USS Burleson (APA-67)
Ships at Pearl Harbor awaiting deployment in Operation Crossroads. USS Burleson (APA-67) is fourth from the front
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| History | |
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| Laid down: | 22 April 1944 |
| Launched: | 11 July 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 8 November 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 9 November 1946 |
| Struck: | 1 September 1968 |
| Fate: | sold in 1968 for scrapping |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Gilliam-class attack transport |
| Displacement: | 7,000 tons |
| Length: | 426 feet |
| Beam: | 58 feet |
| Draught: | 16 feet |
| Speed: | 16.9 knots (31.3 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 849 troops |
| Complement: | 220 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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USS Burleson (APA-67), a Gilliam-class attack transport, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Burleson County, Texas. Her keel was laid down on 22 April 1944 at Wilmington, California, by the Consolidated Steel Corporation under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1860). She was launched on 11 July 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Darryl F. Zanuck, delivered to the Navy on 7 November 1944, and commissioned on 8 November 1944 with Lieutenant Commander B. Hartley, USNR, in command. The ship was named after a county in east central Texas about 60 miles due east of Austin.
Following shakedown training out of San Diego, California, and post-shakedown repairs at Terminal Island, the attack transport got underway for the southwestern Pacific on 17 January 1945. She stopped at Tillotson Cove in the Russell Islands from 3 February to 11 February. On the latter day, she moved over to Guadalcanal. Burleson operated at various locations in the Guadalcanal–Tulagi area conducting amphibious training until mid-March. On 15 March, the ship set a course for Ulithi Atoll. She spent the period 21 March to 27 March at anchor in Ulithi lagoon and, on the latter day, got underway in convoy bound for the Ryukyu Islands.
Burleson entered the transport area off Okinawa on the morning of 1 April 1945, the day of the initial assault, but she did not begin unloading until the following day. Those operations continued until 7 April when she put to sea bound for Guam. The attack transport spent the night of 11 April and 12 April at Apra Harbor, Guam, and then resumed her voyage. She arrived in Pearl Harbor on 23 April. Burleson remained in the Hawaiian Islands for two months. She conducted several amphibious training exercises at Maui and underwent repairs at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. On 25 June, the ship got underway from Pearl Harbor on her way back to the western Pacific.
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