USS McCracken
1944 Haskell-class attack transport
USS McCracken (APA-198) was a Haskell-class attack transport acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II for the task of transporting troops to and from combat areas.
World War II service
McCracken (APA 198) was laid down as a Victory ships under United States Maritime Commission contract by Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Inc., Vancouver, Washington, 8 June 1944; launched 29 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Albert Bauer; acquired by the Navy 21 October 1944; and commissioned at Astoria, Oregon, 21 October 1944.
After shakedown and training along the U.S. West Coast, McCracken embarked troops at San Pedro, Los Angeles, and sailed for Pearl Harbor 27 December. Arriving there 2 January 1945, she departed for the South Pacific Ocean 10 January. Carrying troops and cargo, she reached Nouméa, New Caledonia, 20 January. Thence between 26 and 31 January, she steamed via the Russell Islands to Guadalcanal, Solomons, where she began 6 weeks of intensive training. Assigned to TransDiv 52, she departed Guadalcanal 15 March and steamed for the invasion of Okinawa.
Landing troops and their equipment on Okinawa
After touching at Ulithi, Caroline Islands, McCracken closed the beaches off Okinawa early 1 April and debarked assault troops shortly after sunrise. During the day she off loaded cargo despite enemy air attacks.
“USS McCracken” enters the record as 1944 Haskell-class attack transport. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what McCracken, Haskell-class and attack can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “USS McCracken” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.