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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

APL-14
ex
 YF-608

Nickname - "Ritz Carlton"
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Philippines Liberation Medal
APL-2 Class Non-self-propelled Barracks Ship:
  • Built by Nashville Bridge Co, Nashville, TN
  • Ordered as YF-608, 03 May 1943
  • Reclassified APL-14, 12 August 1943
  • Laid down, 11 September 1944
  • Launched, 17 January 1944
  • Towed from Nashville to New Orleans, 18-28 June 1944
  • Delivered, 29 June 1944
  • Placed in service, LT Harold E Reice, USNR, in charge, 04 July 1944
  • Towed from New Orleans to Canal Zone, via Key West, by WSA tug Watch Hill, 14-30 July 1944
  • Towed from Canl Zone to Pearl Harbor by WSA tug Watch Hill, 05-28 August 1944
  • Towed from Pearl Harbor to Eniewetok, 11-28 September 1944
  • Towed from Eniwetok to Ulithi by Lipan (ATF-85), 12-20 October 1944
  • Towed from Ulithi to San Pedro Bay, PI by Hitchiti (ATF-103), 19-24 May 1945
  • Towed from Leyte to Okinawa, 05-15 September 1945
  • Grounded on Baten Ko in Typhoon Louise, Okinawa, 09 October 1945, damaged beyond repair and recommended for stripping
  • Placed out of service, 4 December 1945
  • Struck from Naval Register, 21 January 1946
  • Final Disposition, hulk sold by Foreign Liquidation Committee (FLC), May 1947
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,300 tons (lt), 2,660 tons (fl)
    Length 260.0' waterline, 261.2' overall
    Beam 49' 2"
    Draft 8' 6" (lim) Complement
    Officers 5
    Enlisted 66 Accommodations
    Officers 0
    Enlisted 583
    Armament four 20mm single AA mounts
    Propulsion none
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    APL-14 74k USS APL-14, date and place unknown. APL-14 was used by the Navy in the Pacific to house personnel from Service Squadron 10.
    US Navy photo from All Hands magazine, May 1945 issue.     		Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
    Ocelot 78k USS APL-14 is visible beyond USS Ocelot (IX-110) aground in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, with her stern severed by USS Nestor (ARB-6), after Typhoon Louise ravaged that port in October 1945. Nestor's bow is in the center of this photo. Photographed in November 1945. After a desperate struggle to save their ship while not colliding with others, the crew of Nestor took refuge in APL-14, visible beyond her, against which her stern had been crushed. All three of these ships were stricken from the Navy List in January 1946 and sold in 1947-48.
    US Navy photo # NH 105655 from the US Naval History and Heritage Command, collection of Dr. Richard Raymond Gratton (1915-1990), donated by his daughter, Barbara Gratton Stillwater, 2008.    		 Marc Levine
    Nestor 444k USS APL-14 astern of USS Nestor (ARB-6) at center left (background). In the foreground, USS LCI(R)-337 (center) with the stern of USS LCI(G)-463 visible at right. All were ravaged and run aground by Typhoon Louis at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, in October 1945.
    US Navy photo    		 Donn Cuson
    Nestor 384k USS APL-14 and the wrecks of USS Ocelot (IX-110) and USS Nestor (ARB-6) at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, in October 1945. Also note open lighter near Ocelot, an unidentified tug and LCI.
    US Navy photo    		 Donn Cuson
    Nestor 338k USS APL-14 and wrecks of USS Nestor (ARB-6) and unknown tug at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, in October 1945.
    US Navy photo    		 Donn Cuson
    There is no DANFS history currently available for USS APL-14 at NavSource
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo and is maintained by David L. Wright
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    Last Updated 09 March 2016