Figure 6: USS Thomas Jefferson (APA-30) off the Norfolk Navy Yard,
Virginia, 6 December 1944. Her 5-inch gun aft has been removed and two twin
40-mm anti-aircraft mounts have been added, one forward above and between the
two raised 3-inch gun tubs and one aft. She is painted in camouflage Measure
32/6T. US Navy Bureau of Ships photograph
now in the collections of the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Thomas Jefferson (APA-30) at anchor in San Francisco
Bay, California, circa June 1954. US Navy photograph from the archives of the San Francisco Examiner. This picture was
printed in the 15 June 1954 issue of the San
Francisco Examiner. Click on photograph
for larger image.
Figure
8: USS Thomas Jefferson (APA-30) underway, date and location
unknown. Photograph courtesy of
David Green. Click on photograph for
larger image.
Named after
the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the
United States, the 16,175-ton USS Thomas
Jefferson (AP-60) was a President
Jackson Class transport that was built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and
Dry Dock Corporation at Newport News, Virginia, and was commissioned on 31
August 1942. The ship was approximately 492 feet long and 69 feet wide, had a
top speed of 18.4 knots, and had a crew of 593 officers and men. Thomas Jefferson was armed with four
3-inch guns, two twin 40-mm guns, and 18 20-mm guns. As a transport, she could
also carry roughly 1,265 troops and 3,500 tons of cargo.
After
completing a brief shakedown cruise, a fully loaded Thomas Jefferson left Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 24 October 1942
and joined Task Group 34.9 for the American invasion of North Africa. On 7
November, the ships of the task group were steaming off the port city of Fedala,
Morocco, and Thomas Jefferson began
unloading troops by 0200 hours the next morning. Unfortunately, the transport
lost 16 of her 33 landing boats, which were used in the initial assault,
because they landed on a rocky beach roughly three miles from their designated area.
On 11 November, Thomas Jefferson
rescued survivors from the transport USS Joseph
Hewes (AP-50), which was torpedoed by the German submarine U-173. The next day, she picked up
survivors from the transports USS Hugh L.
Scott (AP-43), USS Edward Rutledge
(AP-52), and USS Tasker H. Bliss
(AP-42), all of which were torpedoed by U-130.
On 15 November, Thomas Jefferson
returned to the United States and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, eleven days
later.
On 27
December 1942, Thomas Jefferson,
carrying a full load of cargo and troops, was assigned to a convoy bound for
the South Pacific. She left America’s east coast and, after transiting the
Panama Canal, made her way by late January 1942 to New Caledonia and Australia.
During her trip back to the Panama Canal, the ship was re-classified an attack
transport and re-designated APA-30 on 1 February 1943. Thomas Jefferson left the Canal Zone on 3 March with a convoy
headed for New York City.
Thomas Jefferson returned to Norfolk in mid-April 1943
and participated in landing exercises to prepare for the Allied invasion of
Sicily. The transport then joined an amphibious task force that headed for the
Mediterranean, arriving off the coast of Oran, Algeria, on 22 June. After two
more weeks of practice landings, Thomas
Jefferson’s task force left Oran and steamed towards Sicily. The ships
arrived there on 10 July. During the actual invasion, the sea was rough as
troops climbed down cargo nets and into the landing craft, which were bobbing
along the sides of Thomas Jefferson.
But this time the troops were successfully landed with very little enemy
opposition. During this operation, Thomas
Jefferson’s gunners shot down two enemy aircraft.
Thomas Jefferson returned to Algeria and was attached
to Task Group 81.2, which was the Transport Group for the US Southern Attack
force. Her next mission was the invasion of Salerno, Italy. The task group left
Oran on 5 September 1943 and arrived off the coastal town of Salerno three days
later. Thomas Jefferson landed her
troops on schedule despite heavy enemy air opposition. She then left for Oran
to bring reinforcements and supplies back to Italy. In late November 1943, Thomas Jefferson took on board members
of the US 82nd Airborne Division and transported them from the
Mediterranean to Belfast, Northern Ireland. After disembarking her troops, the
ship returned to the United States.
Thomas Jefferson arrived back at Norfolk on 1 January
1944. She steamed north to New York City in early February. On 11 February, Thomas Jefferson left New York as part of
the largest single troop convoy of the war. The ships were headed for Belfast,
where preparations were being made for the massive Allied invasion of Normandy,
France. After discharging her troops and cargo in Belfast, Thomas Jefferson spent the next few weeks participating in
amphibious training exercises before moving on to Weymouth, England. Once
there, the ship officially became part of the Normandy invasion fleet. On 5
June 1944, Thomas Jefferson got
underway for France with the huge Allied invasion force. Early the next
morning, on D-Day, Thomas Jefferson
was at her assigned position off the beaches of Normandy. She landed her troops
at 0630 hours. The ship completed unloading troops and cargo that afternoon
and, at sunset, headed back to Weymouth.
Thomas Jefferson remained in Great Britain for a month
before returning to North Africa early in July 1944. After unloading cargo in
Oran, she was sent to Salerno to practice amphibious operations with the US
Army’s 36th Infantry Division in preparation for the invasion of
southern France. Thomas Jefferson was
attached to Task Force 87 and this group was assigned to land assault troops on
the east coast of Provence, France. After leaving the invasion staging area at
Palermo, Sicily, the task force arrived off the coast of southern France on 14
August 1944. The next morning, Thomas
Jefferson’s boats landed her troops and the ship completed unloading all of
its cargo two days later. The transport then went to Naples, Italy, to begin
shuttling reinforcements and supplies back to southern France. On 24 October, Thomas Jefferson left for the United
States and arrived at Norfolk on 8 November.
Thomas Jefferson left Norfolk on 15 December 1944 for
the Pacific via the Panama Canal. After transiting the Panama Canal, the ship
made stops at San Francisco, California, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving
there on 28 January 1945. After completing some training exercises with the US
Marine Corps in the Solomon Islands, Thomas
Jefferson was assigned to Task Group 53.2 and was headed for Okinawa,
Japan.
Thomas Jefferson arrived off the coast of Okinawa on 1
April 1945. Her amphibious assault boats left the ship at 0800 hours and landed
30 minutes later. After staying off the coast of that bitterly contested island
for five days, the transport returned to Pearl Harbor. On 8 May, the ship left
Hawaii and carried troops and supplies back to Okinawa. After unloading her
cargo, Thomas Jefferson made the long
journey back to the United States, arriving at San Francisco on 15 July.
Thomas Jefferson sailed back to the Far East on 23
July 1945. After making stops at Pearl Harbor and Saipan in the Mariana
Islands, the ship moved on to Sasebo, Japan, arriving there on 22 September
1945, well after the formal Japanese surrender on 2 September. Thomas Jefferson then was assigned to
Operation “Magic Carpet,” which brought American servicemen from overseas back
to the United States. On 4 January 1946, the ship was transferred to the Naval
Transportation Service to carry servicemen’s dependents to Pacific bases. Thomas Jefferson shuttled passengers and
cargo between San Francisco and Pearl Harbor for the next ten months. On 17
October 1946, Thomas Jefferson left
San Diego, California, for the east coast and arrived at New York City on 4
November. The ship entered the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York for a major
overhaul and repairs. The shipyard work was not completed until March 1947.
Thomas Jefferson returned to the west coast on 14
March 1947 and arrived at Oakland, California, on 30 March. From April 1947 to
August 1949, the ship sailed the waters between San Francisco and ports in
Hawaii, Guam, Midway Island, Japan, China, and the Philippines. Assigned to the
Military Sea Transportation Service on 31 October 1949, she continued her
Pacific voyages until 1950.
Thomas Jefferson was at San Diego on 25 June 1950 when
North Korea invaded South Korea. She made a round trip from San Diego to
Yokohama, Japan, and on 28 August headed back to the Far East. The ship made
stops at Yokosuka and Kobe, Japan, before moving on to Inchon, Korea. She
arrived there on 20 September and remained there for eight days. In October, Thomas Jefferson was again steaming in
Korean waters, shuttling troops and cargo from Pusan to Iwon, Korea. The
transport returned to Sasebo on 10 November and then got underway for San
Francisco.
Thomas Jefferson stayed in San Francisco from 1
December 1950 to 24 January 1951, when she headed directly to Pusan with troops
and cargo. She arrived at Pusan on 8 February and remained there for two days.
The ship then returned to the United States, but was back at Pusan on 2 April.
The next day, Thomas Jefferson left
once again for San Francisco, but stayed there only long enough to embark
troops and supplies before returning to Japan. The transport made additional
trips to Korea in May and August. She returned to San Francisco on 10 September
1951 and did not sail west of the Hawaiian Islands until 1954.
Thomas Jefferson steamed to the Far East in August and
December 1954 before returning to California for the last time. After arriving
at San Francisco, the ship was placed in reserve on 7 March 1955. The transport
was formally decommissioned on 18 July 1955. Thomas Jefferson was struck from the Navy list on 1 October 1958
and transferred to the Maritime Administration for disposal. The veteran combat
transport was sold for scrapping on 1 March 1973. USS Thomas Jefferson received six battle stars for her service during
World War II and four battle stars for her service during the Korean War.
