USS Tate ( AKA - 70 ) USS " Tate " ( AKA - 70 ) was a of the United States Navy named after Tate County , Mississippi . " Tate " 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 19 months . " Tate " was laid down as a Type C2 - S - AJ3 ship under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 1398 ) on 22 July 1944 at Wilmington , North Carolina , by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Co . ; launched on 26 September 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . C . E . Tate ; delivered to the Navy on loan - charter on 3 November 1944 ; and commissioned at Charleston , South Carolina , on 25 November 1944 , Lt . Comdr . William Jordan , USNR , in command . Service history . World War II , 1944 – 1945 . The attack transport completed shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay early in December and steamed to Davisville , Rhode Island , to load Hawaii - bound cargo . She headed south on 30 December , transited the Panama Canal between 4 and 6 January 1945 , and reached Pearl Harbor on the 18th . She remained in the Hawaiian Islands until 31 January when she departed Port Allen , Kauai Island , for the Marshall Islands . " Tate " reached Eniwetok on 4 February and joined Transport Squadron 17 , which soon departed for the Philippines . Proceeding via Ulithi Atoll and Kossol Roads , she reached Leyte Gulf on 21 February and made a shuttle to Samar Island to discharge cargo and disembark passengers before beginning preparations for the upcoming invasion of Okinawa . After training for the assault , she combat - loaded the men and equipment of the Army ' s 77th Infantry Regiment at Tarranguna , Leyte , and on 21 March departed the Philippines with the Western Islands Attack Group . Her destination was Kerama Retto , a small group of islands located to the south and west of Okinawa , which became the fleet ' s steppingstone to Okinawa itself . Her soldiers and equipment went into action against the islands of Aka Shima , Kuba Shima , Yakabi Shima , and Zamami Shima . By the afternoon of 28 March , the islands of Kerama Retto were secured , and " Tate " joined the other ships in a waiting area . The attack transport remained in the vicinity of Okinawa through three weeks of April , also participating in the assault on Ie Shima during her last week in the area . On the 22nd , she headed for the Marianas , arriving at Saipan on 27 April . Five days later , she headed for the Solomon Islands . " Tate " loaded marines and cargo at Guadalcanal and Tulagi between 8 and 17 May before heading back , via Eniwetok , to the Marianas . Reaching Guam on 4 June , she disembarked the marines and discharged her cargo . On the 13th , the attack transport got underway for the United States . On 25 July , " Tate " steamed out of San Francisco Bay to return to the combat zone . Stopping at Eniwetok from 5 to 10 August , she reached Guam on the 14th , the day before the cessation of hostilities . Post - war activities , 1945 – 1946 . From there , she headed for Ulithi and thence , via Okinawa , to Jinsen , Korea , for occupation duty . " Tate " returned to the Philippines early in October , visiting Manila and Subic Bay . After stops at Tsingtao , China , and Okinawa in late November , the attack transport steamed back to the United States , arriving at Seattle on 13 December . She remained there until 26 February 1946 , when she got underway for San Francisco . The ship loaded cargo between 1 and 16 March and then headed for Eniwetok and Kwajalein . She discharged her cargo at the two atolls and got underway for Panama on 4 April . " Tate " reached the Canal Zone on 23 April ; but , instead of entering the canal , she remained on the Pacific side to help in the final removal of Americans from the air base at Seymour Island in the Galapagos . She returned to Balboa on 20 May , transited the canal , and reached Hampton Roads on 28 May . Decommissioning and sale . " Tate " was decommissioned on 10 July 1946 and , three days later , was returned to the War Shipping Administration . Her name was struck from the Navy List on 19 July 1946 . Sometime between then and 1948 , she was purchased by the Luckenbach Steamship Co . of New York City and served that line as SS " Julia Luckenbach " until 1958 . No record was found for the year 1959 , but sometime in 1960 she was sold to States Marine Lines and renamed SS " Bay State " . She served there for ten years until being sold for scrap in October 1970 . Awards . " Tate " was awarded one battle star for World War II service .