From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, V. 2, 1963, p. 385.
Towns in 14 States, and counties in three States..
(AK-178: dp. 2,474; l. 338'6"; b. 50'; dr. 21'1"; s. 12 k.; cpl. 85; a. 1 3"; cl. Alamosa)
The second Fairfield (AK-178) was launched on 6 February 1945 by Kaiser Cargo Inc., Richmond Calif.; sponsored
by Mrs. Henry W. Creeger; acquired by the Navy on a loan-charter basis from the Maritime Commission; and commissioned
on 28 March 1945, Lieutenant C. R. Snyder, USNR, in command.
Fairfield completed shakedown and fitting out before 8 May when she arrived at San Francisco to load cargo
for Manus, Samar and Calicoan Islands. In early July she loaded Army cargo at Parang, Mindanao, and was en route
to Agusan Providence when on the 14th she picked up six Filipino guerillas from the wreckage of their boat which
had been cut in two and sunk by a submarine.
Fairfield continued her cargo operations among the islands of the southwest Pacific through October 1945
when she was drydocked at Newcastle for a brief period before being assigned to carry Australian Army cargo from
Sydney to Borneo, Tacloban, and Manila, P.I.
During December the Navy removed all excess gear and she steamed into Yokosuka on the 25th. On 8 January 1946 a
Japanese crew came on board for training and on the 11th she was decommissioned and turned over to the War Shipping
Administration for disposal.
Transcribed by Richard H. Bouchard.