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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USNS Sgt. Charles E. Mower (T-AP-186)
ex
USAT Sgt. Charles E. Mower (1946 - 1950)
USS Tryon (APH-1) (1942 - 1946)

USNS Sgt. Charles E. Mower International Radio Call Sign:
November - Papa - Yankee - Oscar
NPYO

USS Tryon International Radio Call Sign:
November - Delta - Charlie - Juliet
NDCJ
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Second Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (6) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)
Third Row - National Defense Service Medal - Philippines Presidential Unit Citation - Philippines Liberation Medal (2)

Tryon Class Evacuation Transport
  • Laid down, 26 March 1941, as SS Alcoa Courier, a Maritime Commission type (C2-S1-A1) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 175), at Moore Dry Dock Co., Oakland, CA.
  • Launched, 21 October 1941
  • Renamed Comfort in June 1942
  • Renamed Tryon, 13 August 1942
  • Acquired by the Navy, 29 September 1942
  • Commissioned USS Tryon (APH-1), 30 September 1942, CDR. Alfred J. Byrholdt USN, in command
  • During World War II USS Tryon was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Consolidation of Solomon Islands
    Consolidation of southern Solomons, 20 June 1943
    Western Caroline Islands operation
    Capture and occupation of southern Palau Islands,
    6 September to 14 October 1944
    Eastern New Guinea
    Supporting and consolidating operations designated by Command Seventh Fleet, 14 April to 11 May 1944
    Leyte operation
    Leyte landings, 30 to 31 October 1944
    Tinian capture and occupation, 24 to 30 July 1944 Luzon operation
    Lingayen Gulf landings, 4 to 18 January 1945

  • Following World War II USS Tryon was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East for the following periods:

    Navy Occupation Service Medal
    8 to 12 September 1945
    4 to 10 December 1945

  • Decommissioned, 20 March 1946, at Seattle, WA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 17 April 1946, returned to the Maritime Commission the same day
  • Acquired by the US Army Transportation Service, 17 July 1946
  • Converted to a troop transport at Todd Shipyard, Seattle, WA.
  • Commissioned, 25 August 1947, as USAT Sgt. Charles E. Mower
  • Transferred to the Navy, 1 March 1950
  • Placed in service as with the Military Sealift Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS Sgt. Charles E. Mower (T-AP-186)
  • Placed out of service, 16 June 1954
  • Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Olympia, WA., 12 July 1959
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 July 1960
  • USS Tryon (APH-1) received six battle stars for World War II service
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 3 March 1969, to American Ship Dismantlers, Inc., for $61,221.00 (PD-X-280 dated 3 February 1969). Withdrawn from the Olympia Reserve Fleet and delivered to American Ship Dismantlers, Inc, 28 April 1969
    Specifications:
    Displacement 7,100 t.(lt) 9,920 t.(fl)
    Length 450'
    Beam 62'
    Draft 23' 6" (lim)
    Speed 18.p kts. (trial)
    Complement
    Officers 53
    Enlisted 402
    Hospital Wards
    Officers 60
    Enlisted1 1,214
    Largest Boom Capacity 30 t.
    Fuel Capacities
    NSFO 7,445 Bbls
    Diesel 240 Bbls
    Armament
    one single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount
    four twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    four single 40mm AA gun mounts
    Propulsion
    one General Electric steam turbine
    two Foster-Wheeler "D" type boilers, 405 psi °785
    single General Electric Main Reduction Gears
    three turbo-drive 250Kw 120V/240V D.C. Ship's service generators
    single propeller, 8,500shp

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    Size Image Description Source
    USS Tryon (APH-1)
    Tryon 47k
    Namesake

    Commodore James R. Tryon—born on 24 September 1837 at Coxsackie, N.Y.—was appointed an Acting Assistant Surgeon (Volunteer) on 17 March 1863. After serving briefly at the United States Naval Hospital in New-York City, Tryon spent the last two years of the Civil War at Pensacola, Fla., caring for sick and wounded officers and men of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. After duty ashore in Boston and Washington, Tryon served in USS Idaho on the Asiatic Station from 4 February 1870 to 9 December 1872. Next came an assignment in New York City from 1873 to 1876. Following two years in USS Swatara on the North Atlantic Station, he was transferred to USS Vandalia. Next came duty in New York City for two and one-half years and service in USS Alaska on the Pacific Station until 1883. He served on board USS Quinnebaug on the European Station and off Africa until 1887 when he was assigned to the Medical Examining Board in New York. Tryon was promoted to medical inspector on 22 September 1891 and served in USS Chicago on the North Atlantic Station until 1893 when he was promoted to Surgeon General of the United States Navy with the rank of Commodore. The culmination of his career came on 7 September 1893 when Commodore Tryon became Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and Surgeon General. He retired on 24 September 1899. In 1911, Tryon was promoted to the rank of rear admiral, retroactive to his date of retirement. Admiral Tryon died on 20 March 1912 at the Naval Hospital in New York City .where he had begun his naval career almost half a century before.
    Bill Gonyo
    Tryon
    19-N-36682
    63k USS Tryon (APH-1) under way in San Francisco Bay, 10 October 1942. Note the characteristic small streamlined, funnel and solarium structure atop her deck house. She is still carrying merchant-type lifeboats rather than landing craft.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM. Photo # 19-N-36682, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photos now in the collections of the US National Archives courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Robert Hurst
    Tryon 70k
    Tryon 110k USS Tryon (APH-1) under way in October 1943. Her funnel has been reconfigured and enlarged following wind tunnel tests to keep smoke off the after decks. She has also received a radar mast but does not yet have Welin davits.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-223424, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Tryon 61k USS Tryon (APH-1) under way, date and location unknown. Although used to evacuate wounded from combat zones, the ship did not have the immunity of hospital ships. She was armed with one 5”/38 gun aft, along with four twin and four single 40mm AA mounts.
    Australian War Memorial, Photo No. 302762
    Mike Green
    Tryon 52k USS Tryon (APH-1) at anchor off San Francisco, date unknown. She still shows the exotic raked lines left over from her liner design. Her small funnel projects from a streamlined structure, also left over from the liner design, used as a solarium. Unlike APAs, she did not carry LCMs.
    US Navy photo.
    Robert Hurst
    Tryon 81k USS Tryon (APH-1) at anchor off San Francisco, 18 May 1945, after an overhaul in which she received a new radar mast, Welin davits, and a small cap on her funnel, which evidently was still not satisfactory. At this time all three ships of this class probably had their tall raked masts shortened above the crosstrees as shown here.
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-95123, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Robert Hurst
    USNS Sgt. Charles E. Mower (T-AP-186)
    Tryon 146k Post Card image of USNS Sgt. Charles E. Mower (T-AP-186) underway, date and location unknown. Tommy Trampp
    Tryon
    09240111
    113k Overhead view of USAT Sgt. Charles E. Mower underway, circa 1948, location unknown.
    Photo from flickr.com - National Museum of the U.S. Navy
    John Spivey
    Tryon 175k USNS Sgt. Charles E. Mower (T-AP-186) was fitted out to transport dependents overseas. LT. Rosemary Reichert Ret. and son Curtis, the wife and son of LT. H.H. Reichert SC USN, traveling to her husbands new billet at Hickam Field in Hawaii. Photos taken 9 June 1953. Tommy Trampp

    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    USS Tryon (APH-1)
    USNS Sgt. Charles E. Mower (T-AP-186)
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. Byrholdt, Alfred Jensen, USN30 September 1942 - 24 September 1944
    02CDR. Morck, Edward Carl, USN (USNA 1922)24 September 1944 - 12 December 1944
    03CDR. Jones, Wilber Glenn, USN12 December 1944 - 1 June 1945
    04LCDR. Van Geldar, John Gerard, USNR1 June 1945 - 17 November 1945
    05LCDR. Buker, Melvin Otto, USNR17 November 1945 - 18 January 1946
    06LTjg. Coffee, Kenneth, USNR18 January 1946 - 19 February 1946
    07LCDR. Buker Returns, USNR19 February 1946 - 20 March 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Alcoa Courier - MARAD Vessel History Database
    Sgt. Charles E. Mower - MARAD Vessel History Database
    Tryon - MARAD Vessel History Database

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 28 June 2024