Bayfield (APA 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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SHIP'S HISTORY Since the first days of American fighting ships the United States Navy has been a proud and power- ful force in the fight to keep the world free. The American Navy is made up of many different types of fighting forces. One of the most prominent of these forces since its beginning in 1942 haS been the Naval Amphibious Force which has grown to become the most powerful Amphibious Force in the world today. The BAYFIELD is a proud representative of this unrivaled American Force. No single ship today more accurately tells the story of American amphibious operations than does the BAYFIELD. Built in San Francisco in 1943 as a merchant ship, the Sea Bass, she was promptly converted to an APA K Attack Transportj in time to participate in the Normandy Invasion as the Flag Ship at Utah Beach. Here the BAYFIELD first tested her double function fFlag Ship and Attack Transportl which she con- tinues to perform today. As the Utah Flag Ship, the BAYFIELD was the nerve center of that historical assault and in addition provided the boats and specially trained coxswains needed to land the T1'00P5 and cargo which she carried within her hull. Before the Normandy Assault which launched General Eisenhoweris drive to crush the Nazis, the BAYFIELD trained extensively on the beachheads of ,No1'tl1C1'11

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WEST PAC LOG USS BAYFIELD Departed Long Beach Pearl Harbor HHWHII Dull Knlfe fMOlOk3l HQWVBIIJ Pearl Harbor Hawau Sublc Bay PI Yellow Blrd fPh1l1pp1ne J Sublc Bay PI Manlla PI Hong Kong B C C Suh1c Bay PI Numazu Japan Buckner Bay Oklnawa Nagoya Japan Buckner Bay Okmawa F lrehouse fKoreal Saseho Japan Buckner Bay Oklnawxa Sublc Bay PI Buckner Bay Oklnawa Back Pack fTa1Wanl Buckner Bay Oklnawa Enroute Lon Beach Arr1ve Lon Beach 15 e e e c c Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Dec ec ec an an an an an e e Mar Mar Apr MILES STEAMED 23 632 16 15 e c Oct OV OV OV OV OV Nov CC CC an an an Jan e e Mal Mal U 17 S p 0 1 5 25 S p 27 S p 66 77 . S P 3 Ot , 3 0 1 ' , . . 31 O 1 4 N cc - as - - - S 4 8 N ' , . . 8 16 N ' , . . 16 18 N , . . . 20 25 N 1 ' 7 , , 27 30 7 5 6 D , - 9 D 14 D Yokosuka, Japan 17 DCC 27 Dec 7 28 D 1 J ' 4 J 5 J cc - aa 9 6 J J 18 J - 19 ' - , 22 J - 23 Jan - ' 25 J - 9 F b ' ' ' . v 11 F b - 19 F b 46 77, - F D ' . 4' 13 - ' . ag 6 D I HOURS UNDERWAY 2,213 AVERAGE SPEED 10.7 KTS-

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England. The planning and preparation for the landing, some of which dated back to 1942, made pos- sible the American success, for the invasion took place in the heaviest storm to sweep the English Channel since 1924. Lowering the boats from the ship and maneuvering in the heavy surf taxed every crew mem- ber,s training and set a precedent for the Amphibious Force. From the waters of the English Channel the BAYFIELD, then enjoying the nickname of the MlVlighty BQ, steamed south into the lVlediterranean to take part in the Invasion of Southern France. With her valuable and experienced crew the BAYFIELD was then ordered from the lVIediterranean to the Pacific where Amphibious Warfare was then the primary concern. Here in the last year of the war she took part in the assaults at lwo ,lima and Okinawa, ia war record' of which the BAYFIELD shall always be proud. V-J Day set the BAYFIELD to work carrying out Operation UlVlagic Carpetn bringing war-weary Amer- ican Soldiers and Marines back to the United States. This was her first peacetime mission and a most happy one. ' In the fall of 1949 during the turbulent Chinese Civil War the BAYFIELD, carrying units of the United States 9th lVlarines, steamed the Chinese Coast ready to evacuate American Nationals or to in- tervene if directed. As the fighting ceased, the BAYFIELD anchored in Shanghai to negotiate with the Communists for an American Naval Base at Shanghai. As part of the terms for the talk the BAYFIEUTS decks were taken over by Communist Chinese. With the failure of the negotiations the BAYFIELD steamed from Shanghai, the last American Ship to see that harbor. , With the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in the spring of 1950, the BAYFIELD, then in the Atlantic, was transferred to Pacific waters and participated in the Amphibious Operations at lnchon, Chinnampo and Wonsan. She also took part in the redeployment of troops from the beaches of Hungnam to Pusan. During the Communist push in lndo-China in September of 1954 the ship steamed over 7,000 miles transporting approximately 6,000 lndo-Chinese refugees from the North Coast at Haiphong to Saigon in the south. For the BAYFlELD'S part in this Operation uPassage to Freedom the ship received national attention in a 1955 Readers Digest article entitled uThey'll Remember the BAYFIELDX' ln the fall of 1962 the BAYFIELD, along with other units of the Pacific Amphibious Force, took on a full load of troops and cargo and within 48 hours was steaming south eventually to transit the Panama Canal. This task force stood ready for any emergency in the Caribbean for two months while diplomatic negotiations were being carried out in an attempt to ease the Cuban Crisis. Working at capacity the BAYFIELD can carry 1400 troops and 13,000 tons of cargo, all capable of being offloaded in the heat of an Amphibious assault in a matter of lhours by the highly trained team which makes up the BAYFIELD crew. 23 boats constitute the HBoat Croupi' which storms the beaches with troops and cargo. A A Q All told BAYFIELD has steamed the equivalent of 18 trips around the world in her 21 years of Naval seivice.