USS Crescent City, a 8,409 ton transport, was launched at Sparrows Point, Maryland, in February 1940 as the merchant ship Del Orleans. She was acquired by the Navy in June 1941, converted at Mobile, Alabama, and placed in commission in the following October. The ship went to the Pacific in December 1941 to carry men and equipment between the west coast and Hawaii. After duty supporting the buildup of south Pacific defenses and an overhaul in California, Crescent City took part in the invasion of Guadalcanal in early August 1942. Through the rest of the year, and into 1943 she helped achieve ultimate Allied success in the prolonged campaign to defend Guadalcanal against strong Japanese efforts to retake it.
Reclassified as an attack transport in February 1943, with the new hull number APA-21, Crescent City performed logistics functions during most of the drive up the Solomon Islands chain and into the Bismarcks, but also participated in amphibious landings at Cape Torokina, Bougainville, at the beginning of November 1943, and at Emirau in March 1944. In July she landed troops on Guam, then repeated that work at Peleliu during September and at Leyte in October. During the rest of the year, the transport brought reinforcements from New Guinea to Leyte and steamed back to the United States to begin overhaul.
Refitted for evacuating battle casualties, Crescent City next took part in the Okinawa campaign during April-June 1945. From September into November, after the Pacific War's end, she carried U.S. and Chinese troops in support of occupation efforts along the China coast. Her final task in 1945 was to bring veterans home from the former war zone. Early in 1946, Crescent City was transferred to the Atlantic, where she operated on training duty. She went back to the Pacific coast in October 1947 and was decommissioned there in April 1948. Transferred to the Maritime Commission in September 1948, the ship had no further Navy service. However, in May 1971 she was loaned to the State of California. Renamed Golden Bear, she operated as a maritime school ship until July 1995, when she was again laid up. In 1999, the former USS Crescent City was moved to Oakland, California, for use as a cultural center, under the name Artship.
This page features our only view of USS Crescent City (AP-40, later APA-21).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: 80-G-231855 Guadalcanal-Tulagi Operation, August 1942 Ships of the invasion force steaming out of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area during the afternoon of 9 August 1942. Photographed from USS Chicago (CA-29), the view looks westward, with Guadalcanal island in the background. USS Crescent City (AP-40) is at the left. A Curtiss SOC "Seagull" floatplane is in the foreground, on Chicago's starboard catapult. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 615 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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In addition to the image presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Crescent City (AP-40 and APA-21). The following list features some of these images:
The images listed below are NOT in
the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."
USS Crescent City (AP-40) in a harbor, circa early 1942. Starboard bow surface view. As 80-G-15963, but surface view taken from directly ahead. As 80-G-15963, but starboard quarter surface view. As 80-G-15963, but surface view taken from directly astern. As 80-G-15963, but port broadside surface view. USS Crescent City (APA-21) underway in the south Pacific, August 1943. Taken by a Combat Photo Unit TWO photographer, from on board USS Nicholas (DD-449). Starboard quarter surface view. USS Crescent City (APA-21) underway on 20 May 1947. Taken from a Naval Air Station New York, NY, aircraft. Starboard bow aerial view. As 80-G-371965, but taken from a greater distance and somewhat more toward the ship's bow. As 80-G-371965, but starboard broadside aerial view. Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 19 February 2002