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N7KTP > NAVNET 01.06.05 22:43l 109 Lines 6028 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 39731_N7FSP
Read: GUEST
Subj: USS LEO (AKA-60)
Path: DB0FHN<DB0THA<DB0ERF<DB0SAW<DB0TGM<DB0BLO<DK0BLN<TA2BBS<IK0MIL<I0XNH<
I4UKI<IK5CKL<VE2PKT<HG8LXL<7M3TJZ<N7FSP
Sent: 050531/1455z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
Leo kept Pacific Fleet outfitted during WWII sea battles
By FRED MILES WATSON - Managing Editor - Northwest Navigator
Named after the northern constellation east of Cancer, the
Andromeda-class attack cargo ship USS Leo (AKA-60) was built by Federal
Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Kearny, N.J., under a Maritime Commission
contract.
She was acquired by the Navy Aug. 29, 1944 and was commissioned
Aug. 30, 1944 with Cmdr. T.E. Healey as her first commanding officer.
Leo was 459-feet in length and carried a draft of about 26 feet.
Displacing 6,556-tons, Leo could attain a top speed of 16.5 knots and
had a complement of 404 Sailors aboard. Defensive weaponry consisted of
one, 5-inch gunmount and eight, 40mm and 18, 20mm antiaircraft
gunmounts.
After shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, the new attack cargo ship
departed Norfolk for Hawaii Oct. 13, 1944, arriving at Pearl Harbor
Nov. 4. After a month of training off Maui, Hawaii, Leo steamed for
Port Hueneme, Calif., loaded cargo, and returned to Pearl Harbor
Christmas Eve.
After a month of intensive amphibious training, Leo steamed Jan.
27, 1945 for the assault on Iwo Jima with Amphibious Task Force 51
under Vice Adm. Turner's command. After brief calls at Eniwetok and
Saipan, the ship arrived off the beaches of Iwo Jima early on D-Day,
Feb. 19. Debarking her troops the first hour, Leo then offloaded her
high-priority cargo of trucks, fresh water, and ammunition into boats
alongside. For the next nine days, with interruptions only for night
retirement, the ship evacuated casualties and continued sending crucial
war material ashore. With her mission accomplished, she sailed for
Kwajelein Atoll on Feb. 28.
Steaming to the Marianas from Kwajelein, the ship prepared for the
Okinawa landing. She departed Saipan March 27 with Rear Adm. Wright's
Demonstration Force for simulated landings on the southeastern beaches
of Okinawa. Arriving at dawn on April 1, the demonstration group
received more attention from Japanese aircraft than did the actual
landing group.
At bout 0550 on the same day, a Japanese suicide plane crashed
Hinsdale (APA-120), killing 24 and wounding 21. Completing her mission,
Leo sent all her LCVPs to Hinsdale to pick up survivors, after which
she retired for night steaming. The next 3 days Leo moved in and out
from the southeast beaches as a decoy, drawing fire from the shore. She
was detached from Admiral Wright's group April 4 and steamed for
transport area "Baker" and an actual landing off the northern beaches
of Okinawa. Arriving the next day, she transferred Hinsdale survivors
to a hospital ship and began offloading cargo.
Gunfire from the ship's starboard 40mm. mount splashed a low-
flying Japanese aircraft as it swooped down on the formation the
afternoon of April 6. Despite constant air raid, Leo offloaded all
cargo by April 14 and steamed that afternoon for Ulithi, towing
Hinsdale. They arrived on April 23. She departed for Saipan April 25
and through the rest of the war transported cargo between the Marianas
and the Solomons. Leo completed two voyages from Saipan via Guam to
Guadalcanal and Tulagi.
Departing Guam on Aug. 26, she steamed for Manila arriving Sept.
1, and loaded troops and equipment of the 43d Division, 8th Army,
designated for occupation duty in Japan. Arriving Sept. 15, off
Yokosuka, Leo debarked the Army troops, loaded troops and equipment of
the 6th Marine Division. She then rode out a typhoon until the 18th,
and departed the next day for Tsingtao, China. She arrived Tsingtao,
which was headquarters for U.S. naval forces in the western Pacific
after World War II, and had put the Marines ashore by Oct. 18.
Leo steamed for Manila arriving Oct. 23. After a fast cargo run to
Haiphong, French Indochina, Leo departed the Orient Nov. 10 and arrived
in Puget Sound 15 days later. Until the outbreak of the Korean War Leo
operated with the Naval Transportation Service in the Pacific.
After the North Koreans invaded South Korea Leo steamed from San
Francisco for Sasebo, Japan, with ammunition for the 7th Fleet. She
arrived in Japan Sept. 19, 1950 and supplied ammunition to ships
deploying to Korean waters. The AKA steamed for Korea Nov. 9, with
ammunition, stores, and mail for the ships engaged in the siege of
Wonsan. Departing Nov. 14, she returned to Sasebo for 10 days and then
left for San Francisco on Dec. 19.
She was again underway for Sasebo on Jan. 9, 1951, and she spent
that year operating between Japan and Korea. She arrived at Sasebo Jan.
27, rearmed ships there, then steamed for Korea and replenished ships
at Pusan, Pohang, and Wonsan.
Because of the buildup of heavy combatants off Korea and the
logistical demands attendant to keeping them on the line, Leo operated
between Sasebo and various rendezvous points in the Sea of Japan for
the next 9 months. Logistical problems diminished as Leo and her sister
ships perfected night underway replenishment techniques. By Jan. 25,
1952, when Leo departed Sasebo for San Francisco, the logistics team
was able to replenish a fast carrier task force in only 9 hours.
Upon arrival at San Francisco on Feb. 9, Leo underwent an overhaul
and then steamed to Alaska on a cargo run during July and August.
Between Oct. 7 and Dec. 5, she carried cargo from Oakland to Eniwetok.
As a unit of MSTS the ship made three more voyages to the Orient
plus another run to Alaska during the next 24 months. Leo steamed from
Oakland to Long Beach on Oct. 15, 1954 where she was decommissioned on
Feb. 11, 1955 and was transferred to the Pacific Reserve Fleet San
Diego. Later Leo was transferred to the Maritime Commission, her name
was struck from the Navy's list on July 1, 1960 and she was laid up at
the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisan Bay, Calif.
USS Leo (AKA-60) was awarded two battle stars for World War II
service and five battle stars for its Korean service.
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