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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS Fuller (APA-7)
ex
 USS Fuller (AP-14) (1941 - 1943)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Echo - Tango - Golf
 NETG
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive, 8 November 1943)
Second Row - China Service Medal (extended) - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal
Third Row - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (9) - World War II Victory Medal
Fourth Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal - Philippines Presidential Unit Citation - Philippines Liberation Medal (2)
Personnel Awards

Purple Heart (5-KIA 8 November 1943)
Heywood Class Transport
  • Laid down in 1919 as SS War Wave for the British Admiralty at Bethlehem Steel Corp, Alameda, CA.
  • Completed as SS Archer for the US Shipping Board, San Francisco
  • Acquired by the Baltimore Mail Steamship Co., lengthened to 493 ft. and extensively modified in the later 1920s for passenger and cargo service
  • Placed in service by the Baltimore Mail Steamship Co. as the SS City of Newport News in 1931
  • Acquired by the Panama Pacific Line in 1938
  • Acquired by the US Navy, 12 November 1940
  • Commissioned USS Fuller (AP-14), 9 April 1941, CAPT. P. S. Theiss USN in command
  • Redesignated Attack Transport (APA-7), 1 February 1943
  • During WWII USS Fuller was assigned first to the Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater and then to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
    TransRon Twelve, COMO. H.B. Knowles USN (17);
     TransDiv Thirty-Six, CAPT. G.W. Johnson USN (18) and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings, 7 to 9 August 1942 Western Caroline Islands operation
    Capture and occupation of southern Palau Islands, 6 September to 14 October 1944
    Capture and defense of Guadalcanal 8,9 and 14 September 1942 Leyte operation
    Leyte landings, San Pedro Bay, 13 to 25 October and 14 November 1944
    Treasury-Bougainville operation
    Occupation and defense of Cape Torokina, 1, 8 and 9 November 1943     		Luzon operation
    Lingayen Gulf landings, 9 January 1945
    Marianas operation
    Capture and occupation of Saipan, 15 June to 28 July 1944     		Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 1 to 9 April 1945
    Tinian capture and occupation,, 24 to 28 July 1944  

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

    Navy Occupation Service Medal
    China Service Medal (extended)
    13 September to 11 October 194513 September to 11 October 1945
    26 October to 18 November 194526 October to 18 November 1945
  • Decommissioned, 20 March 1946, at Seattle, WA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 26 June 1946
  • USS Fuller earned nine battle stars for World War II service
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 1 July 1946, for layup in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Olympia, WA.
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 26 April 1957, to Dulien Steel Products Co., Seattle, WA. (PD-X-532) for $243,789.00, Withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet, 22 April 1957
    Specifications:
    Displacement 8,000 t(lt) 14,450 t.(fl)
    Length 507'
    Beam 56'
    Draft 25' 2"
    Speed 16 kts.
    Complement
    Officers 43
    Enlisted 337
    Troop Accommodations
    Officers 60
    Enlisted 818
    Cargo Capacity 2,400 DWT
    non-refrigerated 130,000 cu. ft.
    Armament
    1 single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount
    4 single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    2 twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    8 single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Propulsion
    4 Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers
    1 De Laval Steam Turbine, geared turbine drive
    single propeller, designated shaft horsepower 9500
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Merchant Service
    Fuller 75k SS Archer in port, with troops on board, circa 1919 or the early 1920s. Extensively rebuilt in about 1930 and renamed SS City of Newport News. The original image is printed on post card ("AZO") stock.
    US Navy photo # NH 105784, donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2008,. from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.

    International Radio Call Sign:
    Lima - Papa - Whiskey - Delta
     LPWD
    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Fuller (AP-14)
    Fuller 131k
    Namesake

    Edward Canfield Fuller, born 4 September 1893 in Hamilton, Va., was a member of the Naval Academy class of 1916, and was commissioned in the Marine Corps upon graduation. Captain Fuller was killed in action in the Battle of Belleau Wood in France 12 June 1918, while fearlessly exposing himself in an artillery barrage in order to get his men into a safer position. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by the Army for his selfless sacrifice for his men. DD-297 was named in his honor.
    His father, Ben Hebard Fuller, born 27 February 1870 in Big Rapids, Mich., was a member of the Naval Academy class of 1889. After the 2 years of service as a naval cadet then required before commissioning, he entered the Marine Corps 1 July 1891. During the Spanish-American War, he commanded the Marine Detachment in Columbia, and after the war served with distinction in the Philippines, and during the Boxer Rebellion in China. In high commands in the Caribbean campaigns of the period 1918 to 1925 he further distinguished himself, and from 9 July 1930 until his retirement 1 March 1934, he was Major General Commandant of the Marine Corps. Major General Fuller died in Washington, D.C., 8 June 1937. AP-14 was named in his honor.
    Photo from the USMC History Division    		 Bill Gonyo
    Fuller 76k USS Fuller (AP-14) at anchor, location unknown, circa 1941.
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1978.
    US Navy Photo # NH 86975, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Fuller 100k USS Fuller (AP-14), (left) and another transport [probably USS William P. Biddle (AP-15)], (right) unloading troops and equipment into landing craft outside the breakwater at Reykjavik, Iceland, circa 7-8 July 1941.
    US Navy Photo # NH 47011, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Fuller 69k USS Fuller (AP-14) with USS Blue (DD-387) alongside transferring survivors from the HMAS Canberra (D33) to Fuller following the Battle of Savo Island, 9 August 942.
    Photo by Myron Gail Darst TM3/c (WO-1) Myron Gail Darst from USS Mugford (DD-389).    		 David A. Darst for his father WO-1 Myron Gail Darst USN Ret.
    USS Fuller (APA-7)
    Fuller 50k Oil painting or watercolor of USS Fuller (APA-7), circa 1944-45. This picture was the possession of ex-bo's'n Lawrence Thomas Black (deceased). Bo's'n Black was aboard 8 November 1943 when USS Fuller took a direct hit from an air attack at Bougainville's Empress Augusta Bay. John Fuller S1/c - USS Fuller 1945 to 1947
    Fuller 96k Stern view of USS Fuller (APA-7) off San Francisco, 13 March 1944.
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 1714-44.    		 Darryl Baker
    Fuller 80k Bows on view of USS Fuller (APA-7) off San Francisco, 13 March 1944. Fuller's camouflage is Measure 32 Design 9T.
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 1719-44.    		 Darryl Baker
    Fuller 65k Broadside, port view of USS Fuller (APA-7) off San Francisco, 13 March 1944.
    NARA San Francisco: Mare Island Naval Shipyard Ship Files & Photo collection.    		 Tracy White
    Fuller 288k Broadside, starboard view of USS Fuller (APA-7) off San Francisco, 13 March 1944.
    NARA San Francisco: Mare Island Naval Shipyard Ship Files & Photo collection.    		 Tracy White
    Fuller 68k 45° off center line view of USS Fuller (APA-7) off San Francisco, 22 March 1944.
    NARA San Francisco: Mare Island Naval Shipyard Ship Files & Photo collection.    		 Tracy White
    Fuller 74k USS Fuller (APA-7) at San Francisco, 12 July 1945. She retains her original lifeboat davits. A twin 40-mm gun and a 3"/50 gun are visible on the deck-house over the stern.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo # 19-N-89661, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    USS Fuller (APA-7)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Theiss, Paul Seymour, USN (USNA 1912)9 April 1941 - 4 January 1943AP-14
    02CDR. Eaton, Melville Edwin, USN (USNA 1921-B) (temporary) :RADM4 January 1943 - 26 January 1943AP-14
    03CAPT. Thornhill, Henry Ehrman, USN (USNA 1918)26 January 1943 - 13 March 1943AP-14 / APA-7
    04CAPT. Eaton, Melville Edwin :RADM13 March 1943 - 1 April 1944APA-7
    05CAPT. Pigman, Nathaniel Moore, USN (USNA 1915)1 April 1944 - 18 May 1945APA-7
    06CDR. Sackett, Warren Wilson, USNR18 May 1945 - 1 June 1945APA-7
    07CDR. Hamblett, Cyril Bertram, USN :ADM1 June 1945 - 30 November 1945APA-7
    08CDR. Sackett, Warren Wilson, USNR30 November 1945 - 20 March 1946APA-7
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Camouflage Measure 32, Design 9T
    MARAD Vessel History Data Base
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    Last Updated 2 June 2017