UNDERWAY! 2025 Wall Calendar / W.W. II SPECIAL EDITION NOW AVAILABLE - CLICK HERE |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For RATING SHIRTS - Click on your Rating Abbreviation below: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
U.S.S. ROCKBRIDGE
(APA-228)YOU CALL - WE HAUL
Click to view crew list
USS ROCKBRIDGE (APA-228 ) - a Haskell-class attack transport
In Commission 1944 to 1949APA-228 Deployments - Major Events
Add a APA-228 Shellback Initiation | Add a APA-228 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SEP | 1944 | - | Keel Date: 2 SEP 1944 at Kaiser Shipbuilding Company Vancouver Washington | ||
OCT | 1944 | - | Launch Date: 28 OCT 1944 | ||
NOV | 1944 | - | Commissioned: 18 NOV 1944 | ||
FEB | 1945 | - | MAY | 1945 | Middle Pacific |
FEB | 1952 | - | AUG | 1952 | Mediterranean |
MAR | 1956 | - | OCT | 1956 | Mediterranean |
MAR | 1956 | - | OCT | 1956 | Mediterranean-West Africa |
MAR | 1956 | - | OCT | 1956 | Mediterranean |
SEP | 1956 | - | FEB | 1957 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
MAY | 1958 | - | DEC | 1958 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
JUL | 1958 | - | DEC | 1958 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
AUG | 1958 | - | Shellback Initiation - 27 AUG 1958 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
NOV | 1959 | - | Shellback Initiation - 20 NOV 1959 - Pacific Ocean | ||
NOV | 1959 | - | MAY | 1960 | Mediterranean-West Africa |
APR | 1960 | - | JUN | 1960 | Guantanamo Bay |
APR | 1960 | - | NOV | 1961 | Mediterranean-West Africa |
JUN | 1960 | - | AUG | 1961 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
NOV | 1960 | - | MAY | 1961 | Mediterranean |
NOV | 1960 | - | MAY | 1961 | Mediterranean-Lebanon |
JAN | 1962 | - | JUN | 1962 | Mediterranean |
OCT | 1962 | - | NOV | 1962 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
OCT | 1962 | - | NOV | 1962 | Guantanamo Bay |
JAN | 1964 | - | MAR | 1964 | Panama Canal |
APR | 1964 | - | OCT | 1964 | Mediterranean |
MAY | 1965 | - | NOV | 1965 | Mediterranean |
SEP | 1965 | - | Shellback Initiation - 1 SEP 1965 - Pacific Ocean | ||
OCT | 1966 | - | JAN | 1967 | Dry Dock |
JAN | 1967 | - | FEB | 1967 | Sea Trials |
FEB | 1967 | - | MAR | 1967 | Guantanamo Bay |
APR | 1968 | - | SEP | 1968 | Mediterranean |
NOV | 1968 | - | Decommissioned: 29 NOV 1968 |
APA-228 General Specifications
Class: Haskell-class attack transport
Complement: 536 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 12450 tons
Length: 455 feet
Beam: 62 feet
Draft: 24 feet
Final Disposition: Sold for scrapping 27 May 1969
USS ROCKBRIDGE (APA-228)
Attack transport Rockbridge (APA-228) was laid down for the Maritime
Commission (MCV hull 674) 2 September 1944 by tbe Kaiser Shipbuilding Co.
Vancouver
Wash.
launched 28 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. C. J. Hearn
acquired by the Navy on loan-charter 18 November 1944; and commissioned
the same day
Capt. William W. Cone in command.
Tbe new attack transport arrived at Pearl Harbor on 4 February 1945
sailed
for Iwo Jima on the 20th
and operated off that island for 2 weeks. She
returned to Seattle
Wash.
28 May and on 6 June embarked Army troops for
Okinawa. Rockbridge arrived at the Hagushi anchorage 24 July to debark
the men and discharge cargo. During the 6 days she spent off Okinawa
the
ship was harassed by night air attacks
but suffered no damage because of
the concealing smoke made by all the vessels in the harbor.
Rockbridge was off Ulithi in mid-August when the Japanese surrender
was announced. During September and October she made two voyages to Japan
with occupation troops and then joined the "Magic Carpet" fleet
to bring home servicemen eligible for discharge.
Assigned to Joint Task Force 1 in the spring of 1946
she served as a floating
hotel for the crews of target vessels Arkansas (BB-33)
New York
(BB-34)
and Salt Lake City (CA-25) during that summer's atomic bomb
tests on Bikini.
Rockbridge was decommissioned 8 March 1947 and entered the Pacific
Reserve Fleet. After the outbreak of hostilities in Korea
she was ordered
activated. She recommissioned 23 December 1950
and in May 1951 joined Amphibious
Force
U.S. Atlantic Fleet.
>From 1951 to 1968
the transport participated in numerous amphibious training
programs at Onslow Beach
N.C.
Little Creek
Va.; Guantanamo Bay
Cuba;
and Vieques Island
P.R.
During her long service
she made eight Mediterranean cruises. Highlights
included her participation in "Weldfast" a large-scale NATO operation
in 1953
standby alert for possible evacuation of U.S. citizens from Egypt
during the 1956 Suez Canal nationalization crisis
and aid to earthquake
victims of Greeee in 1953; and to flood victims in France in 1959.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall of 1962
Rockbridge carried
reinforcements to Guantanamo Bay and returned to the United States for additional
troops
which she held in combat readiness until December. During July 1966
the transport took part in the production of an amphibious training movie
"Boat Group Tactics
" filmed in Hampton Roads.
Rockbridge was decommissioned 29 November 1968
struck from the Navy
list on 1 December 1968 and sold to Boston Metal Co.
Baltimore
Md.
on
27 May 1969 for scrapping.
For her World War II service
Rockbridge received one battle star.
[Note: The above USS ROCKBRIDGE (APA-228) history may or may not contain text provided by crew members of the USS ROCKBRIDGE (APA-228) or by other non-crew members and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]