>From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” 

(1969) Vol. 4, p.476

(1981) Vol. 8, p.247





WHEATLAND





	A county in south central Montana.





AKA-85

Displacement:  13,910 t. (trials)

Length:  459’2”

Beam:  63’0”

Draft:  26’4” (limiting)

Speed:  16.5 k. (trials)

Complement:  425

Armament:  1 5”; 8 40mm; 16 20mm

Class:  TOLLAND

Maritime Standard Type:  C2-S-AJ3





		CLASS STATISTICAL SUMMARY





AKA 64-87, 101-108

Length Overall:

	AKA 64-69, 71-87, 101-108:

		459’2”

	AKA 70:

		459’0”

Extreme Beam:  

	AKA 64-87, 101, 102, 104-108:

		63’0”

	AKA 103:

		63’2”

Trail Displacement:  13,910 t.

Limiting Draft:  26’4”

Trial Speed:  16.5 k.

Accommodations:

	AKA 64:

		Officers:   48

		Enlisted:  326

	AKA 65-80:

		Officers:   62

		Enlisted:  333

	AKA 81-87, 101-108:

		Officers:   38

		Enlisted:  387

Cargo Capacity:  

	380,000 cu.ft.

	  5,275 t.

Armament:  

	AKA 64-75, 77-87, 101-108:

		 1 single 5”/38

		 4 twin 40mm

		16 single 20mm

	AKA 76:

		 1 single 5”/38

		 4 twin 40mm

		12 single 20mm

Engines:  General Electric; geared turbine drive

Boilers:

	AKA 64, 77, 78:

		2 Babcock & Wilcox header-type

	AKA 65-71, 74, 75, 79-87:

		Foster-Wheeler header-type

	AKA 101, 102, 104-108:

		Combustion Engineering header-type

	AKA 103:

		Foster-Wheeler 2-drum boiler

Propulsion:

	Propellers:  1

	Shaft Horsepower:  6,000



	WHEATLAND (AKA-85) was laid down on 17 July 1944 at 

Wilmington, N.C., by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Co., 

under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1397); 

launched on 21 September 1944 sponsored by Miss Shirley B. 

Anderson; transferred to the Navy on 6 October 1944; 

converted to an attack cargo ship in New York by the 

Atlantic Basin Iron Works; and commissioned on 3 April 1945, 

Comdr. Attilio A. Vischio, USNR, in command.



	Commissioned two days after the beginning of the last 

amphibious operation of World War II, the Okinawa invasion, 

WHEATLAND never saw service in the role for which she had 

been converted.  Instead of operating as an attack cargo 

ship during amphibious assaults, she spent her brief Navy 

career laboring as a conventional cargo ship and as a troop 

transport in support of the occupation of former Japanese 

possessions.



	Following shakedown training and amphibious exercises 

at Hampton Roads, Va., and post-shakedown availability at 

the Norfolk Navy Yard, the ship departed the Chesapeake Bay 

on 7 May with 6,038 tons of dry cargo.  Steaming in company 

with BEGOR (APD-127), CAVALLARO (APD-128), LEE FOX (APD-45), 

and JOHN Q. ROBERTS (APD-94), she set a course for Hawaii.  

Parting company with the high-speed transports at Panama, 

she transited the canal on 14 May and continued her voyage 

to Oahu independently.  She arrived in Pearl Harbor on the 

28th and immediately unloaded her cargo.  The ship remained 

in the Hawaiian Islands for three weeks, during which she 

conducted a series of amphibious exercises at the island of 

Maui.



	On 21 June, she departed Pearl Harbor with elements of 

the Army's 9th Corps embarked.  After stops at Eniwetok and 

Ulithi, she arrived at Leyte in the Philippine Islands on 

7 July.  There, she disembarked the troops and unloaded much 

of her cargo.  On 9 July, she moved to Samar Island, where 

she discharged the remainder of her cargo.  From there, she 

moved to the Palau Islands, departing Samar on the 16th and 

arriving at Angaur on the 18th.  She spent the next two days 

loading a Marine Corps antiaircraft unit and, on the 21st, 

got underway to return to Oahu.



	After a brief stop at Eniwetok for fuel on 26 July, she 

arrived in Pearl Harbor on 1 August.  She discharged her 

cargo and disembarked her passengers and then began an 

availability which lasted until 22 August.  On the 23d, she 

moved to Hilo where she began embarking elements of the 5th 

Marine Division.  She returned to Pearl Harbor on the 27th 

and remained there until 1 September when she got underway 

for Sasebo, Japan, in company with a 34-ship convoy.  She 

made a three day stop at Saipan along the way and arrived at 

Sasebo early on the 22d.  She discharged her cargo over the 

next three days and departed Sasebo on the 25th.



	WHEATLAND entered Subic Bay in the Philippines on 

30 September and, the next afternoon, moved to Lingayen Gulf 

where she loaded men and equipment of the Army's 32d 

Division for transportation to Japan.  On 9 October, she 

stood out of Lingayen Gulf on her way to Kyushu, Japan.  The 

attack cargo ship arrived in Sasebo early in the morning of 

16 October and began disembarking the troops later in the 

day.  Returning to the United States via Okinawa and Guam, 

WHEATLAND arrived in Seattle, Wash., on 13 November.  Later 

that month, she visited San Francisco for two weeks before 

embarking upon a voyage to the Marianas on 13 December.  She 

arrived at Guam on the 28th and later visited Saipan whence 

she departed the Marianas on 22 January 1946.  Steaming via 

the Panama Canal, the ship arrived in Norfolk, Va., on 

21 February.  She made one more voyage in her naval 

career--a round trip to New York and back to Norfolk between 

28 February and 5 March--before beginning inactivation 

preparations at Norfolk.  WHEATLAND was placed out of 

commission at Norfolk on 25 April 1946, and custody was 

transferred to the War Shipping Administration.  Her name 

was struck from the Navy list on 8 May 1946.





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com