USS Rochambeau (AP-63)

USS "Rochambeau" (AP-63) was a transport ship that saw service in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the only U.S. Naval vessel to be named for the French nobleman, Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (1725–1807), who commanded the French troops in Washington's army during the American Revolutionary War.

History

French ownership

"Rochambeau" was originally built as "Marechal Joffre" in 1931 by the Societe Provençale de Constructions Navales of La Ciotat, France for the Societe des Services Contractuels des Messageries Maritimes. Manned by Free French Forces after the fall of France in 1940, "Marechal Joffre" was in the Philippines when the United States entered World War II. After the receipt of the news from Pearl Harbor, merchant vessels in the area were requested to depart for U.S. ports. "Marechal Joffre" sailed on the 18th for Balikpapan, whence she proceeded to Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. She arrived at San Francisco with a cargo of wool and zircon sand on 19 April 1942.

US Navy use

The following day, she was taken over by the United States Maritime Commission and transferred to the Navy. Commissioned 27 April 1942 with Lieutenant Thomas G. Warfield in command, she was renamed "Rochambeau" and designated AP-63 on the 29th.

"Rochambeau", converted for use as a casualty evacuation ship, departed Oakland, California on 20 October for her first operation, under the U.S. flag. With replacements and reinforcements for the Guadalcanal campaign embarked on her westward passage, she made Noumea; disembarked her passengers; replaced them with casualties from hospitals there, at Suva, and at Bora Bora; and returned to San Francisco on 3 December. At the end of December, she sailed west again. Extending her range to New Zealand and Australia on that voyage, she limited her next run, 9 to 27 April, to New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. On that trip she carried Lieutenant (j.g.) John F. Kennedy to Espiritu Santo where he was transferred to LST-449 and taken to the Solomons. During May, "Rochambeau" remained in waters off California, then, on 5 June, resumed her passenger/casualty runs to the south and southwest Pacific. Continuing those runs well into 1944, she added ports in New Guinea to her stops in September 1943 and the central Solomons in the spring of 1944. On her last run, 16 November 1944 – 17 January 1945 she brought back casualties from hospitals on Eniwetok, Guam, and Kwajalein in the company of the USS "Barrow" (APA-61) and USS "Boyd" (DD-544).

Decommissioning

On 9 February, "Rochambeau" headed for New York. Arriving on the 25th, she was decommissioned and transferred to the U.S. Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 17 March. Her name was struck from the Navy Vessel Register at the end of the month. Then returned to French custody, she resumed the name "Marechal Joffre" and, operating for WSA, was used to transport American troops from Europe to the United States.

She served as troopship for the French Army till October 1951 and, after refurbishing, as liner on the Indian Ocean and Far East line; then as troopship once again between France and North Africa. Sold for demolition in 1960.

References

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External links

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ee also

* List of auxiliaries of the United States Navy