USS Woodford ( AKA - 86 ) USS " Woodford " ( AKA - 86 ) was a of the United States Navy named after counties in Illinois and Kentucky . She was designed to carry military cargo and landing craft , and to use the latter to land weapons , supplies , and Marines on enemy shores during amphibious operations . She served as a commissioned ship for 13 months . " Woodford " was laid down as a Type C2 - S - AJ3 ship under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 1399 ) on 17 July 1944 at Wilmington , North Carolina , by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company ; launched on 5 October 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . Ruth E . McInnis , the wife of J . Frank McInnis who was in charge of the construction of all Maritime Commission ships built on the east coast ; and placed in service on 19 October . The merchant tug " Rescue " towed " Woodford " to Hoboken , N . J . , to be converted at the Todd Shipyard Corp . for Navy service . She was commissioned at the Todd Shipyard on 3 March 1945 , Capt . Winston P . Folk in command . Service history . World War II , 1945 . After initial trials in Long Island Sound , shakedown in Chesapeake Bay , post - shakedown availability at the Norfolk Navy Yard , further shakedown trials , and another availability , " Woodford " reported at the Naval Operating Base ( NOB ) , Norfolk , on 19 April to take on her first cargo . When loaded , the attack cargo ship got underway on 28 April and headed for the Panama Canal , on the first leg of her voyage to the Pacific . " Woodford " s passage , in company with her escort , the high speed transport , was uneventful until early on 1 May , when " Runels " made a sound contact . While her escort sought to develop the contact , the " Woodford " went to general quarters and commenced evasive action . Later , both ships stood down from quarters when " Runels " lost the contact and could not regain it . " Woodford " transited the Panama Canal on 3 May and spent two days at Balboa before heading for Pearl Harbor in company with the submarines , , and . While en route , the ships conducted joint exercises , exchanging officers between the ships at various intervals to enable them to each observe the drills from a different perspective . Also , while en route , the ships received the news that President Harry S . Truman had declared 8 May 1945 as " V - E Day " , marking the victorious conclusion of the war with Germany . As " Woodford " s commanding officer recounted , " While the stirring news was received on board " Woodford " with joy , the joy was tinged with the thought that , after all , a terrific job lay ahead . " " Woodford " ultimately reached Pearl Harbor on 20 May where she discharged her cargo . A week later , she shifted to Honolulu where she took on a cargo tabbed as " high priority " — ammunition earmarked for the 10th Army at Okinawa . Once loaded , " Woodford " set out independently for the Marshalls on 2 June but , en route , was rerouted to the Carolines . Reaching Ulithi on 14 June , " Woodford " subsequently joined Convoy UOK - 27 headed for Okinawa , but was again rerouted — this time to Kerama Retto , to await orders for discharge of her " high priority " cargo . For three weeks , from 24 June to 15 July , the attack cargo ship — her ammunition cargo still in her holds — lay in the roadstead of that group of small islands . During her stay , she went to general quarters 21 times because of alerts or actual enemy attacks — an uncomfortable situation for a ship laden with ammunition . Finally , orders came — but not to unload at either Okinawa or Kerama Retto . Instead , " Woodford " was directed to retire to the Marianas and unload at Guam . The attack cargo ship weighed anchor at Kerama Retto on 15 July and proceeded toward the Marianas with Convoy OKS - 14 . Reaching Saipan on the 21st , " Woodford " proceeded independently toward Guam one week later and anchored in Agana Bay on the 29th . There , transferring her ammunition into amphibious trucks ( DUKW ' s ) , " Woodford " at long last discharged her dangerous cargo . Upon completion of the unloading , the attack cargo ship immediately returned to Saipan to await further orders . There , at 0900 on 15 August , " Woodford " received word that the Japanese had capitulated . Pandemonium then reigned in the anchorage . " Woodford " s commanding officer recounted that " whistles and sirens sounded in blasts of raucous joy , drowning out the glad shouts that went up from thousands of men . " Post - war activities , 1945 – 1946 . Two days after the capitulation , " Woodford " sailed for the Philippines and reached Leyte on the 20th . There , she joined Transport Squadron ( TransRon ) 13 , Transport Division ( TransDiv ) 53 . Shifting to Cebu soon thereafter , TransRon 13 loaded the men and equipment of the Americal Division — part of the force slated to occupy the former enemy ' s capital . " Woodford " and her consorts subsequently sailed for Tokyo Bay , reaching that body of water on 8 September 1945 — six days after the formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the battleship . She disembarked her troops and discharged her cargo before she returned to the Philippines with TransDiv 53 . Upon arriving back at Leyte on 16 September , the ship detached her first group of homeward - bound sailors eligible for discharges before getting underway to proceed independently to Cebu to commence taking on board troops before the arrival of the rest of TransDiv 53 . Combat - loaded with the men and equipment of the Army ' s 77th Division , " Woodford " returned to Japanese waters with TransDiv 53 and carried those troops and their equipment to Otaru , on the island of Hokkaidō , arriving there on 5 October . Upon completion of that operation , she returned to the Philippines . " Woodford " remained in the Far East into December . Between 27 October and 4 November , she lifted rear elements of the 3rd Amphibious Corps — the 30th Construction Battalion ( SeaBees ) and the 32nd Special Construction Battalion — from San Pedro Bay , Leyte , to Taku , China , in company with TransDiv 37 , before proceeding singly to Guam to discharge cargo . From there , on 4 December , she proceeded to Sasebo , on the island of Kyūshū , Japan . Steaming into Sasebo harbor on 8 December , the ship anchored there until the 10th , when she went alongside a dock . There , she embarked elements of the 5th Marine Division and their equipment to be transported to the west coast of the United States . The ship ' s departure from the Far East , however , was not without elements of a " Hollywood thriller . " Intelligence officers had uncovered what they thought to be Japanese sabotage plans which had tabbed " Woodford " with destruction after midnight on 13 December . Taking no chances that the discovery was a hoax , " Woodford " accordingly doubled the watch , manned her guns and searchlights , and broke out carbines and Thompson submachine gun s . As the ship ' s commanding officer later reported : " The cost of the all - night vigil was happily no more , however , then a loss of sleep for all hands ; not a shot was fired nor a saboteur discovered . " At 1100 on 14 December , with a homeward - bound pennnant at the gaff , " Woodford " stood put to sea to begin the 6 , 047 - mile passage to San Diego ; and she reached her destination on the last day of 1945 . After discharging cargo and disembarking her passengers , " Woodford " underwent voyage repairs at San Francisco into February 1946 before she sailed for the east coast of the United States . Decommissioning and Sale . After transiting the Panama Canal , she made port at Norfolk on 25 February . " Woodford " shifted briefly to New York City before she returned to Norfolk on 7 March to be inactivated in the 5th Naval District ; on 1 May 1946 " Woodford " was decommissioned . One week later , on 8 May , her name was struck from the Navy List on 10 May ; and she was returned to the War Shipping Administration ( WSA ) of the Maritime Commission and berthed in reserve with many of her sisters at the James River Group of the reserve fleet . Ex - USS " Woodford " was acquired from the Maratime Administration by the A . H . Bull Steamship Co . of New York City on 31 October 1947 and renamed SS " Suzanne " . Acquired by the Westmount Shipping Co . ( also of New York ) on 14 December 1965 and renamed SS " Rappahannock " , the ship performed general cargo - carrying services into 1973 . On 19 May 1973 she was sold for the final time to Sing Cheng Yung Iron & Steel of Taiwan and broken up for scrap .