USS Freestone

USS Freestone (APA-167) was a Haskell-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1973.

History
United States
Name	USS Freestone
Namesake	Freestone County, Texas
Ordered	as type VC2-S-AP5 MCV hull 133
Builder	Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down	4 September 1944
Launched	9 October 1944
Commissioned	9 November 1944
Decommissioned	17 April 1946
Stricken	1 May 1946
Fate	Scrapped, 1973
General characteristics
Displacement	12,450 tons (full load)
Length	455 ft 0 in (138.68 m)
Beam	62 ft 0 in (18.90 m)
Draught	24 ft 0 in (7.32 m)
Speed	19 knots
Complement	536
Armament	one 5 in (130 mm) gun mount, twelve 40 mm gun mounts, ten 20 mm gun mounts

History

Freestone was launched 9 October 1944 by Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, Oregon; sponsored by Mrs. Arthur R. Ponto; and commissioned 9 November 1944.

World War II

Freestone arrived at Pearl Harbor 14 January 1945 with passengers and cargo from the U.S. West Coast, and 6 days later sailed to land troops from Pearl Harbor on Saipan. Moving on to Ulithi, Freestone loaded U.S. Marines and their equipment and sailed to Leyte for intensive training in preparation for the Okinawa landings. She sortied from Leyte Gulf 27 March, remained in the outer transport area during the assault on 1 April, then moved close inshore to land her men in one of the later waves of landing craft. Next day she splashed a lone enemy aircraft, and on 7 April she was underway with casualties for Guam.

Continuing to San Francisco, California, Freestone arrived 11 May 1945 to embark soldiers and sailors for transportation to Manila, arriving 12 June. She voyaged to New Guinea to bring more soldiers to Manila, then sailed for the U.S. west coast with homeward bound servicemen. On two cruises to the western Pacific Ocean between 4 August and 23 December, she redeployed men and equipment in the Philippines and to Japan from various bases, returning from both cruises with servicemen eligible for discharge.

Decommissioning and fate

On 14 February 1946, she sailed from San Francisco for Norfolk, Virginia, where she was decommissioned 17 April 1946, and transferred to the War Shipping Administration 2 days later. Freestone was sold for scrapping on 9 April 1973 to Union Mineral and Alloys Corporation, New York (USA), for $111,560.00.

Awards

Freestone received one battle star for World War II service.

References

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here. The war diary of USS Freestone (APA-167) is available on Commons (see link below).

External links

• Photo gallery of Freestone at NavSource Naval History