INTRODUCING THE DUCHESS g A. The Assault Transport--The Amphibious Force' Authorities realized that this was an Amphibious War On both oceans ' nemy was protected by large bodies of water. ln oraer for our foot , lnfantrymen and Marines, to take and hold ground, we had to trans- men, machinery, and equipment long distances, launch them against the y shores in topnotch fighting condition, and support them on the beach- eqd with a never ending flow of ammunition, water, food, guns, and vehicles. landing of large numbers of infantrymen complete with their armament transportation on a hostile shore in the face of enemy fire would require the development of new types of ship's unheard of in othordox Navies-so an ious Force was conceived to fight an Amphibious War. f The problem of beaching the Army on wilderness shores, far from any wharfs or cranes, was solved by the development of various Landing and Ships-basically, shallow draft vessels that could steam right up onthe beach, drop a ramp built into their bows, allowing men and vehicles to move over that ramp onto the beach. , The LCVP lLanding Craft Vehicle Personnell became the basic small unit Amphibious Warfare. Each carried 36 men fully loaded, or with fewer men, either a lf4 ton truck or artillery piece or similar cargo could be substituted. Next in size came the LCM C120 men capacity or medium tankl, then the LCT, LCI, LSM, and the largest--the LST. ' These craft were suitable for actually landing on the beach, but the smaller models were handicapped by not being able to make the long sea voyages required in global warfare, and the larger ships were limited by their com- parative small carrying capacity due to their shallow drafts. T p -Why not put Landing Craft, say LCVPs and LCMs, on a large merchant type ship with considerable cargo capacity? lt could be and was done. Next came the problem of what type of merchant ship-called'Auxiliaries the Navy-to use. At these initial landings, it was found thatif the troops embarked on one ship and their equipment, guns, ammunition, tanks, and , were carried on another ship, all the enemy need do was to put either out of action and the unit was incapacitated. Whereas, if men and equip- were equally divided, the sinking of 'one ship would still knock out only of theattacking force. Therefore, each ship had, as far as possible, to a complete, self contained unit in itself. Thus the Assault Transport, named APA fAuxiliary Personnel Assaultl, designed. Typically she was a medium to large sized Cl3,0UO-l8,UOU gross l merchant type cargo vessel equipped with quarters for troops which were to cargo holds that held combat loaded assault equipment including vehicles. The combat loading system provided that materials needed OI1 the beach, as for example ammunition, were loadedf at the top of the so that they were the first accessible. Materials required last, such as trucks, were at the bottom of the hatch and unloaded last. - U :Numerous LCVP's and LCM's were carried on deck and- were placed in Wdtler by the ship's powerful booms. Operated. in successive waves, these Citcitftwere capable of transporting ,the embarked troops and Qqlllpmeffl ln addition the APA was armed more heavily with anti- thanl any other auxiliary because at thelbeachhead sh'e would in range of enemy air attacks for the entire unloading period. -5, ln launching the intial assaults on Guadalcanal and North Africa in 1942, e ' i '
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perience before he can become a useful and reliable operator of te of the thousand and one devices that contribute to the accom Q 'J y, WT! I S Q' 3 if u,fl f l A ,I t I ' 4 ' il, fr' if 2, f ig: I , - V A X , : 'H D A TAL.: 5 1 , f A - 1 . , , , I O , A , .1 , 'V 1' It 21:1-IVLMIZWTF ,afterca man receives his basic training he still requires considerable Q T tfeg-lg f the mission. Conversely no ship will be an effective Naval Unit ant people learn how to manage at least the minimum of operational, ' . T' f . Q A with the problem of manning hundreds of new ships within the f the Bureauuof Personnel allocated the experienced personnel as , ld. 'Faced with the problem of supplying 50 officers and 500 men f ship being built at Sparrows Point the Bureau was able to supply x 3 requisite numbers but not with the desired experience. ln filling sible officer and senior petty officer billets, it was impossible to maturity and experience normally required. However, in filling the is where physical ability was a considerable factor, it was impossible l8-21 year olds as before because the average draftee was now in Heads of Departments fresponsible officers next to the Captain and Officer in the chain of commandl was 30 Tl e average age of all s very close to the average of all men in the Armed Force 6 e of the tremendous expansion of tne Naval Service and lack of d personnel practically every officer and petty officer assigned key d themselves in the position of having to handle and learn the of more responsible positions than they had ever held before With of a several million dollar ship and ultimately the responsibility es of 2 OOO men dependent on them these ley officers and petty d a tremendous task on their hands 50 officers ultimately assigned the only profe sional Naval Officer rospective Commanding Officer with 23 years of naval experience im His last previous tour of sea duty had been as an Assistant Head ent on a large peacetime Cruiser The Prospec ive Executive Officer nder S V Montgomery U S N R an electrical engineer by pro ., th three years of sea duty was back from a long tour of Pacific duty perienced several amphibious landings lnglneering Department was fortunate in being headed by a lean spoken Chief Engineer Lt Commander A H Williams, USNR ience was comprised of successively: service in the British Navy ld W l t ent five odd years as Engineer in the Merchant Service, r ar , w y- - i nd a half years of service as Engineer Officer of an APA :in the T 1 . , jAfrican Theatre where he had participated in numerous an ings.. V, 'irsti Lieutenant and Cargo Officer, Et. R. Stevenson, U.S.N.R., a foresteii A , 'th 31! ears of sea duty was back from an l8 month tour o try gl W1 Y I ty 'as Firstzlieutenant and Cargo Officer of a Fleet Oiler fTankerl, G Officer Lt ,and less complicated ship than an APA. The unnery , . ..,' 'er USN of powerful build and roaring voice was an ex-Chief tl back from bleak duty in the f naval experience and appreciation of nava t fu ahte Supply Officer had never put a ship into comm a A a V,g. ' V' w X. .3 r - - ,md km 'Q 5 , Q ff Rim ,T fklflf' 3: .JK ' 2 , V . 1 W WM?-V' A 5 4. 'tr rr.. I , , 1.531 1 .'1,E'4'.5,.g ., if , lf.. 1 - 4- Ut, ff.-H , ,. 1, tiiftititlrrfftw, 1 T' . A ' f T 1 U V .T ' ' -' i2l7 '1'f3lier1. i' . Q Q? I ,. I 5 rf x 4, V . I , I X -,B 1,125 V, ik f ,V frlifiv, - '1Q,g,,1gf M , v , ., , rf 'Q ' ' Q 1' A -t L 'Q i we ' 1 ' . 'Jw A J- -nr :V t ,st f 5- ,1.'rS'tf ..,r,,.,r .i'ft: 5.2.15 lv 'ff ' - tl, 1 '4 - + - . ,'ir'1,5,: ' - Ill- . P - ' 1 1:- A --r. 'P 'V , if ' P fth of the men had previots experience at sea The average age , utenant and Cargo Officer of an AKA fAssault Cargo Ship? in which D L , . . ., l , X Mate and Fleet Reservist. Recen y ' A ' Q 1't,, ,Q , and being considerably older than most of the off1ce'rs,.he lent thi r intially assigned personnel, less than half of the officers M3707 and 1 . . . , - - ' 1 L - '- s-2 . -ul ' ll ' D ri ' ' ' r ' . r I L ' . 1 . . l t. A 5 . . I a .' . , .... , - , L , 3 . . . . C . . D J 1 1 1 tive weight of hisyears o I , in Hi 1 , , was e hm ecause of his renown as a civilian Surgeon no difficulties were yycg 3 in ission before 'jj , M dical Officer's, Lt. Commander I. B, Buttsi U.SiN.yR.,, , . gait .'. I . Y Q 7 .nth-.iyih 3 ' fi . gt' , 'fsilfff h 2
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