operational territory, the Pacific.
=Guadalcanal
=
''Neville'' departed Hampton Roads, on 10 April, and steaming south with TF 38, transited the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
, on the 18th, becoming a unit of TransDiv 8, ServRon 4, Pacific Fleet. Anchoring in Fanui Bay,
Bora Bora
Bora Bora (French: ''Bora-Bora''; Tahitian: ''Pora Pora'') is an island group in the Leeward Islands. The Leeward Islands comprise the western part of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, which is an overseas collectivity of the French R ...
Wellington, New Zealand
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
, where she remained until 22 July. Then, with units of the
1st Marine Division
The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF).
It is th ...
embarked, she headed toward the Fiji Islands to rendezvous with other Allied vessels assigned to " Operation Watchtower", the assaults on
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 1 ...
and Guadalcanal.
At 0630, on 7 August, ''Neville'' arrived in her assigned transport area off beach "Blue" on Tulagi. Seven minutes later she lowered her boats and Raider groups were dispatched. At 0730 Marine Combat Team 2 was debarked into landing boats which put them ashore soon after "
H-hour
The military designation of days and hours within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is specified in AAP-6 (STANAG 3680), ''NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions'', and marked ''(NATO)'' in what follows. Those entries marked ''(US)' ...
", 0800. Despite increasingly stiff opposition, all assigned waves had been landed by 1012. By 1320, aerial resistance, in the form of bombers and fighters, had been added to the well developed Japanese defenses in the Tulagi-Gavutu-Tanambogo area. The long battle for the Solomons had begun.
''Neville'' remained in the area through the 9th, witnessing, from a distance, the devastation wrought off
Savo Island
Savo Island is an island in Solomon Islands in the southwest South Pacific ocean. Administratively, Savo Island is a part of the Central Province of the Solomon Islands. It is about from the capital Honiara. The principal village is Alialia, i ...
on that date. On the 13th, she arrived at
Nouméa
Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and ...
, New Caledonia, whence she continued on to Wellington to take on reinforcements. Returning to the combat area on 26 October, she participated in the landings at Aola Bay on 4 November, and then departed to take up transport duties in the New Caledonia-New Hebrides area. At the end of the month, she again returned to Guadalcanal, discharged supplies and reinforcements, took on personnel to be evacuated, and headed south east. After stopping at
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 ...
to disembark her evacuees, she proceeded to San Diego, arriving on 4 January 1943 for availability.
=North Africa
=
On 14 February, ''Neville'', now redesignated APA-9 (effective 1 February), stood out from San Diego en route back to the Atlantic. She arrived at Norfolk on 10 March, and after amphibious training in the Chesapeake Bay area, sailed on 8 June for North Africa to prepare for the Sicilian invasion. By 10 July she was off Scoglitti with "Cent" Force as it landed Army units on either side of that fishing town. Assigned to the Northern Group, ''Neville''s boats delivered units of the 45th "Thunderbird" Division to "Red" beach, near the mouth of the Acate River, at 0434. Despite being the last group to get away from their transport, heavy surf, and indefinite landmarks, they were the first to touch down on the beach. With the last wave in by 0640, the task of discharging cargo was begun. On the afternoon of the 12th, the APA departed the assault area and returned to Oran, whence she sailed, on the 22nd, for the United States.
=Gilbert and Marshall Islands
=
''Neville'' arrived at Newport News, Virginia, 3 August, only to depart again on the 23rd, once more assigned to the Pacific. By the end of September she was engaged in intensive landing exercises in the Hawaiian Islands. On 10 November she stood out of Honolulu and sailed for the Gilberts with troops of the 27th Division and a platoon of Marine Raiders, 5th Amphibious Corps, embarked.
On the morning of 20 November, Marine and Army units were landed on
Tarawa
Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati ''
Makin. At 0642 ''Neville'' dispatched her Marines to secure Katubam but kept her Army units on board for later landings on the lagoon side of
Butaritari
Butaritari is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati. The atoll is roughly four-sided. The south and southeast portion of the atoll comprises a nearly continuous islet. The atoll reef is continuous but almost without islets al ...
. By 1015 the first of eight waves had been dispatched, landing on beach "Yellow" at 1040 under an opposing storm of small arms fire. Cargo discharge operations, begun later in the day, continued through the 22nd. On the 23rd, ''Neville'' departed the transport area only to return the next day to take on survivors from before returning 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 R ...
. From Pearl Harbor, the transport steamed to Bremerton, Washington, underwent repairs, and then headed south to San Diego, arriving on 31 December.
With the new year, 1944, ''Neville'' received new landing craft, fresh boat crews, and orders to join Trans Div 30 at Pearl Harbor. She arrived in Hawaii on 9 January, again took on units of the 27th Division, and on the 23rd got underway, with TG 51.1, the Kwajalein Attack Force Reserve Group. ''Neville'' sighted
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. civil ...
on the 31st, but maneuvered east of the Atoll until entering the lagoon on 2 February. There she engaged in debarkation drills in preparation for the assault on
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 i ...
. On 11 February, the uncommitted Kwajalein Reserve Group was dissolved and reformed as the Eniwetok Expeditionary Group. Four days later the group, TG 51.11, sortied from Kwajalein.
On the 17th, ''Neville'' entered Eniwetok lagoon and prepared to land her troops on the main objective, Engebi, the following morning. The first waves hit the beaches at 0844. ''Neville's'' boats, used on the 17th and on the morning of the 18th, were not called on to transport her own passengers to the beaches until after the vessel had shifted to Transport Area 3. Then, at 1609, troops were debarked for landings on Eniwetok Island. For the next three days, she remained off Eniwetok, sending supplies to the beaches and taking on casualties. On the 23rd, she shifted to the Parry Island transport area, where she remained for four days. APA–9 then got underway for Kwajalein, Pearl Harbor, and, ultimately, San Francisco. On 8 April, she returned to Hawaii to conduct amphibious training exercises with Marine personnel in preparation for "
Operation Forager
The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Operation Forager, was an offensive launched by United States forces against Imperial Japanese forces in the Mariana Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean between June and November 1944 du ...
", the push into the Marianas.
=Marianas
=
Assigned in May to TransDiv 10, ''Neville'' departed Honolulu on 30 May, and steamed west with TF 52. Soon after 0630 on 15 June, she was in her assigned transport area, off Saipan. By 0700 her boats had departed for a demonstration feint off Mutcho Point,
Garapan
Garapan ( Old Japanese name: 柄帆町, ''Garapan-chō'') is the largest village and the center of the tourism industry on the island of Saipan, which is a part of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Garapan, as ...
. Her boats reloaded in mid-morning, she shifted to the Charan Kanoa transport area. At 1103 she received orders to send her troops in to beach "Green Two". The first boats shoved off for the departure line at 1135 and by 1340 the job was completed.
From the 15th until the 18th, the transport retired each night to positions just off the islands of Saipan and Tinian. From the 19th to the 21st, as the
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invas ...
raged, she cruised 75–100 miles east-northeast of Saipan, then returned to complete off-loading cargo at Saipan. On the 23rd, she turned her bow toward Eniwetok, where Japanese POWs were taken on board. Next sailing to Kwajalein, she embarked ambulatory casualties, and on 5 July joined a convoy headed for Pearl Harbor. There, on 13 July, she delivered her prisoners, and the next day continued her voyage, arriving at San Diego on the 21st.
On her arrival at San Diego, ''Neville'' was assigned to TU 13.1.1, TransDiv 1, then conducting amphibious training exercises for assault troops. From 3 January 1945 until 15 August, she operated as a training ship for APA crews, and then, after the cessation of hostilities, resumed duties as a transport to ferry fresh troops to former Japanese islands in the South Pacific and bring home veterans.
Decommissioning and fate
On 15 January 1946, the
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 ...
transport departed
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
for the last time. Steaming to the East Coast, she arrived at Boston on 5 February to begin inactivation, decommissioning on 30 April. Transferred to
War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...
on 16 July, she was struck from the
Navy List
A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval autho ...
on 15 August 1946, and scrapped in 1957.
Awards
''Neville'' received 5
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 her
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 opposing ...