USS J . Franklin Bell ( APA - 16 ) USS " J . Franklin Bell " ( APA - 16 ) was a ship . She was built in 1921 and spent 20 years in merchant service as a passenger and cargo liner . She was acquired for the United States Army in 1940 and transferred to the United States Navy shortly after the USA entered the Second World War . She served throughout and after the Pacific War , was decommissioned in 1946 and scrapped in 1948 . Building . The vessel was designed to be an army transport , ordered by the USSB from New York Shipbuilding Corporation , Camden , New Jersey and laid down in 1918 . She was completed as " Keystone State " on 1 March 1921 . " Keystone State " was a turbine steamship , with eight Babcock & Wilcox header - type boilers supplying steam to four Bethlehem Steel Curtis type steam turbines . Her four turbines drove twin propeller shafts by single reduction gearing . Her engines developed 12 , 000 shaft horsepower and gave her a speed of — as fast as many ocean liners of her time . Civilian service . Pacific Mail Steamship Company operated her as a passenger and cargo ship from 28 May 1921 . On 6 August she started her maiden voyage , which was from Seattle to the Far East . In 1922 she was renamed " President McKinley " on 9 June and transferred to Admiral Oriental Lines on 21 December . She was transferred to American Mail Line in 1926 and laid up in Seattle in 1938 . SS " President Hoover " . Early on the morning of 11 December 1937 a Dollar Steamship Company ocean liner , , ran aground in a typhoon on Kasho - to , east of Formosa . " Hoover " s 330 crew got their 503 passengers and themselves safely ashore without loss , but the 853 people now needed to be taken off the remote island . The task was shared between " President McKinley " and Dollar Line ' s SS " President Pierce " . " McKinley " , assisted by the , collected about 630 people from Kasho - to on 14 December . " Pierce " collected the remaining 200 people on 15 December . War service . The United States Army acquired her on 26 October 1940 and had her converted into a military transport . She was renamed " J . Franklin Bell " after General J . Franklin Bell , US Army Chief of Staff 1906 – 10 . She was transferred to the United States Navy on 26 December 1941 ; and commissioned in ordinary before commissioning in full at San Francisco on 2 April 1942 under the command of Captain H . J . Grassie . After shakedown , a round - trip voyage to Pearl Harbor , and more than 2 months of amphibious training along the California coast , " J . Franklin Bell " left San Francisco 13 August and headed " via " Kodiak , Alaska to Adak . She carried some 1 , 500 troops and a full load of cargo to strengthen American defenses in the Aleutian Islands , then threatened with invasion . Aleutian landings . On returning San Diego 29 September , " J . Franklin Bell " resumed coastal operations and amphibious training in preparation for taking the offensive in the Aleutians by recapturing Attu Island . Reclassified APA - 16 February 1 , 1943 , she continued rehearsals until sailing to San Francisco 16 April to embark troops and their equipment . She sailed on 24 April for Cold Bay , Alaska . Though hampered by heavy seas , her task force arrived off Attu 11 May in a dense fog . " J . Franklin Bell " , now under Comdr . J . B . McGovern , began landing operations . Submerged rocks , pea soup weather , and narrow , rocky beaches permitted only two or three boats to be unloaded at a time . Two days later she started unloading around the clock , enabling her to finish the task , embark casualties , and head for home by 16 May . After training throughout June , she embarked some 1 , 750 soldiers and , after 2 weeks of landing rehearsals , left San Diego on 29 July for Adak . At the end of a week of weather and terrain conditioning there , she steamed for Kiska 13 August . Her landing boats went ashore through rough surf and found the enemy had withdrawn . She completed unloading operations in 2 days , embarked 600 troops and sailed for San Francisco on the 20th . At San Francisco she discharged the troops and embarked naval passengers for Wellington , New Zealand , where she arrived 30 September . In the following month of amphibious assault training , Captain O . H . Ritchie took command 22 October . After embarking 1 , 800 marines she sailed on 1 November for final landing rehearsals before departing 13 November to invade Tarawa . Invasion of Tarawa . The first step in a major amphibious offensive through Micronesia was the conquest of the Gilbert Islands . During midwatch on 20 November , " J . Franklin Bell " took her assigned position off Betio , the most heavily defended Japanese garrison on Tarawa Atoll . Heavy bombardment by the US Navy began at 0515 hrs , and the enemy responded with scattered fire at the transports . Straddled by gunfire , " J . Franklin Bell " retired out of range and , while the battle continued ashore , awaited orders to land her troops . The next day she sailed to Bairiki and landed her Marines . Finding only dead enemies , they boarded landing boats and moved from island to island along the atoll . Meanwhile , after the Bairiki landings , " J . Franklin Bell " began sending cargo ashore . The Marines secured Betio on the 23rd and the entire atoll on 27 November , and " J . Franklin Bell " departed with Marines embarked for Pearl Harbor . Invasion of Kwajalein . After a month of training in Hawaii , the transport embarked more than 1 , 500 soldiers and sailed for Kwajalein Atoll . When she arrived on 31 January , fire support ships were bombarding enemy shore installations in preparation for landings the next day . " J . Franklin Bell " entered the lagoon 2 February to unload supplies and receive casualties . On the 5th her landing boats assaulted Gugegwe , and two days later the atoll was secured . The transport departed on 8 February carrying more than 2 , 000 soldiers , and reached Pearl Harbor on the 15th . Invasion of Saipan . " J . Franklin Bell " then made two round trips to the US mainland before embarking soldiers and sailing for the Mariana Islands . She arrived off Saipan 16 June , the day after the first landings ; and debarked her troops on the 17th . After unloading supplies she retired some northeast of Saipan to await the outcome of the Battle of the Philippine Sea 19 – 21 June . When the battle was won she returned to Saipan on 25 June , completed unloading and embarked casualties . She then sailed to Eniwetok , loaded more cargo and headed " via " Saipan to embark Marines for the assault on nearby Tinian . Invasion of Tinian . Departing on 24 July , " J . Franklin Bell " joined in a diversionary operation at the southern end of Tinian . Under cover of a fierce bombardment , the transport feigned two landings to divert enemy attention while the real landings were made at the northern end of the island . After this successful subterfuge she sailed to the actual beachheads and landed her troops . She embarked casualties the next afternoon and returned to Saipan on the 27th . She left the next day carrying 438 Japanese prisoners , and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 10 August . Invasion of Leyte . " J . Franklin Bell " returned to the Western Pacific , putting into Manus , Admiralty Islands on 3 October to embark 1 , 600 assault troops for the invasion of the Philippines . She headed for Leyte Gulf on 14 October and arrived off Dulag , Leyte on 20 October . After quickly debarking her troops she began unloading supplies and receiving casualties . Defying repeated air attacks , she unloaded supplies into LCT s all day and night , completing the task shortly after noon the next day . Then she left with the Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes aboard , arriving in Manus on the 27th . Invasion of Okinawa . After a voyage to New Guinea , " J . Franklin Bell " left Manus for San Francisco and arrived 27 November . She left again on 28 February 1945 , reaching at Nouméa , New Caledonia on 18 April . After landing exercises and embarking Seabee s and their equipment , she headed for Okinawa " via " Eniwetok and Ulithi . She dropped anchor at Hagushi , 17 June to debark her Seabees . Subjected to frequent air alerts , she completed her unloading under cover of a smoke screen late the following afternoon . She departed on the 22nd , carrying 862 casualties to Saipan before proceeding to Espiritu Santo and Nouméa to embark homebound casualties . She left Nouméa on 11 July with more than 1 , 700 passengers and reached San Francisco on the 27th . After hostilities . On 2 September Japan surrendered , and on 21 September " J . Franklin Bell " sailed for the Western Pacific , carrying troops to Eniwetok , Okinawa , and Leyte . After boarding homebound passengers at Leyte , she sailed on 27 October and reached Seattle on 12 November . She began coastal operations on the 22nd , shuttling between Washington and California ports . Decommission . " J . Franklin Bell " arrived at Suisun Bay , California , 20 March 1946 and was decommissioned the same day . She was transferred to the War Shipping Administration for disposal , and sold for scrap on 3 April 1948 to Boston Metals of Baltimore , Maryland . Awards . " J . Franklin Bell " received six battle star s for World War II service .