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Photo # 19-N-28309:  USS George F. Elliott off the Norfolk Navy Yard, 1 January 1942

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS George F. Elliott (AP-13), 1941-1942

USS George F. Elliott, a 7630-ton Heywood class transport, was built in 1918 at Alameda, California, for commerical use. The Navy acquired her as S.S. City of Los Angeles in October 1940 and placed her in commission as USS George F. Elliott in January 1941. During the next year she was modified for amphibious warfare operations and conducted exercises in this role in the Caribbean. In February and March 1942 she transported military personnel from New York to Northern Ireland. The next four months were spent on two voyages carrying personnel to the South Pacific.

In mid-July 1942, George F. Elliott joined the task force charged with seizing the Japanese-held islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi, in the southern Solomon Islands. She landed U.S. Marines and combat gear during the initial assault on 7 August 1942, continuing her unloading work into the following day. At mid-day on 8 August, as Japanese torpedo planes attacked the invasion force, George F. Elliott was hit amidships by a crashing enemy bomber and set ablaze. The transport had to be sunk when it proved impossible to control her fires.

This page features all the views we have of USS George F. Elliott (AP-13).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 97802

USS George F. Elliott (AP-13)


Off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 1 January 1942.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: 19-N-28309

USS George F. Elliott (AP-13)


Off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 1 January 1942.
Note her Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage paint scheme.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 610 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 97803

USS George F. Elliott (AP-13)


Off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 1 January 1942.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: 19-N-27362

USS New Mexico (BB-40)


At the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 31 December 1941, just before she deployed to the Pacific.
The camouflaged ship alongside the near side of the next pier is USS George F. Elliott (AP-13). Another BB-40 class battleship is on the other side of that pier.
Note: number "40" painted atop New Mexico's second 14"/50 triple gun turret; Mark 33 and other gun directors atop her superstructure; FC radar antenna on one of the directors and SC radar antenna mounted at the top of her mainmast.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 151KB; 740 x 620 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-2398

USS George F. Elliott (AP-13)
(left) and
Dutchess of Atholl (British troopship) (right)

Loading at Brooklyn, New York, in February 1942, prior to sailing with a North Atlantic convoy to carry personnel to the United Kingdom.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 69118

Guadalcanal - Tulagi Operation
, August 1942

USS George F. Elliott (AP-13) burning between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, after she was hit by a crashing Japanese aircraft during an air attack on 8 August 1942.

Collection of Admiral Richmond K. Turner, USN.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 61KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 69114

Guadalcanal - Tulagi Operation
, August 1942

Scene just after the Japanese torpedo plane attack on shipping between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 8 August 1942.
USS George F. Elliott (AP-13) is afire in the left center. She had been hit by a crashing enemy aircraft. The other two smoke plumes mark the locations of planes that crashed into the water.

Collection of Admiral Richmond K. Turner, USN.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 455 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-34683

Guadalcanal - Tulagi Operation
, August 1942

USS Hopkins (DMS-13) steams past the transport area between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 8 August 1942.
Ship burning in the left center distance is USS George F. Elliott (AP-13), which had been hit by a Japanese air attack earlier in the day.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 610 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 97766

Guadalcanal-Tulagi Operation, August 1942


Japanese Navy Type 1 land attack planes ("Betty") make a torpedo attack on the Tulagi invasion force, 8 August 1942. The burning ship in the center distance is probably USS George F. Elliott (AP-13), which was hit by a crashing Japanese aircraft during this attack.

The original photograph came from the illustrations package for Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison "History of United States Naval Operations in World War II", volume IV (originally published opposite page 293).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 545 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-386 (Color)

Guadalcanal Landings, August 1942

Ships maneuvering off Tulagi, Solomon Islands, on 9 August 1942. Photographed from USS Ellet (DD-398). USS Chicago (CA-29) is at right, with a destroyer's stern and wake in the foreground.
Column of smoke in the left center distance, beyond the two destroyers, may be from the burning USS George F. Elliott (AP-13).
The original color transparency was a 35mm slide.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 505 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 


In addition to the images presented above, the book "H.M.A.S. Canberra", by Alan Payne (Published by the Naval Historical Society of Australia, Garden Island NSW, in 1973) features an interesting photograph that includes George F. Elliott.
This image, taken from a Royal Australian Navy ship, shows USS Jarvis (DD-393) down at the bow after she was torpedoed by Japanese aircraft off Guadalcanal on 8 August 1942. USS George F. Elliot (AP-13), another victim of that attack, is burning in the background.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 4 October 2001
New image & link added 27 January 2002