Harris - class attack transport The " Harris " - class attack transport was a class of US Navy attack transport that saw service in World War II . Like all attack transports , the purpose of the " Harris " class ships was to transport troops and their equipment to hostile shores in order to execute amphibious invasions using an array of smaller integral landing craft . As with all such ships , the " Harris " - class was well armed with antiaircraft weaponry to protect itself and its vulnerable cargo of troops from air attack in the battle zone . Background . The " Harris " class is amongst the few classes of attack transport that were converted from pre - war tonnage rather than built from either Maritime Commission or Victory ship hull types during the war . It also holds the distinction of being the first group of ships commissioned into the US Navy which would eventually serve as attack transports . The origins of the " Harris " class go back to America ' s entry into World War I . At that time , the US Shipping Board was set up to modernize America ' s merchant cargo fleet , and to provide ships suitable for service as naval auxiliaries . During this period , the Shipping Board contracted with several firms , including New York Shipbuilding and Bethlehem Steel , for the building of a class of large ships to be used as troop transport s . The ships were known simply as the " 535 class " after their length in feet . Although they arrived too late to see service in the First World War , sixteen were duly completed between 1919 and 1922 , and since the Navy no longer had use for them , they were all eventually sold or contracted out to private companies , most notably Dollar Lines ( hence the class ' alternative name , the " Dollar " class ) . For their new role the vessels were converted to passenger - cargo ships , serving mostly on routes between the United States and South America , and until the 1930s , were amongst America ' s fastest and best passenger liners . In 1937 , with another major war looming on the horizon , the US Government began to consider the possibility of reacquiring the 535 ' class for their originally intended role as troop transports , and when war broke out in Europe in 1939 , it was decided to go ahead with the acquisition . Accordingly , a dozen of the " Dollar " class vessels were purchased by the War Department and converted into troop transports for service with the US Army , which named most of them after distinguished Army leaders . The ships were all eventually handed over to the US Navy , but three of them , " Wharton " , " Tasker H . Bliss " and " Hugh L . Scott " were sunk by enemy action not long after America ' s entry into the war , while another , " Willard A . Holbrook " , was acquired but never commissioned . The remaining eight then took the name of the earliest surviving ship commissioned , USS " Harris " , and thus they became the " Harris " class . The Navy chose not to rename the individual ships , so they retained their former Army names . In February 1943 , all the ships of the class were redesignated as attack transports . Description . The " Harris " class had almost twice the displacement of most its sister attack transport classes whilst retaining about the same speed of 17 - 18 knots . The ships could consequently carry a large number of troops - between about 1 , 500 and 2 , 000 ( and it seems , in more comfortable conditions than those that prevailed for the other APA classes ) . They could also carry a moderate amount of cargo . Their main armament consisted of four 3 " / 50 caliber gun s , supported by one or two twin 40mm cannon and a variable number of 20mm weapons . Some of the ships also had one or two quad - mounted 1 . 1 " guns . Later classes of attack transport were to receive heavier armament as the 20mm weapon in particular was to prove of limited effectiveness at combating Japanese kamikaze tactics . Service . Commissioned relatively early in the war , the " Harris " class ships saw action in all the major theatres of war , including the Mediterranean , Atlantic and Pacific Theatres . Ships of the class saw action in virtually every major amphibious operation of the war , including the invasions of North Africa , Sicily , Italy , Normandy and Southern France ; and in the Pacific , through America ' s island hopping campaign , from the invasions of the Aleutians and Guadalcanal in 1942 to the final battle for Okinawa in 1945 . At the close of hostilities a number were employed in redeploying American troops for occupation duty in newly conquered Japan and its former territories in China and Korea , after which they were utilized in Operation Magic Carpet , the giant sealift organized to bring demobilizing American servicemen back the United States . The entire class was decommissioned shortly after the war in early 1946 , and scrapped in February – March 1948 .