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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Lost to enemy torpedo attack, 12 November 1942, at Fedala Roads, Morocco

USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42)
ex
 USAT Tasker H. Bliss (1941 - 1942)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive--12 November 1942)
Bottom Row - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal (1) - World War II Victory Medal
Tasker H. Bliss Class Transport:
  • Built in 1921 as SS President Cleveland at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, VA. for American President Lines
  • Chartered by the US Army in July 1941
  • Renamed USAT Tasker H. Bliss; Transferred to the US Navy, 19 August 1942
  • Converted for Naval service at Maryland Drydock Co., Baltimore, MD.
  • Commissioned, USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42), 15 September 1942, CDR. Gerald Laurence Schetky in command
  • During World War II USS Tasker H. Bliss was assigned to the Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater and participated in the following campaign;

    Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates
    North African occupation
    Algerian-Morocco landings, 8 to 12 November 1942

  • Final Disposition, sunk by enemy torpedo attack, 12 November 1942, at Fedala Roads, Morocco
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 7 December 1942
  • USS Tasker H. Bliss earned one battle star for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 12,568 t.
    Length 535'
    Beam 72' 2"
    Draft 27' 8"
    Speed 16.5 kts.
    Complement 235
    Troop Accommodations 2,435
    Armament 3" and 5" guns
    Propulsion steam turbine
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Merchant Service
    Tasker H. Bliss 69k SS President Cleveland probably photographed while operating under U.S. Shipping Board ownership between 1922 and 1925. Photo courtesy Shipscribe. Robert Hurst
    USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42)
    Tasker H. Bliss 203k
    Namesake

    Tasker Howard Bliss, born in Lewisburg, Pa., 31 December 1853, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1875. In Spain at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he was assigned to General Wilson as Chief of 'Staff. He fought in all major engagements in Puerto Rico and was breveted a Colonel for outstanding service. After the war, Bliss served as Collector of Customs for Cuba and negotiated the treaty of reciprocity with Cuba in 1902. After several important administrative appointments in the United States and the Philippines, he was named Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army in 1915 and Chief of Staff in 1917. A scholarly yet energetic officer, General Bliss helped greatly to work out plans for American mobilization for World War I. In 1917 he was appointed to the Supreme War Council in Paris and had much to do with the negotiations leading up to the Versailles Treaty. Subsequently, he was a commissioner and a signer of the treaty. During the last years of his life, General Bliss was devoted to historical study, and was awarded many honorary degrees and the Distinguished Service Medal. He died in Washington, D.C., 9 November 1930.
    Digital ID: cph 3a36601 Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs    		 Bill Gonyo
    Tasker H. Bliss 81k USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42) near Norfolk Navy Yard, 8 October 1942. This ship can be distinguished from her sisters by the low placement of all three guns on her stern.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo # 19-N-35836 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    Tasker H. Bliss 68k USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42) near Norfolk Navy Yard, 8 October 1942. All three ships of this class had a break between the bridge and the rest of the superstructure, with a small hatch served by two kingposts. This break was a feature of all ships of this class as originally built, but some had it filled in while in merchant service between the wars.
    Photo by Edward L. Walger PH2 USN, 1942-1945.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM. Photo # 19-N-35834, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Barbara Walger and
    Robert Hurst
    Tasker H. Bliss 104k USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42) at anchor, date and location unknown. Note the small hold abaft her bridge. The two boats lying across her foredeck are LCM(3)s; note the skids for a smaller boat to be stowed atop the forward one.
    US Navy photo from "US Amphibious Ships and Craft", by Norman Freidman.    		 Robert Hurst
    Tasker H. Bliss 691k Diagram of USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42) showing probable flooding from torpedo damage sustained on 12 November 1942.
    Navy Department Library; War Damage Report No. 32, Transports torpedoed off Fedala, 11-15 November 1942.    		 Mike Green
    USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Transports Torpedoed Off Fedala, 11 - 15 November 1942
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 18 December 2015