USS Kenmore (AP-162) Class

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USS Kenmore (AK-221, ex AP-162) circa late 1945
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Class:        KENMORE (AP-162)
Design:        MC EC2-S-C1
Displacement (tons):        4,846 light, 12,350 lim.
Dimensions (feet):        441.5' oa, 416.0' wl x 56.9' e x 24.5 lim.
Original Armament:        1-5"/51 4-3"/50 8-20mm (AP-162 & 165)
Later armaments:        1-4"/50 4-3"/50 8-20mm (AP-163 & 164, 1944);
1-5"/51 4-3"/50 6-20mm (AK-224 ex AP-165, 1945);
1-5"/38 4-3"/50 6-20mm (AK-222 ex AP-163, 1945)
Complement:        214 (1944)
Speed (kts.):        12.8
Propulsion (HP):        2,500
Machinery:        Vert 3-exp, 1 screw

Construction:

AP	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
162	KENMORE	14 Nov 43	California SB	8 May 43	30 May 43	14 Nov 43
163	LIVINGSTON	25 Oct 43	California SB	22 Mar 43	16 Apr 43	10 Nov 43
164	DE GRASSE	28 Oct 43	Oregon SB	31 Jan 43	24 Feb 43	8 Nov 43
165	PRINCE GEORGES	25 Oct 43	Permanente Metals #2	20 Sep 42	30 Oct 42	10 Nov 43

Disposition:

AP	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
162	KENMORE	1 Feb 46	25 Feb 46	1 Feb 46	MC	13 Feb 73
163	LIVINGSTON	27 Feb 46	12 Mar 46	27 Feb 46	MC	13 Feb 73
164	DE GRASSE	28 Mar 46	17 Apr 46	28 Mar 46	MC	10 Feb 70
165	PRINCE GEORGES	12 Apr 46	1 May 46	12 Apr 46	MC	21 May 69

Class Notes:
FY 1944. The Auxiliary Vessels Board reported on 30 Sep 43 that CinCPac had requested in a September secret dispatch that 15 Liberty (EC2) ships be converted for Navy use, five to transport about 1,000 men each and ten as cargo ships with additional lift capability, boats, and accommodations for use by Construction Battalion personnel. The Commandant, 12th Naval District contributed a list of five EC2 freighters that had been converted by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) to carry about 1,200 officer and troop passengers. In view of the limited time available for further conversions to standard Navy transports, the Board recommended that the five transports be taken under allocation from WSA and continue to operate with their present civilian crews. (Five of the ten cargo ships were to be acquired as AK 109-113, the other five were to be operated under WSA allocation.) But Com-12 on 16 October noted that the ultimate employment of the five transports was to be for training purposes and recommended that they be completely manned with Navy personnel, although no additional conversion would be necessary. The Board on 22 Oct 43 modified its earlier recommendation and called for the acquisition and Navy manning of four of the ships as AP 162-165. The fifth, S.S. JANE ADDAMS, was then not available for change of status. No conversion was authorized following receipt of the ships from WSA. Pearl Harbor complained in February 1944 that PRINCE GEORGES had arrived there after "conversion" without any radar equipment and without a radio transmitter capable of operating on frequencies above 500 khz.

The Navy had hoped to acquire the oldest of the four ships, RICHARD MARCH HOE, as a cargo ship (AK-72) upon her completion in September 1942, but she was instead allocated to the Army in exchange for the use by CinCPac of PETER H. BURNETT (which later became IX-104). The civilian manned and operated RICHARD MARCH HOE spent a year carrying troops to Alaska for the Army Transport Service before being acquired for the Navy, by which time WSA had converted her to a transport. The other three were completed between March and June 1943 and had been converted to troopships by the time the Navy acquired them from WSA in October. According to Roland Charles, "Troopships of World War II," these four ships were among 33 Liberty ships fully converted by WSA to troop transports during the war, this number including nine converted in 1945 "in accordance with the Yalta Agreement." (WSA also converted 220 Liberty ships to troopships of limited capacity -- 308 to 504 men -- and 97 Victory ships to full transports.) In August 1944 the Navy reclassified AP 162-165 to AK 221-224, perhaps because the advent of more suitable ships for use as troop transports made it possible to demote the four Liberty ships designated AP to the same category as the numerous Liberty ships of the CRATER (AK-70) class (including AK-76, 94, 105, 108, 114-119, 121, 123, 127, and 129) to which the Navy during 1943 had given facilities for the emergency carrying of troops in the forward areas on a short haul basis. On 6 Mar 45 the operational commander of LIVINGSTON advised BuShips that he did not anticipate that this ship, now designated AK, would be used as either an AP or APA, although the four ships in fact continued to carry troops as well as cargo through the end of the war.

Ship Notes:

AP	Name	MCE	Notes
162	KENMORE	1664	Ex merc. JAMES H. McCLINTOCK (completed 12 Jun 43). To AK-221 20 Aug 44. To NDRF 1946 as merc. JAMES H. McCLINTOCK. To buyer 26 Mar 73.
163	LIVINGSTON	1637	Ex merc. JOSIAH D. WHITNEY (completed 28 Apr 43). To AK-222 20 Aug 44. To NDRF 1946 as merc. JOSIAH D. WHITNEY. To buyer 27 Mar 73.
164	DE GRASSE	1598	Ex merc. NATHANIEL J. WYETH (completed 6 Mar 43). To AK-223 20 Aug 44. To NDRF 1946 as merc. NATHANIEL J. WYETH. To buyer 17 Mar 70.
165	PRINCE GEORGES	426	Ex merc. RICHARD MARCH HOE (completed 9 Nov 42). To AK-224 20 Aug 44. To NDRF 1946 as merc. RICHARD MARCH HOE. To buyer 10 Nov 69.