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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Lejeune (AP-74)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Yankee - Tango - Foxtrot NYTF

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - China Service Medal (extended) - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)

Lejeune Class Transport:

Built in 1936 as SS Windhuk at Blohm & Voss Co , Hamburg, Germany, for Deutsche-Afrika Linten

Launched in October 1936

Interned at Santos, Brazil, December 1939

Acquired from Brazil, 12 May 1942

Placed in ferry commission as USS Lejeune, 26 March 1943 for transfer from Rio de Janeiro to Norfolk for conversion to a Navy Transport

Fully commissioned USS Lejeune (AP-74), 12 May 1944, CAPT. Laurence E. Kelly in command

During World War II USS Lejeune transported troops in both the Europe-Africa-Middle East and Asiatic-Pacific Theaters

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

Navy Occupation Service Medal	China Service Medal (extended)
14 to 17 January 1947	21 November to 5 December 1946
	30 January to 17 February 1947
	12 to 25 April 1947
	16 May to 3 June 1947

Decommissioned, 9 February 1948, at Bremerton, WA.

Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Tacoma, WA.

Struck from the Naval Register in July 1957

Transferred to MARAD, 12 July 1957, at Olympia, WA. for disposal

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 16 August 1966, to Zidell Explorations, Inc., Portland, OR. (PD-X-736) for $239,769.00, withdrawn from the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Olympia Group, 19 August 1966 for delivery to Zidell Explorations, Inc.

The USN purchased the ship from Brazil, installed a small diesel engine in it and brought it to the Norfolk Naval Ship yard in 1943. When she arrived in Norfolk, it had been stripped of most of its elegant furnishings such as mahogany & teak wood paneling. A Lt. Buchanan and I were assigned to the ship to supervise re-construction for use as a troop transport which took about a year to recoup all that was lost from sabotage."

Specifications:
Displacement 16,622 t. (gross)
Length 572' 8"
Beam 72' 2"
Draft 26'
Speed 17.5 kts.

Complement

Officers 50

Enlisted 576

Troop Accommodations

Officers 281

Enlisted 4385

Largest Boom Capacity 10 t.

Armament

one single 5"/38 cal dual purpose gun mount

four single 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts

four twin 40mm AA gun mounts

thirteen single 20mm AA gun mounts

Fuel Capacities

NSFO 17,100 Bbls

Diesel 2,625 Bbls

Propulsion

two Bethlehem Shipbuilding steam turbines

three Babcock and Wilcox D-type boilers, 475psi 750°

double Falk Main Reduction Gears
Ship's Service Generators
two Diesel-drive 500Kw 120V/240V D.C.
three turbo-drive 300Kw 120V/240V D.C.

twin propellers, 13,500shp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
Merchant Service
	1332k	SS Windhuk launching in October 1936 at Blohm & Voss Co, Hamburg, Germany.	Gerhard Muller-Debus
	57k	SS Windhuk underway in the livery of the Woermann Line, date and location unknown.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
USS Lejeune (AP-74)
	30k	*Namesake* John Archer Lejeune, born Pointe Coupee Parish, La., 10 January 1867, was previously honored by the Marine Corps in the naming of Camp Lejeune, N.C. A graduate of Louisiana State University 1884, and the Naval Academy 1888, he served as a naval cadet aboard Vandalia bound for Samoa. His Marine Corps service began with his appointment 1 July 1890 as a 2d lieutenant, USMC. During the Spanish-American War he served as commander of the Marine Guard on board Cincinnati. In the next decade and a half, he received assignments to such trouble spots as Panama, Philippines, Cuba, and, in 1914, Vera Cruz, Mexico. On 6 January 1917 he was appointed a brigadier general. With the entry of the United States into World War I, General Lejeune, attached to the Marine Corps Headquarters, Washington, D.C., sought duty at the front. He arrived in France 8 June 1918 and was soon placed in command of the 2d Division, AEF, the only marine officer to command an Army division. Promoted to major general in July, he was awarded both the Army and Navy Distinguished Service Medals and several French medals for his leadership in the great offensives which ended the war. He climaxed 45 years of continuous service as Commandant of the Marine Corps from 30 June 1920 to 5 May 1929. Retired in November 1929, General Lejeune served for 8 years as Superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute. Six months before his death on 20 November 1942, he was appointed Lieutenant General on the Marine Corps Retired List. Photo from the US National Archive	Bill Gonyo
US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, photo # 19-N-66546	125k	*USS Lejeune* (AP 74) near Norfolk Navy Yard, 15 May 1944, after completing conversion. Most of the effort in this major conversion project went into replacing the original propulsion plant, thoroughly sabotaged by the ship's German crew, with a plant similar to that used in the Navy's Ashtabula** (AO-51) class oilers. Note the streamed superstructure of this relatively recently designed German ship. US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, photo # 19-N-66546 and US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, photo # 19-N-66545, US Navy Bureau of Ships photos now in the US National Archives collection, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	19-N-66546 - Mike Green and 19-N-66545-Robert Hurst
US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, photo # 19-N-66545	96k		19-N-66546 - Mike Green and 19-N-66545-Robert Hurst
	94k	Aerial view of *USS Lejeune* (AP 74)** under way in the Atlantic Ocean, 31 August 1945, by an aircraft from NAS Floyd Bennett Field, New York. US National Archives, RG-80-G, photo # 80-G-344514, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Mike Green
	73k	*USS Lejeune* (AP 74) under way in harbor, date and location unknown. Lejeune** appears to be painted in Measure 2 camouflage. The tones and the broad bands of paint support this conjecture. US National Archives photo # 80-G-230500, a US Navy photo now in the US National Archives collection.	Robert Hurst
	31k	*USS Lejeune* (AP 74)** at Le Havre, France. circa 1945. US Navy photo	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
	99k	*USS Lejeune* (AP 74)** at the New York Navy Yard, 28 August 1945. US National Archives, RG-19-LCM. Photo # 19-N-90713, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Robert Hurst
	97k	Stern view of *USS Lejeune* (AP 74)** near the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, 23 September 1946. Some of her guns have been mothballed on board the otherwise active ship. US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo # 19-N-96208 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Mike Green
	97k	*USS Lejeune* (AP 74)** at anchor, circa late 1940s. Photo courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Robert Hurst
	121k	*USS Lejeune* (AP 74)** under way off Hampton Roads, VA., circa 1946. Photographed by an aircraft from NAS, Hampton Roads, VA. US National Archives, RG-19-LCM. Photo # Unknown, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Tommy Trampp and Robert Hurst
	246k	*USS Lejeune* (AP-74)** at anchor on the Whangphoo River, Shanghai, China, 21 November 1946. US Navy photo # NH 83415 courtesy of D. M. McPherson, 1975.	US Naval History and Heritage Command
0907414	79k	*USS Lejeune* (AP-74)** outbound to sea after passing under the Golden Gate Bridge with Marin County coast in the background at San Francisco, CA., circa 1946-1946. Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum	Darryl Baker

USS Lejeune (AP-74)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

Commanding Officers
01	CAPT. Bottom Jr., John Thomas, USN (USNA 1920) :RADM	26 March 1943 - ?	Ferry Command
02	CAPT. Kelly, Laurence Edward	12 May 1944 - 15 February 1945	First Commanding Officer
03	CAPT. McDonald, Frank Wadsworth	15 February 1945 - 8 February 1946
04	CAPT. Thompson, Stanley Hudson	8 February 1946 - 23 July 1946
05	CAPT. Chappell, Church Allen	23 July 1946 - 3 July 1947
06	CAPT. Evans, Donald Sidley	3 July 1947 - 8 November 1947
07	CDR. Conway James Peter, USNR	8 November 1947 - 9 February 1948


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
MARAD Vessel History Database
USS Lejeune Sentimental Journal #4 Souvenir Issue, 4 May 1946

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 20 September 2024