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

(1969) Vol. 4, pp.128-129.





LLOYD





	William Rees Lloyd, born 23 September 1916 in 

Monticello, Fla., enlisted in the Navy 9 October 1940.  He 

was appointed midshipman 15 December 1940 and commissioned 

ensign 14 March 1941.



	Ensign Lloyd served briefly aboard river gunboat LUZON 

(PR-7), then reported to sister ship OAHU (PR-6) 26 

September 1941.  He was killed in action 6 May 1942 when 

OAHU was sunk at Corregidor at the close of a long and 

gallant defense.





DE-209

Displacement:  1,400 t.

Length:  306’

Beam:  36’10”

Draft:  9’5”

Speed:  24 k.

Complement:  186

Armament:  3 3”; 4 1.1”; 8 20mm; 3 21” torpedo tubes;

	2 depth charge tracks;

	8 depth charge projectors;

	1 hedge hog

Class:  BUCKLEY



	LLOYD (DE-209) was laid down 26 July 1943 by the Navy 

Yard, Charleston, S.C., launched 23 November 1943; sponsored 

by Mrs. Ella Lee Lloyd, mother of Ensign Lloyd; and 

commissioned 11 February 1944, Lt. Comdr. Peter N. 

Gammelgard in command.



	After shakedown off Bermuda, the new destroyer escort 

left Norfolk 12 May 1944 with 13 other DEs and a convoy of 

100 transport ships bound for north Africa.  The British 

relieved the escort ships at Bizerte, Tunisia, on 1 June; 9 

days later LLOYD and her sister ships departed to escort 

another convoy on the westward passage home.  While en 

route, LLOYD was reclassified APD-63 5 July 1944 and ordered 

to report to the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 29 June for 

conversion to a high-speed transport.



	Three months later, after conversion and shakedown, 

LLOYD steamed for the Pacific war zones, touched Bora Bora, 

Society Islands, 20 October, and arrived Hollandia, New 

Guinea, 4 November.  Soon thereafter she became the 

permanent flagship for Transport Division 103.



	Moving to Leyte 23 November, for the next 5 months 

LLOYD transported invasion troops, as the Allies completed 

the Philippine liberation.  In her first action 7 December, 

the new transport ship landed troops at Ormoc on the western 

coast of Leyte.  Ten days later he took part in the daring 

strike at Mindoro, the Japanese held island 500 miles 

northwest of Leyte.  After Mindoro, she steamed via Lingayen 

to Hollandia to embark troops for the assault at Lingayen 

Gulf in northern Luzon.  Departing New Guinea 4 January 

1945, she landed her troops at Lingayen a week later.  That 

afternoon, the transport's guns knocked out an enemy shore 

battery.  The next day LLOYD departed and fought her way 

back to Leyte, splashing four enemy suicide planes during 

the 3-day passage.



	During February the ship took part in the assaults on 

San Felipe and Subic Bay.  On the 28th, she brought troops 

from Mindoro to help liberate the Island of Palawan, a vital 

stepping stone to Borneo.  Another gateway to Borneo, 

Mindanao, ignored as the Navy leapfrogged to Leyte and 

Luzon, now had to be secured.  Jumping off from Mindoro 8 

March, 2 days later, LLOYD put troops ashore to liberate 

Zamboanga on the westernmost tip of Mindanao, then steamed 

to Leyte that evening.



	Following repairs and patrol duty off Leyte during 

April, the ship shifted operations to Morotai 7 May to 

participate in the liberation of Borneo.  From 28 May to 19 

June, she assisted the amphibious forces landing at Brunei 

Bay on the western coast of Borneo.  During early July, 

LLOYD twice ferried reinforcements from Morotai to the 

landings at Balikpapan on the eastern coast.



	In the last weeks of the war, the ship trained Army 

troops in amphibious warfare, then after V-J Day, 

transported occupation units from Okinawa to Korea.  She 

departed Okinawa for Pearl Harbor 26 November 1945, en route 

to the east coast to join the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.  She 

reached the Brooklyn Navy Yard 2 January 1946.  Following a 

month in drydock, she steamed to Green Cove Springs, Fla., 

and decommissioned there 1 July 1946.



	Under the demands of the Korean war, LLOYD 

recommissioned on 3 January 1951, Lt. Comdr. A. A. Sullivan 

in command.  After shakedown in Chesapeake Bay and 

availability at the Boston Naval Shipyard, she reported to 

Little Creek, Va., 26 September for local training duty with 

the Naval Amphibious Base.  From April through October she 

operated with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.



	From 1953 through 1957 the high speed transport 

continued to operate with the marines out of Little Creek.  

During this period she often operated in the Caribbean and 

visited most of the ports along the eastern seaboard.



	LLOYD decommissioned 18 February 1958 at Charleston, 

S.C., and rejoined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.  She was 

struck from the Navy list 1 June 1966 and sold for scrap.



	[LLOYD was sold on 5 March 1968.



K. Jack Bauer and Stephen S. Roberts, “Register of Ships of 

the U. S. Navy, 1775-1990,” p.228.]





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com