USS Fond du Lac

USS Fond du Lac (APA-166) was a Haskell-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1974.

Fond du Lac underway in San Francisco Bay, in late 1945
History
United States
NameUSS Fond du Lac
NamesakeFond du Lac County, Wisconsin
Ordered
  • as type VC2-S-AP5
  • MCV hull 132
Laid down25 July 1944
Launched5 October 1944
Acquired6 November 1944
Commissioned6 November 1944
Decommissioned11 April 1946
FateScrapped, 1974
General characteristics
Displacement12,450 tons (full load)
Length455 ft 0 in (138.68 m)
Beam62 ft 0 in (18.90 m)
Draught24 ft 0 in (7.32 m)
Speed19 knots
Complement536
Armament

History

Fond du Lac was launched 5 October 1944 by Oregon Shipbuilding Corp., Portland, Oregon; sponsored by Mrs. Giles French; acquired and commissioned 6 November 1944.

World War II

Fond du Lac sailed from San Francisco, California, 11 January 1945, laden with troops and cargo for Leyte Gulf, where she landed them as reinforcements 17 February. After training for the initial assault on Okinawa Gunto, Fond du Lac stood out of Leyte Gulf 27 March, landed troops and equipment on the assault beaches 1 to 5 April, and sailed with casualties for Guam. She continued to Pearl Harbor and San Francisco to reload, and brought her troops to the Philippines 10 June.

The attack transport transferred men from New Guinea to the Philippines before sailing 14 July 1945 for San Francisco. She returned to the Far East 22 September at Sasebo with U.S. Marine occupation troops, and after one voyage to the Philippines to bring additional occupation forces to Japan, sailed home from Guam with servicemen eligible for discharge. Fond du Lac voyaged to the Far East on transport duty again in December, then made her last voyage to Pearl Harbor the next month, sailing from San Francisco 8 February for Panama. Arrived at Panama Canal at 0800, 17 February 1946. 19 February 1946 shoved off at 0800 for Norfolk, Virginia.

Decommissioning and fate

There she was decommissioned 11 April 1946 and was struck from the U.S. Naval Register on 1 May 1946. Fond du Lac was finally sold for scrapping on 17 May 1974 to M. V. Intershitra, Netherlands.

Awards

Fond du Lac received one battle star for World War II service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

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