Bayfield (APA 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE SHIP Since the first days of American fighting ships the United States Navy has been a proud and powerful 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 the merchant ship. Sea Bass, she was promptly converted to an APA (Attack Transport) in time to participate in the Normandy Invasion as the Flag Ship at Utah Beach. Here the BAYFIELD first tested her double func- tion (Flag Ship and Attack Transport) which she continues 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 troops and cargo which she carried within her hull. 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 member ' 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 Mighty B, steamed south into the Mediterranean to take part in the Invasion of Southern France. With her valuable and experienced crew the BAYFIELD was then ordered from the Mediterranean 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 Iwo Jima and Okinawa, a war record of which the BAYFIELD shall always be proud. V-J Day set the BAYFIELD to work carrying out Operation Magic Carpet bringing war-weary American 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 Marines steamed the Chinese Coast ready to evacuate American Nationals or to intervene if directed. As the fighting ceased, the BAYFIELD an- chored in Shanghai to negotiate with the Communists for an American Naval Base at Shanghai. As part of the terms for the talks the BAYFIELD ' S 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.

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USS BAYFIELD WESTPAC 1965 DEPARTED LONG BEACH, CALIF. PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII BUCKNER BAY, OKINAWA SASEBO, JAPAN DANANG, VIETNAM SUBIC BAY, PHILIPPINES BUCKNER BAY, OKINAWA DANANG, VIETNAM SASEBO, JAPAN YOKOSUKA, JAPAN NUMAZU, JAPAN BUCKNER BAY, OKINAWA BUCKNER BAY, OKINAWA NAHA, OKINAWA CHU LAI, VIETNAM BAIE DE MY HAN, VIETNAM CHU LAI, VIETNAM SUBIC BAY, PHILIPPINES DANANG, VIETNAM CHU LAI, VIETNAM CHU LAI, VIETNAM BAIE DE MY HAN, VIETNAM CHU LAI, VIETNAM SUBIC BAY, PHILIPPINES INCHON, KOREA PUSAN, KOREA QUI NHON, VIETNAM SUBIC BAY, PHILIPPINES HONG KONG, B. C. C. YOKOSUKA, JAPAN PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII ENTERED LONG BEACH, CALIF. 27 Appr. 1965 5 MAY 8 MAY 22 MAY 22 MAY 24 MAY 26 MAY 1 JUN 11 JUN 13 JUN 25 JUN 28 JUN 1 JUL 7 JUL 11 JUL 15 JUL 22 JUL 24 JUL 26 JUL 27 JUL 28 JUL 1 AUG 2 AUG 6 AUG 9 AUG 9 AUG 9 AUG 14 AUG 18 AUG 18 AUG 24 AUG 24 AUG 24 AUG 26 AUG 29 AUG 31 AUG 1 SEPT 1 SEPT 1 SEPT 2 SEPT 7 SEPT 7 SEPT 10 SEPT 10 SEPT 11 SEPT 13 SEPT 29 SEPT 4 OCT 13 OCT 15 OCT 17 OCT 22 OCT 26 OCT 29 OCT 30 OCT 1 NOV 6 NOV 11 NOV 15 NOV 24 NOV 26 NOV 3 DEC

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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 Inchon, Chinnampo, and Wonsan. She also took part in the redeploy- ment of troops from the beaches of Hungnam to Pusan. During the Communist push in Indo-China in September of 1954 the ship steamed over 7,000 miles transporting approximately 6,000 Indo-Chinese refugees from the North Coast at Haiphong to Saigon in the south. For the BAYFIELD ' S part in this Operation Passage to Freedom the ship received national attention in a 1955 Readers Digest article entitled They ' ll Remember the BAYFIELD. In 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 out in an attempt to ease the Cuban Crisis. This WESPAC cruise saw the BAYFIELD parti- cipate in Operation Starlight the first Amphibious Assult under combat conditions since the Korean War. Acting as Flagship, the BAYFIELD directed the assult of the Regimental Landing Team Seven of the 7th Marines upon the fortified positions of the 1st Viet Cong Regiment in Bale de My Han Bay, South Vietnam. With the support of other Marine units the Viet Cong regiment was surrounded and annihilated with a loss of over 1,000 hard core Viet Cong regu- lars making Operation Starlight the first major American victory in Vietnam. In a subsequent operation. Operation Piranha, the BAYFIELD landed units of RLT 7 in a clear and sweep of a major Viet Cong training area also in the Bale de My Han Bay area. In addition the BAYFIELD through out the WESPAC tour transported much in the way of men and material to U. S. Forces engaged in Da Nang and Chu Lai, South Vietnam. 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 hours by the highly trained team which makes up the BAYFIELD crew. Twenty-three boats constitute the Boat Group which storms the beaches with troops and cargo. All told BAYFIELD has steamed the equivalent of 21 trips around the world in her 22 years of Naval service.