USS James O'Hara, a 10,967-ton attack transport, was built by the Maritime Commission as a convoy-loaded U.S. Army troop transport to a special design designated C3-S1-A3. In September 1941 she was designated AP-49 for eventual use by the Navy and some combat-loaded features were added, among them triple davits for landing boats. However, her Navy acquisition was cancelled in August 1942, and she was delivered to the Army in November 1942. As an Army ship James O'Hara carried troops to Australia, then proceeded to New York. Loaned to the Navy in mid-April 1943 and converted to an attack transport at Brooklyn, N.Y., she was commissioned late in that month as USS James O'Hara (APA-90).
After shakedown, James O'Hara departed Norfolk in early June 1943 en route to Oran, Algeria, to prepare for the invasion of Sicily. In July she put her troops ashore at Scoglitti, Sicily, despite heavy seas and an enemy air attack. In September she took part in the Salerno invasion. James O'Hara returned to New York at the end of December 1943.
In February 1944 James O'Hara went to the Pacific, participating in the invasions of Saipan in June and Anguar Island in the Palaus in September. During October 1944 she landed troops near Tacloban on the Philippine island of Leyte. James O'Hara then took survivors of the escort carriers Gambier Bay and St. Lo, sunk while defending the Leyte beachhead from a greatly superior Japanese naval force, from the Palaus to Guam. In January and February 1945 she landed troops at Luzon's Lingayen Gulf and took part in the assault on Iwo Jima. Between May and July 1945 the ship transported men and supplies from New Caledonia and New Guinea to the Philippines, returning to San Francisco in August. In October, with the war at an end, James O'Hara took occupation troops to Japan, then made two "Magic Carpet" voyages, bringing homeward bound veterans to San Francisco in November 1945 and February 1946.
Stricken from the Navy List in April 1946, James O'Hara was returned to the Army. After removal of armament and landing craft, the ship joined the Army's Water Transport Service and began operating from Seattle with a civilian crew. In March 1950 the Army transferred James O'Hara, along with most of its other large ships, to the Navy's new Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS). The ship reappeared on the Navy List in April as USNS James O'Hara (T-AP-179). Between 1950 and 1954 she made 18 deployments as a civilian-manned transport, mostly from Seattle to ports in Japan and South Korea, in support of Korean War operations. In addition, throughout the 1950s, she supplied American bases in the Marshalls, Marianas and Alaska. USNS James O'Hara commenced inactivation at Seattle in November 1959, entering the Maritime Administration's reserve fleet at Olympia, Washington, in January 1960. She was transferred to Maritime Administration ownership in November 1960, stricken from the Navy List in July 1961, and sold in January 1968 for scrapping.
This page features, or provides links to, all the views we have related to USS James O'Hara (APA-90), USAT James O'Hara and USNS James O'Hara (T-AP-179).
For other images concerning this ship, see:
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.
In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS James O'Hara (APA-90). The following list features one of these images:
The image listed below is NOT in the
Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".
Port broadside aerial view of USS James O'Hara (APA-90) underway off Norfolk, Va., on 2 March 1943 photographed from a blimp of squadron ZP-14 based at NAS Weeksville, North Carolina. This view is very similar to NH 98783, above, which was originally 80-G-71265. Reproductions of this images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The image listed in this box is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions". |
For other images concerning this ship, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 24 October 2005