USS Riverside (APA-102)

Shipwreck of the Santa Leonor, formerly USS Riverside in the Smyth Channel, Chile
History
United States
Namesake:	Riverside County, California
Ordered:	as C3-S-A2 hull, MC hull 870
Laid down:	11 November 1943
Launched:	13 April 1944
Acquired:	29 June 1944
Commissioned:	USS Riverside (APA-102), 29 June 1944
Decommissioned:	27 April 1946
Struck:	8 May 1946
Fate:	Returned to the Maritime Commission, 28 April 1946
General characteristics
Displacement:	8,100 t.(lt) 16,100 t.(fl)
Length:	492 ft 6 in (150.11 m)
Beam:	69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draught:	26 ft 6 in (8.08 m)
Propulsion:	one General Electric geared drive turbine; two Foster-Wheeler D-type boilers; single propeller; design shaft horsepower 8,500
Speed:	18 kts.
Boats & landing craft carried:	twelve LCVPs four LCM (Mk-6)s three LCP(L) (MK-IV)s
Capacity:	180,500 cu. ft, 4,800 t.
Complement:	51 Officers, 524 Enlisted Flag: 43 Officers, 108 Enlisted
Armament:	two single 5 in (130 mm) dual purpose gun mounts one fore and one aft two single 40 mm AA gun mounts two twin 40 mm AA gun mounts eighteen single 20 mm AA gun mounts

USS Riverside (APA-102) was a Bayfield-class attack transport. During World War II, she was tasked to deliver troops to the battle front, and to recover and care for the wounded. She served in the Pacific Ocean in the war against the Empire of Japan.

The second Navy ship to be named Riverside, she was laid down on 11 November 1942 by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Co., Pascagoula, Mississippi, under Maritime Commission contract (M.C. hull 870); launched 13 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Sidney Swan; acquired by the Navy on loan charter; designated APA-102; and commissioned on 29 June 1944. Then ordered to New York City for conversion to an attack transport at the Atlantic Basin Iron Works yard, she was decommissioned on 8 July, converted, and recommissioned on 18 December 1944, Capt. Louis N. Miller in command.

After shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, Riverside proceeded to Davisville, Rhode Island; loaded men and equipment of the 81st Construction Battalion; and departed for the Pacific Ocean. Transiting the Panama Canal on 30 January 1945, she continued on to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 15 February. She then carried patients and passengers to California. In mid-April, she returned to Hawaii; conducted amphibious landing exercises through May; tested equipment and trained personnel in cargo handling in June; and in mid-June got underway on another Hawaii-California run. At the end of the month, she shifted from San Pedro, California, to Portland, Oregon, for availability, and in early July steamed west with reinforcements for Okinawa.