- From The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
Colbert
A county in Alabama.
APA - 145: dp.
6,720 l. 445' b. 62'
dr.24' s. 18
k.
cpl. 536 a. 1 x 5" cl. Haskell
Colbert (APA-145) was launched 1 December 1944 by California
Shipbuilding Corp.,
Wilmington, Calif., under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored
by Mrs. L. G.
Miller; acquired 7 February 1945 and commissioned the same day,
Captain L.
Jeffrey in command. Colbert sailed from San Francisco 15
April 1945 with
passengers for Honolulu, where she remained from 21 April to 20 May,
disembarking
her original troops and loading reinforcements for Okinawa, where she
arrived 7
June. She sailed on to Ulithi to load Japanese and Korean prisoners
of war, with
whom she returned to Pearl Harbor 28 June. After a brief stateside
overhaul,
Colbert put to sea 21 July 1945 to carry troops to Ulithi
and Okinawa, where she
lay until 5 September. She voyaged to Jinsen, Korea, and Dairen,
Manchuria, to
embark Allied soldiers and sailors formerly held prisoner at Mukden,
Manchuria,
and returned to Okinawa 16 September. Next day she put to sea to
evade a typhoon,
and that same day struck a floating mine, which caused the death of
three men and
damaged the ship extensively. Towed back to Okinawa 18 September, she
was later
towed to Guam, Pearl Harbor, and San Francisco for repairs, reaching
the west
coast 30 January 1946. On 26 February 1946, she was decommissioned
and
transferred to the War Shipping Administration at Suisan Bay, Calif.
Colbert
received one battle star for World War II service.
-
Transcribed by: hubertypc@hol.fr
HTML by: epm@qadas.com
- Date: 6 Dec 1998