USS ''J. Franklin Bell'' (APA-16) was a ship. She was built in 1921 and spent 20 years in merchant service as a passenger and

cargo liner A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

. She was acquired for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in 1940 and transferred to 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 ...

shortly after the USA entered the Second World War. She served throughout and after the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, was decommissioned in 1946 and scrapped in 1948.

Building

The vessel was designed to be an army transport, ordered by the USSB from

New York Shipbuilding Corporation The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

and laid down in 1918. ''Keystone State'' was launched on 15 May 1920 sponsored by the wife of the company's president, Mrs. Marvin A. Neeland. The ship was completed on 1 March 1921. ''Keystone State'' was a turbine steamship, with eight Babcock & Wilcox header-type boilers supplying steam to four

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 ...

Curtis type steam turbines. Her four turbines drove twin

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

shafts by single reduction gearing. Her engines developed 12,000 shaft horsepower and gave her a speed of – as fast as many

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

s of her time.

Civilian service

Pacific Mail Steamship Company The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants. Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett (American consul ...

operated her as a passenger and cargo ship from 28 May 1921. On 6 August she started her maiden voyage, which was from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

to the Far East. In 1922 she was renamed ''President McKinley'' on 9 June and transferred to Admiral Oriental Lines on 21 December. She was transferred to

American Mail Line American Mail Line of Seattle, Washington was a commercial steamship service with routes to and from Seattle, Washington and the Far East. American Mail Line was founded in 1920, by Pacific Steamship Company also with a $500,000 investment from ...

in 1926 and laid up in Seattle in 1938.

SS ''President Hoover''

Early on the morning of 11 December 1937 a Dollar Steamship Company

, , ran aground in a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

on Kasho-to, east of

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...

. ''Hoover''s 330 crew got their 503 passengers and themselves safely ashore without loss, but the 853 people now needed to be taken off the remote island. The task was shared between ''President McKinley'' and Dollar Line's SS ''President Pierce''. ''McKinley'', assisted by the , collected about 630 people from Kasho-to on 14 December. ''Pierce'' collected the remaining 200 people on 15 December.

War service

The

acquired her on 26 October 1940 and had her converted into a military transport. She was renamed ''J. Franklin Bell'' after General

J. Franklin Bell James Franklin Bell (January 9, 1856 – January 8, 1919) was an officer in the United States Army who served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1906 to 1910. Bell was a major general in the Regular United States Army, commanding ...

, US Army Chief of Staff 1906–10. She was transferred to the

on 26 December 1941; and commissioned in ordinary before commissioning in full at San Francisco on 2 April 1942 under the command of Captain H.J. Grassie. After shakedown, a round-trip voyage 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 ...

, and more than 2 months of

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 ...

training along the California coast, ''J. Franklin Bell'' left San Francisco 13 August and headed ''via'' Kodiak, Alaska to Adak. She carried some 1,500 troops and a full load of cargo to strengthen American defenses in the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...

, then threatened with invasion.

Aleutian landings

On returning

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

29 September, ''J. Franklin Bell'' resumed coastal operations and amphibious training in preparation for taking the offensive in the Aleutians by recapturing

Attu Island Attu ( ale, Atan, russian: Атту, link=no) is an island in the Near Islands (part of the Aleutian Islands chain). It is the westernmost point of the U.S. state of Alaska. The island became uninhabited in 2010, making it the largest uninhabite ...

. Reclassified APA-16 February 1, 1943, she continued rehearsals until sailing to San Francisco 16 April to embark troops and their equipment. She sailed on 24 April for

Cold Bay, Alaska Cold Bay ( ale, Udaamagax,; Sugpiaq language, Sugpiaq: ''Pualu'') is a city in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 108, but at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 c ...

. Though hampered by heavy seas, her task force arrived off Attu 11 May in a dense fog. ''J. Franklin Bell'', now under Comdr. J.B. McGovern, began landing operations. Submerged rocks, pea soup weather, and narrow, rocky beaches permitted only two or three boats to be unloaded at a time. Two days later she started unloading around the clock, enabling her to finish the task, embark casualties, and head for home by 16 May. After training throughout June, she embarked some 1,750 soldiers and, after 2 weeks of landing rehearsals, left San Diego on 29 July for Adak. At the end of a week of weather and terrain conditioning there, she steamed for

Kiska Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is required ...

13 August. Her landing boats went ashore through rough surf and found the enemy had withdrawn. She completed unloading operations in 2 days, embarked 600 troops and sailed for San Francisco on the 20th. At San Francisco she discharged the troops and embarked naval passengers for

Wellington 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 ...

, New Zealand, where she arrived 30 September. In the following month of amphibious assault training, Captain O.H. Ritchie took command 22 October. After embarking 1,800 marines she sailed on 1 November for final landing rehearsals before departing 13 November to invade

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

was the conquest of the

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

. During midwatch on 20 November, ''J. Franklin Bell'' took her assigned position off Betio, the most heavily defended Japanese garrison on Tarawa Atoll. Heavy bombardment by the US Navy began at 0515 hrs, and the enemy responded with scattered fire at the transports. Straddled by gunfire, ''J. Franklin Bell'' retired out of range and, while the battle continued ashore, awaited orders to land her troops. The next day she sailed to

Bairiki Bairiki is a settlement in South Tarawa of Kiribati. The State House, the National Stadium, the High Commissions of Australia and New Zealand as well as the embassy of China, and most of the Government Ministries are based in Bairiki. Bairiki is a ...

and landed her

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 ...

. Finding only dead enemies, they boarded landing boats and moved from island to island along the atoll. Meanwhile, after the Bairiki landings, ''J. Franklin Bell'' began sending cargo ashore. The Marines secured Betio on the 23rd and the entire atoll on 27 November, and ''J. Franklin Bell'' departed with Marines embarked for Pearl Harbor.

Invasion of Kwajalein

After a month of training in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, the transport embarked more than 1,500 soldiers and sailed for

Kwajalein Atoll 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 ...

. When she arrived on 31 January, fire support ships were bombarding enemy shore installations in preparation for landings the next day. ''J. Franklin Bell'' entered the lagoon 2 February to unload supplies and receive casualties. On the 5th her landing boats assaulted Gugegwe, and two days later the atoll was secured. The transport departed on 8 February carrying more than 2,000 soldiers, and reached Pearl Harbor on the 15th.

Invasion of Saipan

''J. Franklin Bell'' then made two round trips to the US mainland before embarking soldiers and sailing for the

Mariana Islands 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 ...

. She arrived off

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 ...

16 June, the day after the first landings; and debarked her troops on the 17th. After unloading supplies she retired some northeast of Saipan to await the outcome of the Battle of the Philippine Sea 19–21 June. When the battle was won she returned to Saipan on 25 June, completed unloading and embarked casualties. She then sailed 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 ...

, loaded more cargo and headed ''via'' Saipan to embark Marines for the assault on nearby Tinian.

Invasion of Tinian

Departing on 24 July, ''J. Franklin Bell'' joined in a diversionary operation at the southern end of Tinian. Under cover of a fierce bombardment, the transport feigned two landings to divert enemy attention while the real landings were made at the northern end of the island. After this successful subterfuge she sailed to the actual beachheads and landed her troops. She embarked casualties the next afternoon and returned to Saipan on the 27th. She left the next day carrying 438 Japanese prisoners, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 10 August.

Invasion of Leyte

''J. Franklin Bell'' returned to the Western Pacific, putting into Manus, Admiralty Islands on 3 October to embark 1,600 assault troops for the invasion 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 ...

. She headed 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 ...

on 14 October and arrived off

Dulag, Leyte Dulag (IPA: ʊ'lag, officially the Municipality of Dulag ( war, Bungto han Dulag; tl, Bayan ng Dulag), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 48,992 people. This ...

on 20 October. After quickly debarking her troops she began unloading supplies and receiving casualties. Defying repeated air attacks, she unloaded supplies into LCTs all day and night, completing the task shortly after noon the next day. Then she left with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes aboard, arriving in Manus on the 27th.

Invasion of Okinawa

After a voyage 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 ...

, ''J. Franklin Bell'' left Manus for San Francisco and arrived 27 November. She left again on 28 February 1945, reaching at Nouméa,

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

on 18 April. After landing exercises and embarking Seabees and their equipment, she headed for

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 ...

''via'' Eniwetok and

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 ...

. She dropped anchor at Hagushi, 17 June to debark her Seabees. Subjected to frequent air alerts, she completed her unloading under cover of a smoke screen late the following afternoon. She departed on the 22nd, carrying 862 casualties to Saipan before proceeding 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 ...

and Nouméa to embark homebound casualties. She left Nouméa on 11 July with more than 1,700 passengers and reached San Francisco on the 27th.

After hostilities

On 2 September Japan surrendered, and on 21 September ''J. Franklin Bell'' sailed for the Western Pacific, carrying troops to Eniwetok, Okinawa, and Leyte. After boarding homebound passengers at Leyte, she sailed on 27 October and reached Seattle on 12 November. She began coastal operations on the 22nd, shuttling between

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

and California ports.

Decommission

''J. Franklin Bell'' arrived at

Suisun Bay Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the ent ...

, California, 20 March 1946 and was decommissioned the same day. She was transferred to the

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 Co ...

for disposal, and sold for scrap on 3 April 1948 to Boston Metals of

Baltimore 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 ...

, Maryland.

Awards

''J. Franklin Bell'' 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.

References

External links

* * . {{DEFAULTSORT:J. Franklin Bell APA-16 Design 1029 ships Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation 1921 ships Design 1029 ships of the United States Army Harris-class attack transports World War II auxiliary ships of the United States World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign