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

(1969) Vol. 4, pp.314, 487.





MELLETTE



	Mellette:  A county in southern South Dakota named for 

Arthur C. Mellette, the first Governor of the State.





APA-156



Displacement:  6,873 t.

Length:  455’

Beam:  62’

Draft:  24’

Speed:  17 k.

Complement:  536

Armament:  1 5”; 12 40mm

Class:  HASKELL

Maritime Commission Standard Type:  VC2-S-AP5





	Class statistics



HASKELL Class (APA 117-180,187-239)



Overall Length:  455’

Extreme Beam:  62’

Trial Displacement:  14,837 t.

Limiting Draft:  24’

Speed:  19 k. (APA 117-196)

        18 k. (APA 197-206,208-239)

        19 k. (APA 207)

Accommodations:

	Ship’s Company:

		Officer:  56

		Enlisted:  480

	Troop Capacity:

		Officer:  86

		Enlisted:  1,475

Cargo Capacity:  150,000 cu.ft.; 2,900 t.

Armament:  (Aug 1945)

	1 5”/38

	1 40mm quad mount

	4 40mm twin mounts

	10 20mm single mounts

Engines:  Geared turbine drive

	Westinghouse 

		(APA 117,122,129,131,133,141-145,151-180,204-231)

	Joshua Hendy

		(APA 118-121,123,125-128,130,132,134-140,146-150,

			232-239)

	Allis-Chalmers

		(APA 187-203)

Boilers:  2 each

	Babcock & Wilcox; header-type

		(APA 117-150,155,156,169-180,201,204,207-211,213,

			218,224,225,231-239

	Combustion Engineering; header-type

		(APA 151-154,157-168,187-200,202,203,205,206,212,

			214-217,219-223,226-230)

Propulsion:

	Propellers:  1

	Designed Shaft Horsepower:  8,500





	MELLETTE (APA-156) was launched by Oregon Shipbuilding 

Corp., Portland, Oreg., 4 August 1944; sponsored by Mrs. 

Clarissa Bickford; acquired from the Maritime Commission on 

a loan-charter basis; and commissioned 27 September 1944, 

Comdr. F. H. Spring, USNR, in command.



	In November 1944, MELLETTE followed a San Pedro 

shakedown cruise with a voyage to the Hawaiian Islands for 

training operations.  She conducted amphibious, troop, 

gunnery, and tactical exercises off Maui into January 1945.  

On 27 January, she joined TG 51.1 and got underway for Iwo 

Jima.  With units of the 4th Marine Division embarked, she 

steamed west, via Eniwetok and Saipan, arriving off the 

Volcano Islands to participate in the initial assault 

19 February.  She remained off the eastern beaches of Iwo 

Jima for the next 6 days, unloading supplies and taking on 

casualties.  On the 25th, she sailed for Saipan where she 

disembarked her wounded passengers and began preparations 

for the upcoming Okinawa campaign.



	Through the next month, MELLETTE trained off Tinians' 

western beaches with TG 51.2 and on 27 March weighed anchor 

and headed for the Ryukyus.  On 1 April, she was off Okinawa 

and at 0631 commenced disembarking units of the 2d Marine 

Division in diversionary landings along the island's 

southeastern coast.  Her mission completed by mid-morning, 

she reembarked her marines and sailed to the main assault 

area to stand by until needed.  There, she remained until 

ordered back to Saipan on the 11th.



	She disembarked the marines at Saipan on the 14th and 

remained there until 4 June when she began carrying men and 

cargo among the Marianas and Solomons.  In July, she carried 

reinforcements, the Army's 24th Infantry Regiment, to Kerama 

Retto.  Back at Saipan when the Japanese capitulation was 

announced 15 August, MELLETTE immediately took on men of the 

6th Marine Division and sailed for Honshu.  Arriving with 

the first wave of occupation troops, she disembarked the 

marines at Yokosuka Naval Base on the 30th, witnessed the 

official surrender in Tokyo Bay 2 September, and then 

returned to Saipan to take on men of the 2d Marine Division 

for transportation to Nagasaki.



	Next assigned to "Magic Carpet" duty, she completed two 

voyages between the western Pacific and Seattle before 

21 January 1946 when she got underway for the East Coast and 

inactivation.  Arriving at Norfolk, Va., 3 February, she 

decommissioned 25 June and entered the Reserve Fleet at 

Yorktown, Va.



	With the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, MELLETTE was 

reactivated, recommissioning 18 October 1950.  For the next 

4 years, she operated primarily along the East Coast, 

participating in fleet operations and exercises from Nova 

Scotia to the Caribbean.  During that period, she served 

with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean 8 September 1953 to 

4 February 1954.  She decommissioned 18 June 1955 and joined 

the Charleston, S.C., group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.  

Berthed at Charleston for the next 5 years, she was 

transferred to the National Defense Reserve Fleet in June 

1960.  Struck from the Naval Register 1 July 1960, she has 

remained berthed with the James River group into 1969.



	MELLETTE received two battle stars for World War II 

service.





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com