USS Grafton (APA-109) was a which served with the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 during World War II.

Originally laid down in San Francisco by Western Pipe & Steel

Western Pipe and Steel Company

The Western Pipe and Steel Company was an American manufacturing company that is best remembered today for its construction of ships for the Maritime Commission in World War II. It also built ships for the U.S...

 as a Type C3-S-A2 cargo ship

Type C3 ship

Type C3 ships were the third type of cargo ship designed by the United States Maritime Commission in the late 1930s. As it had done with the Type C1 ships and Type C2 ships, MARCOM circulated preliminary plans for comment...

 named Sea Sparrow, the ship was renamed USS Grafton during construction and completed as an attack transport designation APA-109. Grafton was commissioned on January 5, 1945 with Captain C. D. Emory in command.

Operational history

After a 10-day period loading supplies and landing craft at Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, Grafton conducted her shakedown training off San Pedro before undergoing amphibious training between 3rd and 19 February. Subsequently, Grafton departed on 10 April for Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 with 1000 Seabees onboard, arriving on the 16th. At Pearl Harbor the vessel took on more Seabees, and departed on 27 April for Samar

Samar

Samar, formerly and also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland...

 in the Philippine Islands via Eniwetok and Kossel Roads, disembarking her passengers at the destination on May 17, 1945.

Okinawa

By this time the Battle of Okinawa

Battle of Okinawa

The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...

 was drawing to a close, so Grafton departed Samar on May 24 to pick up a B-24 bomber service group in the Palau

Palau

Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...

s and transport them to the newly conquerend Japanese island. On 24 June Grafton arrived at Okinawa and disembarked her passengers before anchoring off the Hagushi

Hagushi

Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American supplies during the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The bay, at the mouth of the Bishi River , was the dividing line between the First and Sixth US Marine divisions, which landed on the Hagushi beaches to the north, and the Seventh...

 beaches. Over the next four nights, the US Naval assault fleet was subjected to heavy air attacks, which Grafton helped beat off with her antiaircraft guns. This was destined to be Graftons one and only combat mission.

On 28 June Grafton took on board 1000 Japanese prisoners of war, and then sailed via Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

 to Pearl Harbor, where she offloaded them on July 13. On 16 July, Grafton sailed for San Francisco with a cargo of wounded, arriving on 22 July.

After hostilities

On 7 August Grafton sailed again for Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 with a cargo of fresh troops, but with the surrender of Japan, the ship embarked elements of the 5th Marine Division at Pearl Harbor, and set out on September 1 for the Japanese homeland where the Division was now headed for occupation duties. Sailing via Saipan, Grafton arrived at Sasebo

Sasebo, Nagasaki

is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2011, the city has an estimated population of 259,800 and the density of 609 persons per km². The total area is 426.47 km². The locality is famed for its scenic beauty. The city includes a part of Saikai National Park...

 on 22 September, where the Marines were disembarked with their equipment. The ship then set out for Lingayen Gulf

Lingayen Gulf

The Lingayen Gulf is an extension of the South China Sea on Luzon in the Philippines stretching . It is framed by the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union and sits between the Zambales Mountains and the Cordillera Central...

 via Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

 to pick up more occupation troops headed for Japan. On October 3 the vessel set out once more for Sassebo with her new passengers, passing Okinawa only two days after the great typhoon which devastated the island, and arriving at her destination on October 15 where the troops were disembarked.

Operation Magic Carpet

On October 22 Grafton was reassigned for Operation Magic Carpet, the major transport operation undertaken for the purpose of returning millions of US servicemen to the United States. Grafton arrived at Saipan on 27 October, where she embarked 1,700 servicemen for passage to San Francisco. Arriving there on November 11, she disembarked her passengers and then began the first of two passages to Guam to pick up more returning veterans. On 11 February 1946, Grafton arrived at Seattle with her final transport of returning servicemen.

Decommission

Following the end of Magic Carpet, Grafton sailed for Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

 via the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 and San Francisco, arriving in Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

 on March 21, 1946. On May 16 she was decommissioned, and the next day returned for disposal to the US Maritime Commission.

Commercial career

In 1947, the Maritime Commission sold Grafton to American Mail Lines, who registered her at Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 and dubbed her Java Mail. She continued with that company until 1969, when she was sold on to Waterman Steamship Corporation

Waterman Steamship Corporation

Waterman Steamship Corporation is an American deep sea ocean carrier, specializing in liner services and time charter contracts. It is owned by International Shipholding Corporation, based in Mobile, Alabama....

who named her Carrier Dove.

The vessel remained in service with Waterman Steamship until 1974, when she was sold to Taiwanese interests and scrapped at Kaohsiung on May 28 of the same year.