The ''McCawley''-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 ...

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 1928 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 opposing ...

. Like all attack transports, the purpose of the ''McCawley''-class ships was to transport troops and their equipment to hostile shores in order to execute amphibious invasions. Attack transports carried a substantial number of integral landing craft for making the assault, 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 ''McCawley'' class is amongst the few classes of attack transport that were converted from pre-war tonnage rather than being built during the war 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 sli ...

hull types. The two ships of this class also hold the distinction of being the only attack transports not to be built in the United States. The origin of the two ships which were to become the ''McCawley'' class goes back to a United States government decision in the 1920s that allowed foreign-built ships to retain eligibility for US mail contracts. Accordingly, the American shipping company Grace Lines ordered two

cargo liners 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 ...

from the Furness Shipbuilding Company of

Haverton Hill-on-Tees Haverton Hill is an area within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. Once considered a part of Billingham, Haverton Hill was once a thriving industrial community which has suffered significant depopu ...

in Northern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which were completed in 1928 as ''Santa Barbara'' and ''Santa Maria''. These ships were the first large

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

-powered passenger ships to sail under the American flag.Grace Lines
, Ocean Liner Virtual Museum The two Grace Lines ships continued to operate between the United States and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, and later on US coastal mail runs, until being bought by the US Navy for conversion to

troop transport A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

s in late 1940. The conversions were duly carried out, and ''Santa Barbara'' and ''Santa Maria'' became USS ''McCawley'' (AP-10) and USS ''Barnett'' (AP-11) respectively. They were reclassified as attack transports APA-4 and APA-5 on 1 February 1943.

Description

The ''McCawley''s were each powered by two eight-cylinder, two-cycle, diesel engines yielding a total horsepower of 8000 and a top speed of around . In commercial service they carried 150 passengers and had a gross tonnage of 8000. After conversion to attack transports, they had a troop capacity of about 1,300 and a cargo capacity of about . They were each armed with four 3"/50 caliber dual-purpose guns and a variable assortment of secondary armament.

In service

Both ships saw their first action in the long and bitterly fought Guadalcanal campaign in the Pacific Theatre. Sadly, this would prove to be ''McCawley'' one and only campaign. After participating in the initial landings in August 1942 as the

command ship Command ships serve as the flagships of the commander of a fleet. They provide communications, office space, and accommodations for a fleet commander and their staff, and serve to coordinate fleet activities. An auxiliary command ship features ...

of Admiral

Richmond K. Turner Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner (May 27, 1885 – February 12, 1961), commonly known as Admiral Kelly Turner, served in the United States Navy during World War II, and is best known for commanding the Amphibious Force during the campaign across ...

,p.61, Lane and continuing in support missions to the island for the next nine months, she was mistaken for an enemy vessel by US Navy

PT boats A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the wa ...

on the night of 30 June 1943 and sunk by torpedoes. Her sister ship, ''Barnett'', survived the Guadalcanal campaign and went on to take part in most of the major amphibious operations in the

European Theatre The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

, including the invasions of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and Southern France, before returning to the Pacific to participate in the invasion of Okinawa in 1945. ''Barnett'' was decommissioned along with most other attack transports in early 1946, and sold into commercial service not long thereafter.

Footnotes

References

* Lane, Kerry, ''Guadalcanal Marine'', University Press of Mississippi, 2004
''McCawley'' APA-4
DANFS Online.

DANFS Online.

Ocean Liner Virtual Museum. {{DEFAULTSORT:Maccawley Class Attack Transport