USS Barnwell ( APA - 132 ) USS " Barnwell " ( APA - 132 / LPA - 132 ) was a " Haskell " - class attack transport of the US Navy . She was built and used during World War II . She was of the VC2 - S - AP5 Victory ship design type . " Barnwell " was named for Barnwell County , South Carolina . World War II service . " Barnwell " was laid down on 25 July 1944 at Wilmington , California , by the California Shipbuilding Corp . , under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 48 ) ; launched on 30 September 1944 ; and sponsored by Mrs . M . L . Rhodes ; fitted out at Oakland , California , by the Moore Dry Dock Co . ; and commissioned on 19 January 1945 , Capt . M . M . Stephens in command . The attack transport spent the rest of the month getting ready for her shakedown by holding drills and taking on supplies . On 30 January , she stood out of San Francisco Bay and set course for San Pedro . There , shakedown training took up the first two weeks of February , and type training occupied the remainder . On 2 March , she put in at Terminal Island for a three - week post - shakedown availability . On 21 March , " Barnwell " got underway for San Diego where she embarked passengers and loaded cargo bound for Hawaii . She reached Pearl Harbor on 29 March and spent April conducting amphibious training in the islands . Early in May , troops and cargo filled her spaces , and " Barnwell " left Oahu for the central Pacific on the 8th . She first stopped in the Marshall Islands then moved on to Guam to unload part of her cargo and to disembark some of her passengers , before delivering the remainder of both to Saipan . Next , she sailed to the Caroline Islands where she took troops on board at Ulithi for passage to Leyte . After stopping at Tacloban on Leyte , " Barnwell " transferred 23 landing craft to the boat pool at Samar and then headed back to the United States , carrying sailors and marines . Following a stop at Pearl Harbor en route , she disembarked her passengers and unloaded her cargo at San Francisco before starting voyage repairs . At the work ' s conclusion , " Barnwell " embarked over 1 , 800 troops and took on a cargo of 15 , 000 mailbags . Underway on 14 July , " Barnwell " proceeded via Eniwetok and Ulithi to the Philippines . After delivering passengers and mail to both Guinan Harbor on Samar and Tacloban on Leyte , the attack transport sailed for the Admiralty Islands on 10 August . She reached Manus on the 14th and , while disembarking the rest of her troops there , received word of the war ' s end . Departing Manus on the 16th , she touched briefly at Ulithi before continuing on to New Caledonia . At Noumea , she took on more cargo and embarked part of a Construction Battalion ( or " Seabee " ) . Early in September , she picked up the rest of the " Seabees " and their gear at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides . From there , the attack transport set sail for the Philippines . At Lingayen , she embarked an Army medical unit bound for occupation duty in Japan . She then set sail for Sasebo on 20 September . " Barnwell " made one more troop lift for the Army , a round - trip voyage from Japan to Lingayan and back , in October . Then , after touching at Kure and Hiroshima , " Barnwell " sailed to Guam , entering Apra Harbor on 30 October . Assigned to the " Magic Carpet " fleet on 23 October , " Barnwell " departed Guam with returning servicemen on the last day of October . Bound for San Francisco at first , she received orders diverting her to Seattle while en route , and " Barnwell " made that port on 12 November . For the remainder of 1945 , she operated in coastwise service , visiting Seattle , Washington ; Portland , Oregon ; as well as San Francisco and San Pedro . Released from such tasks on 15 January 1946 by the arrival of , " Barnwell " left California soon thereafter on her way to the east coast to be deactivated . Fate . Placed in reserve at Norfolk , Virginia on 12 November 1946 , " Barnwell " was decommissioned on 1 February 1947 . Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 October 1958 . On 12 May 1959 she was berthed with the James River , Virginia contingent of the Maritime Administration ' s National Defense Reserve Fleet . The ship remained there for more than two decades , during which time she was redesignated LPA 132 . At 1107 EDT , on 4 August 1982 she was withdrawn by the Navy from the Reserve Fleet for stripping and to be used as a target hulk . She was apparently sunk as a target sometime in the early 1980s .