US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42) Class

USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42) on 8 October 1942
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Class:        TASKER H. BLISS (AP-42)
Design:        EFC 1029
Displacement (tons):        13,529 light, 21,900 lim
Dimensions (feet):        535.2' oa, 534.0' pp x 72.0' e x 31.25' lim
Original Armament:        1-4"/50 2-3"/50 (AP 42-43)
Later armaments:        1-4"/50 4-3"/50 8<14-20mm (1942: AP 42-43)
Complement:        --
Speed (kts.):        17.5
Propulsion (HP):        12,000
Machinery:        Curtis geared turbines, 2 screws

Construction:

AP	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
42	TASKER H. BLISS	19 Aug 42	Newport News SB & DD	24 Jun 19	17 Jul 20	15 Sep 42
43	HUGH L. SCOTT	14 Aug 42	Bethlehem Sparrows Pt. SY	29 Aug 18	17 Apr 20	7 Sep 42
44	WILLARD A. HOLBROOK	--	Bethlehem Sparrows Pt. SY	3 Oct 18	24 Jul 20	--

Disposition:

AP	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
42	TASKER H. BLISS	--	7 Dec 42	12 Nov 42	Lost	--
43	HUGH L. SCOTT	--	7 Dec 42	12 Nov 42	Lost	--
44	WILLARD A. HOLBROOK	--	--	--	Canc.	21 Oct 57

Class Notes:
FY 1942. Auxiliary Vessels Board directives: 27 May 41 (acquire Army transports) and 3 Aug 42 (AP 42-43). See the APA-2 class for more on the origins of these ships.

On 15 May 41 the Auxiliary Vessels Board directed the implementation of a plan promulgated on 28 Apr 41 by the Joint Planning Commission of the Joint Board to replace the civilian crews of the large ships of the Army Transport Service with Navy crews and place the ships under Navy jurisdiction. On 22 May 41 the Secretary of War approved the transfer of the ships, noting that jurisdiction over each ship was to pass at the time it was manned by the Navy. On 17 Sep 41 the Joint Board approved a Navy request that the Army convert ten of its ships (the future AP-30, 34-35, 42-44, and 46-49), to combat unit loaded transports as soon as Army operating schedules permitted. On 29 Sep 41 CNO requested that the Bureau of Ships assign hull numbers to eight transports that were being operated by, or were building for, the Army. These were designated AP 42-49. Shortages of personnel delayed Navy manning of many of the Army vessels, some of which, including AP-44, were ultimately not taken over. Manning and acquisition of AP 42-43 was also initially deferred, but they were included on 3 Aug 42 in a crash program to acquire combat-loaded transports for the North African invasion (the others being AP 66-73). Navy conversion instructions for these two ships called for 8 Welin davits and stowage for 34 landing boats and 2 tank lighters. AP 42-43 were both lost during this operation--had they survived they would have become APAs along with their sisters of the APA-2 class.

Displacements, dimensions and machinery specifications are those of the APA-2 class, which probably also applied to AP 42-44. The light displacement later listed for AP 42-43, 7,845 tons, appears low, though the displacements and limiting draft of these ships at the time of their loss in late 1942 were probably not as large as the 1945 figures for their sisters shown here.

TASKER H. BLISS was converted for Army use at San Francisco in July 1941 and for the Navy at Baltimore in August 1942. Her Navy conversion included the replacement of the life boats used by the Army with 18 landing craft: 16 LCVs and 2 LCM(3)s. (One LCV was probably removed in October when the number of 20mm guns was increased from 8 to 14.) HUGH L. SCOTT arrived at New York in July 1942 for conversion to a Navy combat loaded transport. In early October she reported that her assigned landing craft were 14 LCVs and 2 LCM(3)s. (She also had 16 rubber LCP(R)s, while AP-42 only had one in September.) Her old boat davits were returned to the Army. WILLARD A. HOLBROOK began her Army service in June 1941 as USAT PRESIDENT TAFT. In September 1941 she was renamed and hastily converted for carrying more troops. She was selected in February 1945 to become a hospital ship and began conversion at Alabama Drydock Co, but was incomplete at the war's end and returned to service in January 1946 as a troopship.

On 12 November 1942 the German U-130 got into the transport anchorage off Fedala, Morocco, and at sunset torpedoed three transports anchored there: first EDWARD RUTLEDGE (AP-52), then HUGH L. SCOTT (AP-43), then TASKER H. BLISS (AP-42). It hit each with two torpedoes, the first two in separate salvoes, the third in one. The first two sank soon after being hit, the burning hulk of the third sank early on 13 November. A day earlier, on 11 November, U-173 sank JOSEPH HEWES (AP-50) in the same anchorage. These and the other losses during the North African landings led the Navy to expect significant attrition to its transport and cargo-carrying forces during subsequent amphibious assault operations and to include replacements in its building and conversion programs. In the event, these were the most severe losses suffered in a single operation by the Navy's auxiliary vessels during the entire war.

Ship Notes:

AP	Name	EFC	Notes
42	TASKER H. BLISS	2564	Ex USAT TASKER H. BLISS (from MC to Army 27 Mar 41, taken over Jul 41), ex merc. PRESIDENT CLEVELAND, completed 1 Feb 21 as GOLDEN STATE (ID-4575). Renumbered EFC hull 2872 under new contract. Converted for Navy by Maryland DD, Baltimore, Md. Torpedoed by German U-130 off Fedala, Morocco.
43	HUGH L. SCOTT	1164	Ex USAT HUGH L. SCOTT (from MC to Army 31 Jul 41), ex merc. PRESIDENT PIERCE, completed 28 Jan 21 as HAWKEYE STATE. Converted for Navy by Tietjen & Lang DD (Todd), Hoboken, N.J. Torpedoed by German U-130 off Fedala, Morocco.
44	WILLARD A. HOLBROOK	1165	Ex USAT WILLARD A. HOLBROOK (from MC to Army 17 Jun 41), ex merc. PRESIDENT TAFT, completed 30 Apr 21 as BUCKEYE STATE. Not taken over by the Navy. Began conversion to Army hospital ship ARMIN W. LEUSCHNER 1944, reverted to transport WILLARD A. HOLBROOK 1945. To NDRF from Army 8 Mar 48. To buyer 29 Oct 59, scrapped by 19 Mar 59.