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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive
Patches contributed by Russ Padden

USS Hansford (APA-106)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Zulu - Uniform - Romeo
 NZUR
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive - Iwo Jima, 19 to 22 February 1945) - China Service Medal (extended) - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)
Individual Awards

Purple Heart (4-KIA, 11-WIA, Iwo Jima, 19 to 22 February 1945)
Bayfield Class Attack Transport:
  • Laid down, 10 December 1943, as SS Sea Adder, a Maritime Commission type (C3-S-A2) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1551) at Western Pipe and Steel Co., San Francisco, CA.
  • Renamed Gladwin, date unknown
  • Launched, 25 April 1944
  • Acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission, 25 August 1944 and renamed Hansford
  • Commissioned USS Hansford (APA-106), 12 October 1944, CDR. William Affley Lynch USN in command
  • During World War II USS Hansford was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
    TransRon Thirteen, COMO. M. O. Carlson USN (16);
    TransDiv Thirty-Eight CAPT. P. P. Welsh USN (18) and participated in the following campaigns:
    Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
    Campaigns and Dates Campaigns and Dates
    Iwo Jima operation
    Assault and capture of Iwo Jima, 19 to 22 February 1945     		Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 9 to 15 April 1945

  • Following World War II USS Hansford 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 11 October 1945 
    3 to 8 December 1945 
    19 to 26 January 194619 to 26 January 1946

  • Decommissioned, 14 June 1946, at Norfolk, VA.
  • Returned to the Maritime Commission, 16 June 1946, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Lee Hall, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • Sold into for commercial service by the Maritime Commission, 11 march 1948, to Isthmian Steamship Co., renamed SS Steel Apprentice
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping in Taiwan, 4 May 1973, to Tai Kien Industry Co., Ltd.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 8,100 t.(lt) 16,100 t.(fl)
    Length 492' 6"
    Beam 69' 6"
    Draft 26' 6"
    Speed 18.4 kts. (trial)
    Complement
    Officers 41
    Enlisted 437
    Troop Accommodations
    Officers 92
    Enlisted 1,470
    Largest Boom Capacity 30 t.
    Cargo Capacity non-refrigerated 180,500 Cu ft, 4,500DWT
    Boats 12 LCVP, 4 LCM (Mk-6), 3 LCP(L) (MK-IV)
    Armament
    two single 5"/38 cal dual purpose gun mounts, one fore and one aft
    four twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    eighteen single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Fuel Capacities
    NSFO 8,510 Bbls
    Diesel 750 Bbls
    Propulsion
    one General Electric geared drive turbine engine
    two Foster-Wheeler D-type boilers, 465psi 765°
    double General Electric Main Reduction Gears
    three turbo-drive 300Kw 120V/240V D.C. Ship's Service Generators
    one propeller, 8,500shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Hansford (APA-106)
    Hansford 119k USS Hansford (APA-106) in San Pedro Bay, 19 November 1944. The last four units at Western Pipe (APA 106-109) had two pairs of kingposts connected at the top by light lattice trusses. They also received the additional pair of short kingposts just forward of the bridge introduced in USS Barnstable (APA-93).
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo No. 19-N-74581, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 Mike Green
    Hansford 119k USS Hansford (APA-106) at anchor, date and location unknown. Suzanne S. Schlabs for her father-in-law, Henry Joseph Schlabs USS Hansford
    Hansford 155k Aboard USS Hansford (APA-106) an Honor Guard fires the salute during a burial at sea for a casualty of the battle for Iwo Jima, taken on board Hansford while she was evacuating wounded men to Saipan, 25 to 28 February 1945.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-K-3170, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 Robert Hurst
    Commercial Service
    Hansford 83k Ex-USS Hansford (APA-106) in commercial service as the Isthmian Steamship Co. freighter SS Steel Apprentice, moored in June 1971, location unknown. Suzanne S. Schlabs for her father-in-law, Henry Joseph Schlabs USS Hansford
    Hansford 277k SS Steel Apprentice, moored, date and location unknown.
    ©Alex Duncan.    		 Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    USS Hansford (APA-106)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
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    Last Updated 28 September 2012