- USS Tate (AKA-70)
USS "Tate" (AKA-70) was a "Tolland" class
attack cargo ship named afterTate County, Mississippi . "Tate" was designed to carry military cargo andlanding craft , and to use the latter to land weapons, supplies, and Marines on enemy shores during amphibious operations. She served as a commissioned ship for 19 months."Tate" was laid down under a
Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1398) on22 July 1944 atWilmington, North Carolina , by theNorth Carolina Shipbuilding Co. ; launched on26 September 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs. C. E. Tate; delivered to the Navy on loan-charter on3 November 1944 ; and commissioned atCharleston, South Carolina , on25 November 1944 , Lt. Comdr. William Jordan, USNR, in command. The attack transport completed shakedown training in theChesapeake Bay early in December and steamed toDavisville, Rhode Island , to load Hawaii-bound cargo. She headed south on30 December , transited thePanama Canal between4 January and6 January 1945 , and reachedPearl Harbor on the 18th. She remained in theHawaiian Islands until31 January when she departed Port Allen,Kauai Island, for theMarshall Islands . "Tate" reachedEniwetok on4 February and joined Transport Squadron 17, which soon departed for thePhilippines . Proceeding viaUlithi Atoll and Kossol Roads, she reachedLeyte Gulf on21 February and made a shuttle toSamar Island to discharge cargo and disembark passengers before beginning preparations for the upcoming invasion ofOkinawa . After training for the assault, she combat-loaded the men and equipment of the Army's 77th Infantry Regiment at Tarranguna, Leyte, and on21 March departed thePhilippines with the Western Islands Attack Group. Her destination wasKerama Retto , a small group of islands located to the south and west ofOkinawa , which became the fleet's steppingstone toOkinawa itself. Her soldiers and equipment went into action against the islands ofAka Shima ,Kuba Shima ,Yakabi Shima , andZamami Shima . By the afternoon of28 March , the islands of Kerama Retto were secured, and "Tate" joined the other ships in a waiting area. The attack transport remained in the vicinity ofOkinawa through three weeks of April, also participating in the assault on le Shima during her last week in the area. On the 22d, she headed for theMarianas , arriving atSaipan on27 April . Five days later, she headed for theSolomon Islands . "Tate" loaded marines and cargo atGuadalcanal andTulagi between8 May and17 May before heading back, viaEniwetok , to theMarianas . ReachingGuam on4 June , she disembarked the marines and discharged her cargo. On the 13th, the attack transport got underway for the United States. On25 July , "Tate" steamed out ofSan Francisco Bay to return to the combat zone. Stopping atEniwetok from5 August to10 August , she reachedGuam on the 14th, the day before the cessation of hostilities. From there, she headed forUlithi and thence, viaOkinawa , to Jinsen,Korea , for occupation duty. "Tate" returned to thePhilippines early in October, visitingManila and Subic Bay. After stops atTsingtao , China, andOkinawa in late November, the attack transport steamed back to the United States, arriving atSeattle on13 December . She remained there until26 February 1946 , when she got underway forSan Francisco . The ship loaded cargo between1 March and16 March and then headed forEniwetok andKwajalein . She discharged her cargo at the two atolls and got underway forPanama on4 April . "Tate" reached the Canal Zone on23 April ; but, instead of entering the canal, she remained on the Pacific side to help in the final removal of Americans from the air base at Seymour Island in theGalapagos . She returned to Balboa on20 May , transited the canal, and reachedHampton Roads on28 May ."Tate" was decommissioned on
10 July 1946 and, three days later, was returned to theWar Shipping Administration . Her name was struck from the Navy list on19 July 1946 . Sometime between then and 1948, she was purchased by the Luckenbach Steamship Co. of New York City and served that line as "SS Julia Luckenbach" until 1958. "Tate" was awarded one battle star forWorld War II service.References
External links
* [http://ussrankin.org/id352.htm 51 Years of AKAs]
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/t2/tate.htm history.navy.mil: USS "Tate"]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/02070.htm navsource.org: USS "Tate"]
* [http://myweb.cableone.net/crewfamily/default.htm Combat Loaded: Across the Pacific on the USS Tate]
* [http://www.rpadden.com/070/070.htm AKA 70 USS Tate Website]
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