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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

AP-21 Wakefield

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Whiskey - Delta - Golf
 NWDG

USS Wakefield (AP-21) was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive, 30Jan42, Singapore)
Second Row - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp and "A" clasp) - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal
Third Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1star) - World War II Victory Medal - Philippines Defense Medal
Personnel Awards

Purple Heart (5-KIA, 9-WIA, Singapore, 30Jan42)
Wakefield Class Transport:
  • Laid down, 6 December 1930, at New York Shipbuilding Co, Camden, N.J., as SS Manhattan for the United States Lines
  • Launched, 5 December 1931
  • Acquired by the Navy, 6 June 1941
  • Commissioned USS Wakefield (AP-21), 15 June 1941, CDR. W. N. Derby, USCG, in command
  • During World War II Wakefield (AP-21) participated in the following campaign:
  • Decommissioned due to fire damage in September 1942
  • Recommissioned, 10 February 1943, at Boston, MA., with a Coast Guard crew
  • Decommissioned, 16 June 1946, at New York
  • Laid up as part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, at New York
  • Transferred to the Maritime Administration in 1954 for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet
  • Struck from the Naval Register in 1959
  • Final Disposition, sold by MARAD for scrapping in 1964
  • Wakefield earned one battle star for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 22,559 t.(lt) 33,560 t.(fl)
    Length 705'
    Beam 86'
    Draft 30' 9"
    Speed 21.5 kts.
    Complement 934
    Armament
    four single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount
    four single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    eight .50 cal machine guns
    Propulsion Steam turbine
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Wakefield 32k Wakefield (AP-21) underway, 11 May 1942, location unknown. Wakefield is wearing camouflage scheme 12R.
    US Navy photo.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Wakefield 42k Wakefield (AP-21) underway, date and location unknown. Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Wakefield 107k Wakefield (AP-21) "COAST GUARD TRANSPORT HEADS INTO BOSTON. . . . . . .The Coast Guard-manned troop transport, USS WAKEFIELD, arrived in Boston this morning loaded down with more than 8,100 fighting Yanks, from Naples, Italy. Also aboard the transport were Brig. Gen. Raymond E. S. Williamson, of Falmouth, Mass., of the 91st Infantry Division, seven American Red Cross; and six UNRRA members, one of whom was Miss Barbara Johnston of Morson, Mass. The passenger list also included seven members of OWI, one of the OSS, and under heavy guard, six Japanese Diplomats whose status as former representatives to the European Axis was not revealed."; 22 August 1945.
    US Coast Guard photo from the collections of the Office of the Coast Guard Historian.    		 Mike Green
    Wakefield 94k Wakefield (AP-21) arriving at Boston, 22 August 1945.
    US Coast Guard photo from the collections of the Office of the Coast Guard Historian.    		 Mike Green
    Wakefield 98k Wakefield (AP-21) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo # No. V4-W215-1.    		 Robert Hurst
    Wakefield 49k Wakefield (AP-21) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Robert Hurst
    Wakefield 80k Wakefield (AP-21) underway, date and location unknown. Capt Jerry Mason, USN
    Wakefield 77k Wakefield (AP-21) underway, date and location unknown. Capt Jerry Mason, USN
    Wakefield 81k Wakefield (AP-21) underway silhouetted against the setting sun. The photo was taken after Wakefield was recommissioned, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, August 1945 issue.    		 Capt Jerry Mason, USN
    Wakefield 59k Wakefield (AP-21) underway, location unknown, 1945
    US Navy photo.    		 Courtesy, Chuck Ulrich, coordinator/historian AP Transport Group
    View the Wakefield (AP-21)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office - Wakefield AP-21
    MAVSEA World War II War Damage Report
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Transport (AP) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 27 April 2007