USS President Jackson (APA-18) was a President Jackson-class attack transport that saw service with the US Navy in World War II and the Korean War. She was the lead ship in her class.
USS President Jackson (T-APA-18)(1949-1955)
USS President Jackson (APA-18) (1943 - 1949)
USS President Jackson (AP-37) (1942 - 1943)
Laid down, 2 October 1939, as Maritime Commission type (C3 P & C) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 53) at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock, Corp. Newport News VA.
Launched, 7 June 1940
Delivered to American President Lines, 25 October 1940
Acquired by the Navy, 30 June 1941
Commissioned USS President Jackson (AP-37), 16 January 1942, CDR. Charles W. Weitzel USN in command
Reclassified Attack Transport(APA-18), 1 February 1943
During WWII USS President Jackson was assigned to Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
TransRon Eleven, COMO. D.W. Loomis USN (18);
Transferred to Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) control, 22 October 1949, redesignated (T-AP-18)
Decommissioned, 6 July 1955, at San Francisco Naval Shipyard
Struck from the Naval Register, 1 October 1958
USS President Jackson earned nine battle stars for World War II service and four battle stars for Korean War service
Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 1 December 1958, for disposal
Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 23 April 1973, to N.W. Kennedy Ltd. (Canada), % Mitsui & Co. (PD-X-957 dated 15 March 1973) for $467,390.00. Delivered 15 May 1973
Specifications: Displacement 9,500 t.(lt), 16,000 t.(fl) Length 491' Beam 69' 6" Draft 26' 6" Speed 18.4 kts (trial) Complement
35 Officers
477 Enlisted Troop Accommodations
70 Officers
1,312 Enlisted Flag Accommodations
Officers 8 Largest Boom Capacity 30t. Cargo Capacity 6,800 DWT
non-refrigerated 185,000 Cu. ft. Armament
four single 3"/50 dual purpose guns
two twin 40mm AA gun mounts
three single 40mm AA gun mounts
twelve single 20mm AA gun mounts Boats
thirty-two LCVPs
three LCM(3) Fuel Capacities
NSFO 10,950 Bbls.
Diesel 800 Bbls Propulsion
one Newport News Shipbuilding geared turbine drive
two Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers, 450psi 750°
double Westinghouse Main Reduction Gear
Ships Service Generators, four 300Kw 120V/240V D.C.
single propeller, designed shaft horsepower 8,500
Occupation Duty Dates:
15 to 20 July 1946
24 July to 11 August 1946
27 July to 12 August 1947
15 to 21 September 1947
20 to 26 December 1947
8 to 11 August 1949
30 August to 4 September 1949
13 to 16 November 1949
China Service Dates:
21 to 22 July 1946
27 July to 12 August 1947
8 to 15 September 1947
Description
This operation was fought during the Pacific war on this group of islands situated in the central Solomons. US forces invaded them as part of an American offensive (CARTWHEEL) to isolate and neutralize Rabaul, the main Japanese base in their South-East Area.
On 20 June 1943 a Raider battalion (, 5(f)) landed at Segi Point on the main island, New Georgia, and during the next two weeks there were other landings by US Marines and 43rd US Division on Rendova and Vangunu islands, and on western New Georgia, to seize a Japanese airstrip at Munda point. Despite the US Navy's intervention, which resulted in the battles of Kula Gulf and Kolombangara, 4,000 reinforcements were successfully dispatched to the commander of the 10,500-strong Japanese garrison, Maj-General Sasaki Noboru. Most reinforced Munda, which became the focus of Japanese resistance, and their night infiltration tactics unnerved the inexperienced US troops. Non-battle casualties, caused by exhaustion and ‘war neuroses’, increased alarmingly, and when the commander of 14th Corps, Maj-General Oscar Griswold, arrived on 11 July he reported the division was ‘about to fold up’. The 37th US Division was brought in, Griswold replaced the worst affected units, and he then launched a corps attack on 25 July. Fierce fighting followed but by 1August the Japanese, outnumbered and outgunned, had withdrawn inland. This time US Navy destroyers prevented more reinforcements reaching them when, on the night of 6/7August, they sank three Japanese transports (battle of Vella Gulf).
Munda now became the base of Marine Corps squadrons which supported landings on Vella Lavella on 15 August. These bypassed and isolated Sasaki's garrison now gathering on Kolombangara after further US reinforcements, elements of 25th US Division, had failed to destroy them on New Georgia. On 15 September Sasaki was ordered to withdraw. In a brilliantly organized evacuation 9,400 men out of the 12,500 on Kolombangara were rescued by landing craft, and the following month those on Vella Lavella were also evacuated.
The campaign proved costly for the Americans who had 1,094 killed and 3,873 wounded with thousands more becoming non-battle casualties. Excluding the fighting on Vella Lavella, 2,483 Japanese bodies were counted. Planned as a one-division operation, the Japanese garrison's ‘skill, tenacity, and valor’—to quote the campaign's official US historian—eventually made it one where elements of four had to be used. ‘The obstinate General Sasaki,’ the same historian concludes, ‘deserved his country's gratitude for his gallant and able conduct.’