USS Windsor ( APA - 55 ) USS " Windsor " ( APA - 55 ) was an attack transport built for the U . S . Navy during World War II . She served in the Pacific Ocean and provided troop transport service . She returned home at war ’ s end with five battle star s to her credit . The steel - hulled , single - screw cargo vessel was laid down as SS " Excelsior " under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 589 ) on 23 July 1942 at Sparrow ' s Point , Maryland , by the Bethlehem Sparrow ' s Point Shipyard ; renamed " Windsor " and classified a transport , AP - 100 , on 5 October 1942 ; launched on 28 December 1942 ; sponsored by Miss Patricia Moreell , the daughter of Rear Admiral Ben Moreell , Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks ; reclassified an attack transport , APA - 55 , on 16 June 1943 ; and commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard , Portsmouth , Virginia , on 17 June 1943 , Commander D . C . Woodward in command . World War II Pacific Theatre operations . Shakedown cruise . " Windsor " began her shakedown on 20 June and conducted eight training cruises in Chesapeake Bay . After post - shakedown availability , the ship departed the east coast of the United States on 9 December , bound for the Pacific . Upon reaching Pearl Harbor , " Windsor " became a unit of Transport Division ( TransDiv ) 4 , 5th Fleet Amphibious Force . Kwajalein . " Windsor " embarked the men and equipment of the 3d Battalion , 17th Regimental Combat Team , 7th Army Division , and departed the Hawaiian Islands on 22 January 1944 , bound for the Marshall Islands as part of Task Force ( TF ) 52 . " Windsor " participated in the assault landing at Kwajalein and , after the island had been secured early in February , sailed for the Ellice Islands . Diversion to Humboldt Bay . Reaching Funafuti soon thereafter , " Windsor " there joined the 3rd Fleet and was subsequently ordered to Guadalcanal , Solomon Islands , for amphibious training and maneuvers . After shifting to Torokina , Bougainville , on 28 March and to Milne Bay , New Guinea , on 1 April , the attack transport was assigned to the 7th Fleet Amphibious Forces late in April . Meanwhile , on 22 April , the 7th " Amphibs " had put ashore Army troops at Hollandia and took the Japanese completely by surprise . However , the following evening , a Japanese air raid blew up a captured ammunition dump and ensuing fires destroyed nearly 60 percent of the supplies landed . As a result , " Windsor " — initially ordered to Tanahmerah Bay — was diverted to Humboldt Bay , Hollandia , as part of the effort to replenish the lost supplies . Upon arriving there on 24 April , she landed troops of the 2d Battalion of the American Army ' s 34th Infantry Division . Simultaneous with the landings at Tanahmerah and Humboldt Bays , the 7th Amphibious Force also put troops ashore to secure Aitape and its vital airstrip . " Windsor " participated in the Aitape landing , putting ashore various units of the 32nd Division on 3 May . " Windsor " left New Guinea ' s waters on 7 May and headed for the Solomons , arriving at Guadalcanal three days later . At the end of May and the beginning of June , the attack transport embarked units of the 3rd Marine Division , left the Solomons on 4 June , and headed for the Central Pacific Area . She anchored first at Eniwetok and later at Kwajalein to prepare for and to await orders to begin her next operation , the occupation of Guam , in the Marianas . Saipan . However , the amphibious forces first headed for Saipan - — regarded by some as the key to Japan ' s inner defenses . The assault on that island on 15 June resulted in the Japanese Fleet ' s challenging the Americans for the first time since the Battle of Midway , two years before . In the ensuing Battle of the Philippine Sea , on 19 and 20 June 1944 , the enemy suffered heavily , losing three carriers . In the two - day battle , the Japanese Navy lost nearly 92 percent of its carrier - based aircraft ( 395 planes ) as opposed to 130 planes lost by TF 58 , the fast carrier task force under Vice Admiral Marc A . Mitscher . Guam . Meanwhile , the unexpectedly stiff resistance on Saipan and the sortie of the Japanese Fleet had necessitated a delay in the landings on Guam . Finally , as part of Task Group ( TG ) 53 . 3 , " Windsor " took part in the assault landings on Guam , landing troops of the 2d Battalion , 3d Marine Regiment , 3d Marine Division , on D - Day , 21 July , following close on the heels of intensive naval gunfire and carrier - based aircraft attacks . The attack transport put ashore her battle - garbed marines on the Asan beaches on the northern shores of Guam . Peleliu . After the capture of the Marianas , the Navy turned its attention to the Western Caroline Islands . Fast carrier task forces ranged a wide area prior to the landings at Peleliu , Palau Islands , and Morotai , in the Netherlands East Indies , diverting or destroying Japanese forces that might have attempted to interfere with the invasion . Their planes struck Chichi Jima , Iwo Jima , Yap , Palau , and Mindanao , in the Philippines . Three days before the assault troops were slated to go ashore , ships and planes hurled an intensive air and surface bombardment against the Japanese defenses , while minesweeper s cleared the waters off Peleliu and Angaur Islands , and underwater demolition teams destroyed beach obstructions . On 15 September , " Windsor " participated in the assault landings at Peleliu , putting ashore various elements of the 1st Marine Division , as part of TF 32 . Leyte . Following the successful landings on Peleliu , " Windsor " retired to Humboldt Bay and there was assigned to TF 78 . A month later , the attack transport sortied as part of TF 78 , bound for the Philippine Islands . While the ships proceeded north , the initial assault on Leyte began on 20 October when elements of the Army 10th and 24 Corps went ashore after heavy bombardment had softened up defenses ashore . Two days after D - Day , 22 October , " Windsor " arrived at Leyte ; completed her unloading in record time ; and stood out to sea later that day , bound once more for Humboldt Bay . Under attack . There , " Windsor " embarked another group of reinforcements and headed back toward Leyte on 9 November , as part of TF 79 . One day out of San Pedro Bay , their destination , the task force came under an attack by Japanese planes that lasted for three hours . " Windsor " emerged unscathed and put into San Pedro Bay on the morning of 14 November , commencing her unloading at 0804 and completing it at 1315 , having disembarked the troops and equipment of the 32d Division . During that time , Japanese planes attacked the ships at 0900 ; but antiaircraft fire from the vital auxiliaries and their escorts , coupled with Army fighter plane s , drove off the enemy . At the completion of that particular reinforcement operation , " Windsor " ' s historian recorded : " The unloading time of five hours and nineteen minutes , averaging 95 . 9 tons per hour , was a new record for this ship and equalled by very few of the other transports in the Task Force . " General repairs . Proceeding from San Pedro Bay later on the 14th , " Windsor " steamed to Manus , in the Admiralty Islands , and moved thence to Tulagi , Florida Island , Guadalcanal . Departing Tulagi on 27 November , " Windsor " headed for San Francisco , California . The attack transport subsequently underwent general repairs at Moore ' s Shipyard , Oakland , California , from 13 December 1944 to 16 February 1945 . More troop transportation . She sailed for Hawaiian waters on 22 February . Routed onward to the western Pacific , " Windsor " departed Pearl Harbor on 20 March , with a contingent of construction battalion ( " Seabees " ) troops embarked , and made calls at Eniwetok , Guam , and Samar , in the Philippines , discharging passengers and cargo in Guiuan roadstead , Samar , on 9 April . The attack transport lay off Samar for nearly two weeks before she received onward routing to return to San Francisco and , on her ensuing voyage , touched at Peleliu , Guam , Saipan , Tinian , and Pearl Harbor to pick up passengers . From San Francisco , " Windsor " headed up the west coast to Seattle , Washington , where she loaded general cargo and troops . She then returned to Pearl Harbor , reaching that port on 11 June and debarking the troops and discharging the cargo . Shifting to Honolulu , " Windsor " there picked up troops slated for transportation to Okinawa and , as part of Task Unit ( TU ) 96 . 6 . 15 , proceeded to Hagushi Beach , where she remained from 25 July to 5 August . During that time , the attack transport , together with other warships in the vicinity , came under almost nightly attacks from Japanese planes but emerged unscathed . " Windsor " then sailed for Ulithi in Convoy OKU - 17 , reaching her destination on 10 August . End - of - war activity . While " Windsor " lay at anchor at Ulithi lagoon , Japan accepted the unconditional surrender terms of the Potsdam Declaration ; and hostilities ceased on 14 August . On 19 August , " Windsor " , as part of TU 94 . 18 . 12 , proceeded to the Philippines , reaching Leyte on the 23rd . From there , she proceeded to the island of Cebu , in the southern Philippines , where she was assigned to Trans Div 53 , TF 33 . After embarking troops of the American Division and supplies on 31 August , " Windsor " sailed for Japan as part of the Tokyo occupation force . As the initial increments went ashore between 8 September and 10 , within a week of the formal Japanese surrender on 2 September , " Windsor " landed her troops . The attack transport returned to Cebu , loaded equipment , and embarked the troops of the Army ' s 77th Division , and landed that unit at Hakodate , Hokkaidō , in early October . After the occupation of Japan , " Windsor " served under the aegis of Commander , Service Force , Pacific , reporting for duty with Operation Magic Carpet on 19 November . She remained in that duty for the remainder of 1945 , participating in the massive sealift of returning sailors , soldiers , and marines to the United States . Post - War decommissioning . After reporting to Commander , Western Sea Frontier , for disposition on 8 January 1946 , " Windsor " received onward routing and transited the Panama Canal late in January , bound for the 8th Naval District . Decommissioned on 4 March 1946 , " Windsor " was struck from the Navy list on 12 April 1946 and delivered to the War Shipping Administration , at Mobile , Alabama , on 1 August 1946 , for disposition . Awards . " Windsor " earned five battle stars for her World War II service .