- USS Cecil (APA-96)
USS "Cecil" (APA-93) was a "Bayfield" class
attack transport that served with theUS Navy during World War II.Launched as "Sea Angler" by Western Pipe & Steel, San Francisco, California, under a
Maritime Commission contract, the vessel was acquired by the Navy 26 February 1944 and renamed "Cecil" after a county inMaryland . She was placed in reduced commission 27 February, converted atCommercial Iron Works , [The Dictionary of American Fighting Ships says "Continental" Iron Works" but this is almost certainly a transcription error.]Portland, Oregon , and placed in full commission 15 September 1944, Captain P. G. Hale in command.Operational history
Iwo Jima
"Cecil" cleared San Francisco 26 November 1944 for amphibious training in the
Hawaiian Islands , and preparations for the invasion ofIwo Jima atEniwetok andSaipan . She cleared Saipan with her task group 16 February, and 3 days later, took position off Iwo Jima for the initial assault. As naval and air bombardment pounded the island, her men skillfully played their part. Remaining off the hard-fought beaches, "Cecil" completed unloading troops, cargo, and vehicles, and embarked casualties, with whom she sailed 28 February to Saipan.Okinawa
"Cecil" continued on to
Tulagi andEspiritu Santo , where she loaded men and cargo of the 27th Infantry Division. On 9 April 1945, she landed these reinforcements through high surf onOkinawa . She remained for a week continuing her unloading under enemy air attacks, aiding in fighting them off as she loaded and landed her boats. On 16 April she got underway for Saipan andUlithi , where she received minor repairs and replenished.After hostilities
On 21 May, "Cecil" arrived in
Subic Bay , P.I., for transport and training duty until 27 August, when she departed Luzon with troops and cargo of the1st Cavalry Division , bound for occupation duty in Japan."Cecil" called at
Yokohama from 2 to 4 September 1945, then returned to thePhilippines to load more occupation troops. On the return passage to Japan, she was ordered into Okinawa from 25 September to 3 October to avoid a threatening typhoon, then proceeded on to disembark her troops atAki Nada .Operation Magic Carpet
She sailed to
San Pedro, California , for a minor overhaul in November, then made another voyage to the Philippines as part of Operation Magic Carpet, to return men and equipment to San Pedro, where she arrived on 22 January 1946. In March, she sailed toNorfolk, Virginia , where she was decommissioned on 24 May 1946, and returned to the Maritime Commission the next day.Cecil received two
battle star s for World War II service.Commercial service
In 1948, "Cecil" was purchased by the
Isthmian Steamship Company which registered her in New York as "Steel Admiral"."Steel Admiral" remained in service with Isthmian Steamship until1973, when she was taken to
Kaohsiung ,Taiwan and scrapped in October of the same year.Footnotes
References
*
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/03/03096.htm USS "Cecil" (APA-96)] , Navsource Online
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.