![]() USS Samuel Chase (APA-26)
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History | |
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Name |
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Yard number | 266 |
Laid down | 31 August 1940 |
Launched | 23 August 1941 |
Acquired | 5 February 1942 |
Commissioned | 13 June 1942 |
Decommissioned | 26 February 1947 |
Fate | Sold for scrap 9 May 1973 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 9,000 to 16,725 tons full load |
Length | 491 ft (150 m) |
Beam | 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) |
Draft | 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) |
Propulsion | Steam turbine, single shaft, 8,500 shp (6,300 kW) |
Speed | 18.4 knots (34.1 km/h; 21.2 mph) |
Capacity | 33 Higgins Boats |
Complement |
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Armament |
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USS Samuel Chase (APA-26), launched as SS African Meteor, was an Arthur Middleton-class attack transport manned by the United States Coast Guard during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Samuel Chase, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence.
Samuel Chase participated in all five of the major U.S. amphibious invasions in the European Theater of Operations during World War II, starting at Algiers in late 1942 and following with the invasions of Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, and Southern France before going to the Pacific in 1945. There she stood duty at Okinawa, under frequent air attack in the aftermath of its invasion, before participating in delivering occupation troops to Japan and repatriating U.S. troops through the middle of 1946.
She was decommissioned in February 1947, laid up in the James River near Fort Eustis, Virginia, struck from the Navy register in October 1958, and transferred to Maritime Administration in February 1959. She remained in the James River Reserve Fleet until sold for scrap in May 1973.