Anne Arundel (AP 76) - Naval Cruise Book

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Caldfby J L M S. S. 74646 f4'L4Zf4d6Z CAP 765 CFormer ss MORMACYORK5 A broad-beamed Naval transport, built in Kearney, N. J., by the creators of the Navy's sleek and deadly destroyers, is now Winding up a distinguished war record embracing five battle engagements from the steep beaches of North Africa to the battered ports of the surrendered Japanese Empire. Q Participating as a combat loaded loaded transport in the Allied landings at Port Lyautey, North Africa, U.S.S. ANNE ARUNDEL QAP765 , former Moore-McCormick liner, went on to land troops and equipment over the beaches at Sicily, Normandy and the Riviera. Her fifth battle star was won in the campaign for Okinawa in May, 1945. Veteran of both the European and' Pacific theaters of war, ANNE ARUNDEL has been under the command of three commanding officers: Captain L. Y. Mason, Jr., USN, 6 Parks Avenue, Newnan, Georgia, Captain W. S. Campbell, USN, 17 North Chatsworth Avenue, Larch- mont, N. Y. and Captain'lH. F. Eckberg, USN, 2108 Lake Avenue, Baltimore, Md. Placed in service by the Moore-McCormack Lines, U. S. Maritime Commission, after trials in January, 1941, as SS MORMACYORK, the ship was taken over after trips to South America and the Mediter- ranean. The Navy assumed title at Robbins'Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Brooklyn,.N. Y., and renamed her U.S.S. ANNE ARUN- DEL inl honor of the wife of the second Lord of Baltimore and of the county of which Annapolis, home of the Naval Academy, is the seat. Converted as an armed combat transport by Robbins, ANNE ARUNDEL was placed in full commission on September 17, 1942, and. about two months later was part of the vast Naval armada in the initial Allied assaults at Port Lyautey, In the months between North Africa and Sicily, the ship served as a troop transport carrying men and war goods from New York to Oran, Algeria, under the wing of the Naval Transportation Service. Returning to mphibious warfare at Gela, Sicily, in July, 1943, the plucky transport underwent severe German Stuka dive bombing at- tack. For his accomplishments and those of his crew, Captain Mason received the Legion of Merit. , Returning to the convoy lanes of the storm-tossed North Atlantic, the ship once more joined the high-speed convoys with heavy destroyer and warship escort to successfully evade the highly-vaunted U-Boat menace making regularly scheduled trips between New York and United Kingdom ports in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. She had the task of carr in the van uard of the veteran 2nd Division , Y g S 'into Belfast and of taking exchange troops of the British 8th Army to ,Algiers returning with an equal load of desert troops to Gorouck, Scotland. Once more, in March, 1944, the converted merchant ship girded herself for war taking aboard amphibious assault craft and their crews and loading her deep holds full of vital war materiel. Two months,of training and preparation in the British Isles lay ahead of her and her new commanding officer, Captain Campbell, who had assumed com- mand the preceding December. Ten days before the Normandy landings, the ship with other transports slated for Omaha Beach was subjected to an intensive low level bombing attack by the Luftwaffe. Luck once again rode with the transport and she rolled in the long ground swells close by the cruiser AUGUSTA off Omaha Beach, Baie de la Seine, on the historic morning of June 6, 1944. Captain Campbell was awarded the Bronze Star for his leadership under fire. Her tasks in the European Theatre were far from over with the entrance of the lst Division into France's front door. A later landing through the back door on the Riviera was on the schedule. So the camouflaged C-3 type ship sailed for the Mediterranean, scene of past triumphs, where she joined forces with old acquaintances of her Medi- terranean days among them sister Moore-McCormack liners, U.S.S. LYON CAP 715, U. S. S. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE CAP 705 and U. S. S. ELIZABETH C. STANTON QAP 695. The morning of August 15, 1944, found ANNE ARUNDEL off the swank Riviera beaches at the Baie de Pampelonne where she unloaded crack units of the.,battle-seasoned 3rd and 45th Divisions, Following up the assault landings with logistic support trips from Italian and African ports, the transport remained in the Mediterranean until late October at which time she set sail for the United States for a sorely-needed overhaul and repair period. Captain Campbell received the Legion of Merit for his leadership in the Southern France invasion. Getting underway from New York City a week before Christmas, 1944, she reported to the ever-expanding Pacific Fleet in the Panama Canal Zone. From January through April of 1945, she carried troops and supplies to forward areas and on return trips evacuated wounded, among them the gritty marines of Iwo Jima. From May 3rd through May 9th of 1945, ANNE ARUNDEL lay off the Hagushi beaches on the western coast of Okinawa unloading elements of the 10th Army. Here she earned her fifth battle star com- ing under the air attacks of the Japanese Kamikaze Corps day and night during her stay. On departure she evacuated a capacity number of wounded of all branches of the service. Returning to the forward area in early July, the ship served as a fleet receiving ship in the vast anchorage at Leyte Gulf for a month and was enroute to the rear area from Manus in the Admiralties on August 17th when the Japanese intention to surrender chased her back to the Philippines for loading and onward routing to enemy ports. ANNE ARUNDEL steamed into Tokyo Bay into the very sha- dow of Mount Fujiyama scarcely ten days after the formal surrender ceremonies had terminated and unloaded her troops and supplies over undamaged docks in Yokohoma. She is presently engaged in further transport tasks in the distant Pacific. Captain Eckberg, himself a veteran of the Mediterranean, has assumed command. With her job nearly done and with an appreciable amount of good fortune and hard fighting behind her, ANNE-ARUNDEL proudly bears the mark of the men of the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company who built her and the officers and men who sailed her dur- ingiher lengthy and profitable war cruises. QThis story prepared by Lieut. Henry C. Gulbandson, USNR5 Collateral Pub. Info. Officer

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