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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS West Point (AP-23)

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Whiskey - Golf - Bravo
 NWGB
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
West Point Class Transport:
  • Laid down, 22 August 1938, as SS America under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1) at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, VA.
  • Launched, 31 August 1939
  • Entered service for the United States Lines, 22 August 1940
  • Acquired by the US Navy, 1 June 1941
  • Commissioned, USS West Point (AP-23), 16 June 1941- at Newport News, VA., CAPT. Frank H. Kelley, Jr. USN in command, 16 June 1941 to 8 May 1943
  • Succeeding Commanding Officers
    CAPT. Robert A. Dyer, USN, 8 May 1943 to 8 April1944
    CAPT. Webb C. Hayes, USNR, 8 April 1944 to 28 February 1946
  • Decommissioned and transferred the Maritime Commission, 28 February 1946, at Norfolk, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 12 March 1946

    Post-War Commercial History
    Reconverted for commercial service at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, VA.
    Re-acquired by United States Line, renamed SS America
    Sold to Chandris Shipping Line in October 1964, renamed SS Australis
    Laid up at Timaru, New Zealand in 1977
    Sold to Venture Cruise Lines in 1978, renamed SS America
    Sold to Chandris Shipping Line in 1978; renamed SS Italis Sold to Silver Moon Ferries Ltd., renamed SS Alfredoss
    Sold to Chaophraya Transport Co. in 1992, renamed SS American Star
    Final Disposition, while under tow grounded and destroyed, January 1994 at Fuertventura Canary Islands
    Specifications:
    Displacement 26,455 t.(lt) 35,400 t.(fl)
    Length 723'
    Beam 93' 3"
    Draft 32' 9"
    Speed 24 kts.
    Complement 512
    Troop Accommodations 8,175
    Armament
    four single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts
    four single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    eight .50 cal machine guns
    Propulsion two Steam turbines, two shafts
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Pre-War Commercial Service
    West Point 109k SS America soon after launching, Newport News Shipbuilding, 31 August 1939 Charley Rago
    West Point 37k SS America underway in Hampton Roads enroute to the open sea for builders trials in 1940. US Maritime Commission photo. Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    USS West Point (AP-23)
    West Point 61k USS West Point (AP-23) arriving, New York from Lisbon in August 1941. Paul Morrell
    West Point 75k USS West Point (AP-23) arriving, New York circa 1941-1946. Charley Rago
    West Point 115k USS West Point (AP-23) underway, circa 1941-1946, location unknown. Charley Rago
    West Point 36k USS West Point (AP-23) underway, 7 June 1943, location unknown. Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    West Point 36k USS West Point (AP-23) underway, circa 1943, location unknown.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-71251, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    West Point 51k USS West Point (AP-23) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Robert Hurst
    West Point 76k USS West Point (AP-23) underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photo. Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    West Point 113k USS West Point (AP-23) in the harbor at La Harve, France while loading troops from a barge, 7 April 1945. Paul Morrell
    Post-War Commercial Service
    West Point 73k Ex-USS West Point (AP-23) in the service of the United States Steamship Line as SS America departing Bremerhaven, Germany in the mid-1950s. Note the three tugs pushing the vessel - these are US-built harbor tugs, which had been sold to Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, after World War II and operated in and out of Bremerhaven for many years, before they were sold in the late 1960s to then Yugoslavia. As late as September 2004 one of the tugs was still in service as a crane utility vessel, in the port of Durres, Albania. Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    West Point 104k SS America underway, date and location unknown. Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    West Point 877k SS America berthed at the legendary Columbus Pier at Bremerhaven, Germany in 1954. Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    West Point 240k SS America moored pierside at New York, late-1950s. Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    West Point 95k SS America, New York, April 1959 © Richard Leonhardt
    West Point 89k SS America moored pierside at Bremerhaven, (Germany), circa 1960. Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    West Point 183k Ex-West Point (AP-23) in the service of Venture Cruise Lines as SS America, 1978. Charley Rago
    West Point 93k Ex-West Point (AP-23) in the service of Chaophraya Development Transport Co. SS American Star, circa 1992 Charley Rago
    View the West Point (AP-23)
    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
    SS America / SS Australis
    Maritime Matters
    World War II Troopships - Record of Cruises
    History of America/West Point/Australis
    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 7 March 2008