USS St. Mihiel (AP-32)

USAT St. Mihiel USAT St. Mihiel prior to World War II
Career
Name:	USS St. Mihiel (AP-32)
Namesake:	A World War I battlefield in France
Builder:	American International Shipbuilding
Cost:	~$2,000,000
Laid down:	20 November 1918 as Sinnemahoning
Launched:	19 November 1919
Completed:	September 1920
Acquired:	By the Army: 1922
Commissioned:	Army: 1922 - 1941 Navy: 22 Jul 1941 - 16 Nov 1943 Army: Nov 1943 - 1946
Honors and awards:	One battle star for World War II] service
Fate:	Scrapped, 1957
General characteristics
Class and type:	Argonne class transport, Hog Island Type B hull
Displacement:	8,550 tons (lt)
Length:	448 ft (137 m)
Beam:	58 ft 2 in (17.73 m)
Draft:	28 ft (8.5 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbine
Speed:	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h)
Range:	24 days
Complement:	253
Armament:	(WWII) 1 x 5"/38 caliber dual purpose gun, 4 x 3"/50 caliber dp guns

St. Mihiel, launched in October 1920 for the United States Shipping Board by the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at Hog Island, Pennsylvania, was operated by the United States Army Transportation Corps from 1922 until mid-1940 as USAT St. Mihiel. Then transferred to the Navy, she was commissioned as USS St. Mihiel (AP-32) on 22 July 1941, Comdr. Edward B. Rodgers in command. In November 1943, she was transferred back to the Army and made a hospital ship, USAHS St. Mihiel. This ship is an example of a EFC Model 1024 ship design.

World War II

Having operated as a transport between the west coast and Alaska, with occasional runs to Hawaii prior to her transfer to the Navy, St. Mihiel performed the same duty after commissioning. In July 1942, she transported the wreckage of the Akutan Zero to San Diego, which become first flyable Zero fighter acquired by the United States during the war.

Into 1943, she called regularly at ports on mainland Alaska and in the eastern Aleutians. In May 1943, she participated in the occupation of Attu; then resumed more routine transport duties. On 9 September 1943, two days later, she headed south to San Francisco. On the 23rd, she steamed west to Hawaii and from there began her last voyage for the Navy. Transiting the Panama Canal in mid-October, she steamed on to Boston, where she was decommissioned on 16 November 1943 and returned to the Army which used her as a hospital ship for the remainder of World War II.

In 1946 she was decommissioned, passed to US Maritime Commission and laid up until scrapped at Baltimore by Patapsco Scrap Company in 1957.

Awards

St. Mihiel received one battle star for her service during the occupation of Attu in 1941.

References

• St. Mihiel AP-32 - DANFS Online.
• AP-32 St. Mihiel, Navsource Online.
• Goldberg, Mark H.: The Hog Islanders, ISBN 1-879-180-01-5.
• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.