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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Patches contributed by Tommy Trampp

APL-26

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon
Second Row - Presidential Unit Citation (2)- Navy Unit Commendation (3) - American Campaign Medal
Third Row - World War II Victory Medal - National Defense Service Medal - Vietnam Service Medal (14)
Third Row - Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation - Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Medal (with Palm device) - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
APL-17 Class Non-self-propelled Barracks Ship:
  • Laid down, 24 July 1944, at Pollock-Stockton Ship Building, Stockton, CA.
  • Launched, 29 December 1944
  • Commissioned, 18 January 1946
  • Decommissioned and laid up in reserve in 1946
  • During the Vietnam War APL-26 participated in the following campaigns:
    Vietnam War Campaigns
    Campaigns and Dates Campaigns and Dates
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II
    22 February to 31 May 1967     		Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969
    9 June to 31 October 1969
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase III
    1 June 1967 to 29 January 1968     		Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970
    1 November 1969 to 30 April 1970
    Tet Counteroffensive
    30 January to 4 April 1968     		Sanctuary Counteroffensive
    1 May to 30 June 1970
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV
    2 April to 30 June 1968     		Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VII
    1 July 1970 to 30 June 1971
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V
    1July to 1 November 1968     		Consolidation I
    1 July to 30 November 1971
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VI
    2 November 1968 to 22 February 1969     		Consolidation II
    1 December 1971 to 29 March 1972
    Tet/69 Counteroffensive
    23 February to 8 June 1969     		Vietnam Ceasefire
    30 March 1972 to 28 January 1973

  • Placed out of service, date unknown
  • Transferred to South Vietnam, redesignated HQ 9050, March 1971
  • Struck from the Naval Register, November 1971
  • Captured by North Vietnam in April 1975
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,300 t.(lt), 2,600 t.(fl)
    Length 261'
    Beam 49'
    Draft 8' 6" (lim)
    Complement
    Officers 5
    Enlisted 66
    Accommodation
    Officers 6
    Enlisted 583
    Armament
    As Built
    none
    Vietnam
    four .50 cal. machine guns
    two 80MM mortars
    four 30 cal machine guns on all corners of the 02 deck
    Ship's Service Generators
    three Diesel-drive 100Kw 450V A.C.
    Fuel Capacity
    Diesel 1,000 Bbls
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    APL-26 82k APL-26 being manoeuvered around YRBM-17 on the Mekong, early 1967.
    Photo courtesy Doug Lindsey    		 Tommy Trampp
    APL-26 34k APL-26 with tugs Kalispell (YTB-784) and Winnemucca (YTB-785) moored alongside on the Mekong, May 1967.
    With the help of two tugs, YTB-784 and YTB-785, for whom the APL-26 serves as mother ship, she has moved up and down the rivers of the Mekong Delta and Rung Sat Special Zone with the other ships which make up the Mobile Riverine Force. Today stripped of her coat of Navy haze gray and covered in Army olive drab green, APL-26 is supporting one River Assault Division and Staff, two rifle companies and a headquarters company, and a Navy EOD team.
    From an article by LCDR Charles W. Lynch, USN (Ret.) in The Jackstaff News, 1967    		 Tommy Trampp
    APL-26 82k APL-26 in the Mekong River in South Vietnam circa 1967 surrounded by converted LCM's and monitors whose crews lived aboard the barracks barge. APL-26 was attached to Task Force 117, the Army/Navy Mobile Riverine Force patrolling the rivers of the Mekong Delta and the Rung Sat Special Zone. She also served as home for elements of the Army's 9th Infantry Division.
    US Naval Forces, Vietnam photo release, 18 October 1967 now in the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo courtesy Shipscribe.com    		 Robert Hurst
    Kalispell 14k APL-26 under tow by Kalispell (YTB-784) on the My Tho River, South Vietnam, date unknown. Earl (Buddy) Wilson, BMC USN, USCG Ret
    There is no DANFS history available for APL-26 at NavSource
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Mobile Riverine Association - APL-26
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo and is maintained by David L. Wright
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 12 August 2016