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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

AKA-65 Shoshone

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Hotel - Golf - Kilo
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2) -World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)
Tolland Class Attack Cargo Ship:
  • Laid down, 12 May 1944, as a Maritime Commission type (C2-S-AJ3) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1388), at North Carolina Shipbuilding Corp, Wilmington, N.C.
  • Launched, 17 July 1944
  • Commissioned USS Shoshone (AKA-65), 24 September 1944, at Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., LCDR. Stanley E. Melville, USNR, in command
  • During WWII Shoshone was assigned to Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:
    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Iwo Jima operation
    Assault and occupation of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 1 April 1945     		Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 1 April 1945

  • Decommissioned, 28 June 1946
  • Returned to the Maritime Commission for disposal
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 19 July 1946
  • Sold by the Maritime Commission for commercial service in 1947
  • Commercial History
    Purchased by Oceanic Steamship Corp. in 1947, renamed SS Alameda
    Traded to Matson Lines in 1961, renamed SS Hawaiian Trader
    Sold to Waterman Steamship Corp renamed SS Short Hills in late 1961
    Renamed SS Colorado in 1964
    Sold to AEC Shipping Corp., New York, renamed SS U.S. Mate in 1966
  • Final Disposition, scrapped in February 1971, at Kaohsuing, Taiwan
  • Shoshone received two battle stars for her World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 6,318 t.(lt) 13,910 t.(fl)
    Length 459' 2"
    Beam 63'
    Draft 26' 4"
    Speed 16.5 kts.
    Complement Officers 62 Enlisted 333
    Armament
    one single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount
    four twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    sixteen single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Boats
    fourteen LCVPs
    eight LCMs
    Cargo Capacity 380,000 cu ft, (5,275 t.)
    Propulsion GE geared turbine drive, 1 propeller, 6,000 shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Shoshone (AKA-65)
    Shoshone 57k Shoshone (AKA-65) underway, date and place unknown. Terry Sanders USS Suffolk
    Shoshone 67k Shoshone (AKA-65) at anchor, probably in San Francisco Bay, in late 1945 or in 1946.
    US Navy photo # NH 78594 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy of James Russell.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Commercial Service
    Shoshone 108k Ex-Shoshone (AKA-65) in commercial service as the Waterman Steamship Corp., SS Short Hills at Bremerhaven, Germany in April 1963. Photo by Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    Shoshone 59k Ex-Shoshone (AKA-65) underway in commercial service as the United States Lines SS US Mate in the Malacca Strait, circa late 1960s.
    Photo by Airfoto Malacca.    		 Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    View the Shoshone (AKA-65)
    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
    No Information Available
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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 22 June 2007