 USS Benewah
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Benewah class |
| Builders | |
| Operators | |
| Built | 1943-1946 |
| In commission | 1944-1971 |
| Planned | 16 |
| Completed | 16 |
| Active |
|
| Laid up | 1 |
| Retired | 13 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Barracks ship |
| Displacement | 4,000 long tons (4,064 t) |
| Length | 328 ft (100 m) oa |
| Beam | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Draft |
|
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Range | 24,000 nmi (44,000 km; 28,000 mi) at 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) while displacing 3,960 long tons (4,024 t) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | 2 or 6 x LCVPs |
| Capacity | 2,975 Bbls (diesel) |
| Troops | 26 officers, 1200 enlisted men |
| Complement | 12 officers, 129 enlisted men |
| Armament |
|
The Benewah-class barracks ship was a class of barracks ships of the United States Navy after the Second World War, in the late 1940s.[1]
Development[edit]
Thirteen ships were converted into repair ships throughout the later stages of World War II. The ships were converted from the LST-1 and LST-542 classes. After the war, a few ships were then sold to the Philippines and Indonesia.
The ship's hulls remained nearly the same but with new equipment to carry out their purpose were placed on deck alongside several cranes. The ships' armament was slightly changed and relocated to make way for the ships' equipment. All ships served in the Pacific Theater until the end of the war with no ships lost in combat.
APL-40 (ex-USS Nueces) is still active to this day, serving as a transport and berthing vessel for the United States Navy in Yokosuka. APL-39 (ex-USS Mercer) also now berthed in Sasebo.
Ships of class[edit]
| Benewah-class repair ship[2] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pennant number | Name | Callsign | Builders | Launched | Commissioned | Decommissioned | Fate |
| APB-35 | Benewah | NUIX | Boston Navy Yard | 6 May 1945 | 9 March 1946 | 26 February 1971 | Sold to Philippines and renamed RPS Tulungan (AH-3), sunk as artificial reef in 1975 |
| APB-36 | Colleton | NUIN | 30 July 1945 | 28 January 1967 | 15 December 1969 | Scrapped on 6 January 1973 | |
| APB-37 | Echols | NUIZ | 30 July 1945 | n/a | Sold to Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS), in active service since mid-2000s | ||
| APB-38 | Marlboro | - | 17 November 1944 | 18 August 1945 | 5 May 1947 | Scrapped | |
| APB-39 | Mercer | NUIQ | 17 November 1944 | 19 September 1945 | 7 January 1970 | Part of the CincPacFlt Berthing and Messing Program and is berthed at Sasebo, Japan | |
| APB-40 | Nueces | NUIR | 6 May 1945 | 30 November 1945 | 13 March 1970 | Part of the CincPacFlt Berthing and Messing Program and is berthed at Yokosuka, Japan | |
| APB-41 | Wythe | NEWW | Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. | 9 June 1944 | 30 June 1944 | 29 May 1947 | Scrapped on 10 September 1959 |
| APB-42 | Yavapai | NFKT | American Bridge & Machine Co. | 6 June 1944 | 30 June 1944 | 3 December 1946 | Scrapped on 11 September 1959 |
| APB-43 | Yolo | NFLE | 16 June 1944 | 3 July 1944 | 9 August 1946 | Scrapped on 6 February 1960 | |
| APB-44 | Presque Isle | NFLK | 16 June 1944 | 19 July 1944 | 18 April 1947 | Sold to Indonesia and renamed KRI Teluk Ratai (LST-509), decommissioned and laid up | |
| APB-45 | Blackford | NBCK | Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. | 9 April 1945 | 9 June 1945 | 26 April 1947 | Sold to merchant service, suck as artificial reef between 1968 and 1970 |
| APB-46 | Dorchester | NBCY | 12 April 1945 | 15 June 1945 | 16 October 1946 | Sold to merchant service, in active service since 1 August 1974 | |
| APB-47 | Kingman | NBDB | 17 April 1945 | 17 April 1945 | 15 January 1947 | Scrapped on 19 November 1980 | |
| APB-48 | Vanderburgh | NBFT | 20 April 1945 | 3 July 1945 | 17 January 1947 | Scrapped on 12 November 1972 | |
| APB-49 | Accomac | NFRR | Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co. | 28 June 1944 | 24 July 1944 | 9 August 1946 | Scrapped on 7 December 1959 |
| APB-50 | Cameron | NKBB | Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard | 5 July 1944 | 30 July 1944 | 13 December 1946 | Sold to merchant service, fate unknown |
External links[edit]
- Photo gallery of Benewah-class barracks ship at NavSource Naval History
Citations[edit]
- ^ "Benewah (APB-35) Class". www.shipscribe.com. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
- ^ "NavSource Sef-propelled Barracks Ship Photo Archive". www.navsource.org. Retrieved 19 January 2022.