Commissioned 12 January 1945 Honors and
awards 1 Battle star Beam 62 ft (19 m) Launched 21 November 1944 Weight 6,983 tons | Decommissioned 4 March 1946 Fate Scrapped 1973 Draft 24 ft (7.3 m) Length 139 m Displacement 6.235 million kg | |
Builder California Shipbuilding Corporation | ||
USS Clearfield (APA-142) was a Haskell-class attack transport built and used by the US Navy in World War II. She was a Victory ship design, VC2-S-AP5. She was named after Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Contents
World War II service
Clearfield was launched 21 November 1944 by California Shipbuilding Corp., Wilmington, California, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. F. L. Chambers; acquired by the Navy 11 January 1945; and commissioned 12 January 1945, Captain F. C. Stelter, Jr., in command.
Clearfield loaded construction battalion troops and cargo at Port Hueneme, California, and departed 9 March 1945 for Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, Ulithi and Okinawa, where she arrived 17 April, to disembark her passengers and their equipment at Ie Shima, to build an airfield.
She sailed from Okinawa 26 April to load Army replacements at San Francisco and transported these troops to Manila, arriving 23 June. After moving occupation troops among the Philippine Islands, Clearfield departed Manila 27 August for Tokyo, where she landed soldiers 2 September.
From 4 September 1945 Clearfield operated between Okinawa and Manila and ports in China, supporting the reoccupation of northern China by transporting Marines and Chinese troops. She got underway for Tacoma, Washington, 2 December, and after overhaul, sailed to Norfolk, arriving 4 February 1946. Clearfield was decommissioned 4 March 1946, and returned to the War Shipping Administration 6 March 1946.
Fate
Ex-Clearfield was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at James River, Virginia. Between 2 September and 27 October 1955 she was withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet for a Repair Program, GAA- Polarus, and returned. Ex-Clearfield was sold for $111,560 to Union Minerals & Alloys Corporation for scrapping on 9 April 1973. At 1440 EDT, on 7 September 1973 she was withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet and sent to the breaker's yard.
Award
Clearfield received one battle star for World War II service.