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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS Crescent City (APA-21)
ex
 USS Crescent City (AP-40) (1941 - 1943)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Charlie - Delta - Oscar
 NCDO
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (2- 7 Aug42/Mar43)
Second Row - Navy Unit Commendations - China Service Medal (extended) - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp)
Third Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (10) - World War II Victory Medal
Fourth Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Presidential Unit Citation - Philippines Liberation Medal (1)
Crescent City Class Transport:
  • Laid down as SS Delorleans, for Mississippi Shipping Co., as a Maritime Commission type (C3-P) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 49) at Bethlehem-Sparrows Point Shipyard Inc., Sparrows Point, MD.
  • Launched, 17 February 1940
  • Acquired by the Navy, 9 June 1941
  • Converted to for Naval service at Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., Mobile, AL.
  • Commissioned USS Crescent City (AP-40), 10 October 1941, CDR. Walter C. Calhoun USN in command
  • Reclassified Attack Transport (APA-21), 1 February 1943
  • During World War II Crescent City was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
    TransRon Twelve (flagship) COMO. H.B Knowles USN (17) [as of May 1945];
     TransDiv Thirty-Four and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaigns and Dates Campaigns and Dates
    Guadalcanal-Tulagi Landings, 7 to 9 August 1942 Treasury-Bouganinville operation
    Treasury Island landing, 1 and 18 November 1943
    Capture and defense of Guadalcanal 12 November 1942 Marianas operation
    Capture and occupation of Guam, 21 to 25 July 1944
    Guadalcanal (Third Savo) 12 to 15 November 1942 Western Caroline Islands operation
    Capture and occupation of southern Palau Islands, 8 September to 14 October 1944
    Consolidation of Solomon Islands
    Consolidation of southern Solomons, 17 February and 18 May 1943     		Leyte operation
    Leyte landings, 16 to 27 October and 14 November 1944
    Bismarck Archipelago operation
    Admiralty Island landings, 11 to 12 April 1944     		Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 6 April to 30 June 1945

  • Following World War II USS Crescent City was assigned to Occupation and China service in the Far East for the following periods:

    Navy Occupation Service Medal
    China Service Medal (extended)
    2 September to 7 October 19452 September to 7 October 1945
    24 October to 6 December 194524 October to 6 December 1945

  • Decommissioned, 30 April 1948, at San Francisco, CA.
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 3September 1948 for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • USS Crescent City was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation, and earned 10 battle stars for World War II service
  • Loaned by the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to the California Maritime Academy in May 1971, renamed TS Golden Bear II
  • Returned to the MARAD in 1995, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.
  • Custody transferred by MARAD to Artship Foundation, Oakland CA., August 1999, renamed Artship
  • Final Disposition, sold in February 2004 for scrapping at Brownsville, TX.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 8,409 t.(lt), 14,247 t.(fl)
    Length 491'
    Beam 65' 6"
    Draft 25' 8" (lim)
    Speed 17 kts.
    Complement
    Officers 36
    Enlisted 498
    Troop Accommodations
    Officers 58
    Enlisted 1,102
    Largest Boom Capacity 27 t.
    Cargo Capacity 2,3000 DWT
    non-refrigerated 140,000 cu. ft.
    Armament
    4 single 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts
    2 twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    2 single 40mm AA gun mounts
    14 single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Fuel Capacities
    NSFO 12,925 Bbls
    Diesel 450 Bbls
    Propulsion
    one General Electric geared turbine engine
    two Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers 450psi 750°
    double General Electric Main Reduction Gears
    three turbo-drive350Kw 120V/240V D.C. Ship's Service Generators
    single propeller, 7,800shp



    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Crescent City (AP-40)
    Crescent City 411k USS Crescent City (AP-40) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Tom Kermen
    Crescent City 92k Guadalcanal-Tulagi Operation, August 1942 - Ships of the invasion force steaming out of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area during the afternoon of 9 August 1942. Photographed from USS Chicago (CA-29), the view looks westward, with Guadalcanal island in the background. USS Crescent City (AP-40) is at the left. A Curtiss SOC "Seagull" float plane is in the foreground, on Chicago's starboard catapult.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-231855, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USS Crescent City (APA-21)
    Crescent City 24k USS Crescent City (APA-21) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Hyperwar US Navy in World War II
    Crescent City 27k USS Crescent City (APA-21) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Gunter Krebs
    Crescent City 313k USS Crescent City (APA-21) taking wounded Marines aboard for evacuation, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Crescent City 64k USS Crescent City (APA-21) off New York Naval Shipyard, 15 May 1947. In early 1945 Crescent City received two twin 40 mm mounts, one replacing the 5"/51 low-angle gun on the stern and one in a new raised position on the bow. By 1947 the ship had been detached from the amphibious forces and was operating as a unit of the Naval Transportation Service (NTS). In this photo she carries regular lifeboats under her davits, although she remains a fully armed and commissioned naval vessel. The broad black band around the top of the stack was also worn by other NTS ships at this time, but non-NTS ships may have had it as well.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo # 19-N-142584 a US Naval Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    Crescent City 256k Outboard and inboard profiles of USS Crescent City (APA-21) as a dependents transport in March 1947.
    Drawing from "U.S. Amphibious Ships" and Craft by Norman Friedman.    		 Robert Hurst
    California Maritime Academy Training Ship Golden Bear II
    Crescent City
    100302115    		 422k Midshipmen of the California Maritime Academy chipping off grey paint from the academy's new training ship TS Golden Bear II [Ex-USS Crescent City (APA-21)] circa 8 November 1970.
    Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum File name: APA 21 - GBII 110870-1 TH    		 Darryl Baker
    Crescent City
    100302116    		 528k California Maritime Academy personnel working on the TS Golden Bear II [Ex-USS Crescent City (APA-21)] main pump turbine. Workers, kneeling Art Behn, first assistant engineering officer and standing, Al Reignierd machinist and Midshipman John Wade, circa 8 November 1970.
    Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum File name: APA 21 - GBII 110870 TH    		 Darryl Baker
    Crescent City
    100302117    		 289k California Maritime Academy training ship TS Golden Bear II passing under the Golden Gate Bridge inbound at San Francisco Bay circa 1993.
    Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum File name: APA 21 - GBII Circa 1993 TH    		 Darryl Baker
    Crescent City 62k Ex-Crescent City (APA-21) in service as The California Maritime Academy training Ship TS Golden Bear II entering Sydney Harbour, Australia, circa 1971 to 1995. CMA Historical Archives. Submitted by Doug Peterson CMA Historical Archivist
    Crescent City 312k California Maritime Academy training Ship TS Golden Bear II moored pierside at Noumea, New Caledonia in 1978. Daniel Harris
    Artship
    Crescent City 104k Ex-Crescent City (APA-21), ex-TS Golden Bear as Artship moored pierside at Oakland, CA., circa 2002. Gerhard Mueller Debus
    Crescent City 52k Ex-Crescent City (APA-21), ex-TS Golden Bear, ex-Artship moored pierside at US Naval Shipyard Mare Island, Vallejo, CA., 14 June 2004. Sam Stokes, Hole in the Head Press
    Crescent City 65k ex-Crescent City (APA-21) ex-TS Golden Bear ex Artship moored pierside at US Naval Shipyard Mare Island, Vallejo, CA., circa June 2004. Steve Blanchard
    Crescent City 65k ex-Crescent City (APA-21) ex-TS Golden Bear ex Artship moored pierside at US Naval Shipyard Mare Island, Vallejo, CA., circa June 2004. Steve Blanchard
    Crescent City
    100302118    		 86k ex-Crescent City (APA-21) ex-TS Golden Bear ex Artship moored, date and location unknown.
    FLICKR submitted by Greg Bishop    		 John Spivey
    USS Crescent City (APA-21)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. Calhoun, Walter Carson, USN (USNA 1917)10 October 1941 - 13 December 1941AP-40
    02CAPT. Kiland, Ingolf Norman, USN (USNA 1919)13 December 1941 - 3 November 1942AP-40
    03CAPT. Sullivan, John Raymone, USN (USNA 1918)3 November 1942 - 10 July 1943AP-40 / APA-21
    04CDR. Steven, Harold Runyan, USN (USNA 1922)10 July 1943 - 4 September 1943APA-21
    05CAPT. Rowe, Lionel Lewis. USN (USNA 1921B)4 September 1943 - 23 February 1945APA-21
    06CAPT. Erwin, Donald Loring, USN (USNA 1921B) :RADM23 February 1945 - 1946APA-21
    07CAPT. Adams, Robert Lee, USN (USNA 1925)1946 - September 1947APA-21
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Golden Bear II
    MARAD Vessel History Database
    "Crescent City court fight Last ship from Guadalcanal battles could be dismantled" San Francisco Chronicle, Monday June 14, 2004
    "Vallejo Times Herald " articles concerning fate of Ex-USS Crescent City
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 22 March 2024