USS Kenmore was built as the Liberty ship James H. McClintock at Wilmington, California, completed in June 1943, converted by the War Shipping Administration to carry about 1,000 troops, renamed in October, and acquired and commissioned by the Navy in November. She arrived at Pearl Harbor in December and prepared there for the invasion of the Marshalls. In early February, a few days after the atoll was taken, she arrived off Majuro with troops and equipment for the assault force. After shuttling troops between Pearl Harbor and the Gilberts, Kenmore arrived off Saipan in June with the initial assualt force for the Marianas campaign. She then transported troops among the Marshalls, Marianas, and Hawaii. Similar in configuration and function to some Liberty cargo ships of the Crater (AK-70) class, Kenmore was reclassified AK-221 in August 1944. She continued to shuttle troops and cargo within the Pacific theater through the end of the war.
After the Japanese agreed to surrender in August 1945, Kenmore carried out two voyages under Operation "Magic Carpet," returning veterans from the Pacific theater of war to San Francisco in October and December 1945. She was decommissioned at San Francisco, stricken from the Navy List, and returned to the Maritime Commission in February 1946. Placed in the Maritime Commission's reserve fleet, she was sold for scrapping in 1973.
This page features all of our views of USS Kenmore (AP-162, later AK-221).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital image presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital image presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 12 November 2003