My Father’s Navy Service – Part 2 – the Ship

Vernon served on the APc-101, a small coastal transport.  Although he had always told everyone that the ship was a requisitioned fishing vessel, the below records indicate otherwise.  He served on this ship for about two years, and was discharged about the time the ship was decommissioned in April 1946.  The Apc-1 class vessels had an interesting, but short history (see http://www.shipscribe.com/usnaux/APC/APC01.html)

FY 1942. The procurement history of the APc-1 class begins with the AMc (coastal minesweeper) and ends with the LCIL (Large Infantry Landing Craft). Interwar mobilization plans called for two types of minesweepers, a large seagoing type (AM) and a smaller coastal type (AMc). Wartime needs for the former were to be satisfied by a combination of new construction and requisitioning of large commercial fishing vessels, while needs for the latter were expected to be fulfilled entirely by taking craft from the fishing fleet. By late 1940 it was clear that some new construction AMc's would also be needed, and twenty were ordered from shipbuilders in December 1940 and January 1941, followed by another 50 in April 1941. They were built to a design based on the commercial fishing boats then being requisitioned and had wood hulls, a length of 96 feet, and a speed of about 12 knots. On 19 Jan 42 CNO directed the construction of another batch of 50 of this type, AMc 150-199. However in December 1940 the Navy had also started building a new type of minesweeper for local defense, the Motor Mine Sweeper (YMS). This type turned out to be able to do anything the AMc could do but had greater length (136 feet) and, perhaps most important, the ability to sweep magnetic mines. By the end of January 1942 the construction of 489 of this well regarded type including 80 for the British, had been undertaken or directed.

In February 1942 the Bureau of Ships issued specifications for a modified design for AMc 150-199. It was to be slightly longer than its predecessor (103 feet overall) and was to incorporate a number of other detailed improvements. This process was interrupted on 13 Apr 42 when the CNO requested the construction of the 50 vessels as "raider transports, AP," probably for use in the South Pacific. The District Craft Development Board, in recommending the change on 20 Apr 42, suggested three possible uses for the craft, for which the category "Coastal transport (small), APc" was created on 22 April: (1) transportation of 2 officers and 74 men (possibly a raiding party) for a maximum voyage of 24 hours, (2) transportation of 2 officers, 50 men, and a cargo of 1,500 cu.ft. for 24 hours, and (3) carrying a cargo of 4,000 cu.ft. (17 tons) and no passengers on a voyage of 2,500 miles [this was the type of use of the APc-101]. To carry cargo, the vessels were to be equipped with a 2-ton capacity boom on the foremast serving an 8x7 foot hatch to the forward compartment, and to travel up to 2,500 miles their fuel and water capacity was to be increased. AMc 150-199 thus became APc 1-50, though not respectively. The British found the new type attractive and on 6 Jun 42 requisitioned 50 more, and on 25 Jul 42 the Assistant CNO for Maintenance (Adm. Farber) recommended adding 15 or more small APc's to the program in view of the long time it took to get construction of the ones already ordered underway. On 5 Aug 42 VCNO directed the addition of the 15 APc's, for a total of 115.

In the meantime, construction of 350 landing craft of a new type, the LCIL, had been directed on 20 May 42, and on 1 Oct 42 COMINCH wrote that LCILs were more suitable than APc's as troop carriers. He may have had in mind the raiding mission mentioned above, although the troop capacity, size, and speed of the new type were all far greater than those of the APc's. On 3 Oct 42 VCNO cancelled the 15 APc's in his August directive. This action terminated the APc program and also resulted in the scrambling of both the hull numbers and the directives associated with the various hulls. During the process of contracting for the additional 15 ships, the units numbered APc 75-89 were renumbered APc 100-15. The 15 cancellations were spread out throughout the contracts placed in late August and early September, and the official accounting ascribed the 15 cancelled hulls to the 5 Aug 42 directive and ascribed to the British requisition all of the units between APc-51 and APc-115 that were actually built.

The APc-101 had the following history:

• 17 Aug 1942 – ordered as the APc-75
• 25 Aug 1942 – renumbered as the APc-101
• 14 Sep 1942 – keel laid
• 14 Jan 1943 – launched
• 2 Apr 1943 – delivered
• Apr 1943-14 Aug 1945 (V-J day) – service in the South Pacific
• 26 Apr 1946 – decommissioned
• 8 May 1946 – colors struck
• 20 Jan 1947 – disposed, renamed as the Klehowa for civilian use, reoutfitted as a small freighter for use along the Pacific coast.  Run by a captain and crew of 3-4.
• 1966 – owned by the Seattle Outport Transportation Association, capsized and sank 50 miles south of Prince Rupert while southbound with a cargo of halibut and crab from Alaska.

Specifications:

• Length 103’
• Beam 21’3”
• Draft 9’3”
• Speed 10 knots
• Displacement 100 tons (empty), 234 tons (fully loaded)
• Complement of 3 officers and 22 enlisted men
• Armament was supposed to be 4 single 20mm AA gun mounts, although according to my father and supported by the below picture, there was only one gun actually mounted (it is the covered item looking like a furled umbrella on the foredeck).  The other mounts would have been a pair of them on the top of the bridge and one on the aft deck which instead has a canopy in the picture.
• Propulsion 400 hp diesel engine

The ship was made of wood and was used for hauling supplies to islands where big ships couldn’t go.  During the war it traveled through the Fiji Islands, Caroline Islands, Samoan Islands, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, New Hebrides Islands, and Hawaiian Islands (on the way back to the US).

Note that at 10 knots (11 mph) it would take 10 days at full speed to go from Honolulu to Samoa (2600 miles, about the limit of the fuel and water on board)