USS Arthur Middleton ( APA - 25 ) USS " Arthur Middleton " ( AP - 55 / APA - 25 ) was a transport in the United States Navy during World War II . She was named for Arthur Middleton , a member of the Continental Congress . " African Comet " , ordered as " American Banker " , was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 106 ) on 1 July 1940 at Pascagoula , Mississippi , by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation , launched on 28 June 1941 and delivered 31 December 1941 . She was sponsored by Miss Mary Maud Farrell and acquired by the Navy from the American South African Line , Inc . , on 6 January 1942 . The ship was renamed " Arthur Middleton " ( AP - 55 ) on 7 January 1942 . The ship underwent initial conversion at Tietjen & Lang Dry Dock Co . yard in Hoboken , N . J . for operation as a civilian - manned convoy - loaded transport . She was fully converted for service as a combat - loaded ( attack ) transport by the Union Iron Works , San Francisco , California after arrival in San Francisco from the South Pacific in June 1942 . Commissioned on 7 September 1942 , Commander Paul K . Perry , USCG , in command . Service history . After Navy acquisition and preliminary conversion , but before full conversion and commissioning , the " Middleton " was pressed into service during a shipping crisis involving securing the South Pacific lines of communication and critical air ferry route with Australia . New Caledonia ( codename " Poppy " ) , a key point in those lines , had been in some turmoil with Vichy governance and recent takeover by Free French and was threatened by the Japanese . Another key island , Bora Bora ( codename " Bobcat " ) , was also to be heavily reinforced in early 1942 yet available shipping was extremely short . Major realignment , taken to the head of state level , was required . The Bobcat convoy was to depart Charleston , South Carolina and , as a result of the candidate ship " President Fillmore " being damaged in a grounding with repairs taking longer than the convoy schedule allowed , the " Arthur Middleton " was quickly substituted and sent to Charleston from New York , but without proper ballasting for newly installed armament . " Middleton " turned out to be problematic with inadequate ballast for newly installed armament . She sailed for Charleston with a twelve degree list and then required work there . Work on " Middleton " and " President Tyler " , herself described as " a mess , " further delayed the convoy ' s departure from 15 January , already a delay from 8 January , to 25 January . A large convoy carrying elements of " Poppy Force " was to leave New York and , to conserve escorts , the Navy recommended combining the Poppy convoy with the Bobcat convoy and the Army agreed . Just as the Poppy convoy was due off Charleston the Navy found it could not make " Middleton " and another ship , the " Hamul " ready for sea until 27 January when " Middleton " was again delayed until mid afternoon . " Middleton " sailed for Australia and then to Bora Bora in Convoy BC . 100 arriving Bora Bora on 17 February . The delay with ships and some cargo required that the convoy BT . 200 bound for New Caledonia via Austalia , carrying Poppy Force ( designated Task Force 6814 ) that became the Americal Division , sailed separately a few days in advance of the Bora Bora force . After full conversion to an attack transport in San Francisco the ship was manned by a combined Coast Guard and Navy crew . The transport held shakedown training off San Diego , California and sailed for the Aleutian Islands on 23 December . She reached Amchitka on 12 January 1943 and , later that day , took on board 175 survivors from " Worden " ( DD - 352 ) , which had run aground and broken up while covering the transport during the debarkation of her troops . However , before the day ended , " Arthur Middleton " herself ran aground after dragging anchor . Salvage operations involved completely unloading , blasting and removing the rocks from under the ship ' s port side , and patching the holes which they had pierced in her hull . During this work , " Arthur Middleton ' s " boats operated in Amchitak harbor unloading supply ships and moving Army barges . On eight different occasions , the grounded ship repulsed enemy float - plane attacks and was straddled by four bombs . While in Alaskan waters , " Arthur Middleton " was reclassified an attack transport and redesignated APA - 25 on 1 February 1943 . The ship was finally refloated and got underway on 9 April in tow of and for Dutch Harbor , Unalaska . There , work making temporary repairs continued through 17 June . She was then towed by the merchant ship and to the Puget Sound Navy Yard , Bremerton , Washington , for correction of the damage . " Arthur Middleton " departed Seattle , Washington , on 6 September , bound for New Zealand . She arrived at Wellington on 12 October , via Suva , Fiji Islands . The ship took on marines and cargo and sailed to Efate , New Hebrides , for staging operations . She then steamed to the Gilbert Islands for the landings on Tarawa on 20 November . The ship remained off that bitterly contested atoll debarking troops and taking casualties on board until the 29th , when she got underway for Hawaii . On 7 December , " Arthur Middleton " reached Pearl Harbor and began training operations . She sortied from Oahu on 23 January 1944 with Task Group ( TG ) 51 . 1 , carrying marine reserves for the assault on the Marshall Islands . The transport remained in waters east of Kwajalein Atoll from 31 January through 15 February awaiting orders to disembark her troops ; but , as part of the reserve force , they were not needed . During her time steaming off Kwajalein , she provided stores and fresh water to destroyers and smaller vessels , dispatched her boats on various assignments , and repaired damaged boats . On 15 February , " Arthur Middleton " sailed with the task group charged with invading Eniwetok . Arriving off that atoll on the 17th , " Arthur Middleton " landed assault troops on Engebi Island and unloaded her cargo as needed by forces ashore . Two days later , she took marines on board for an assault on Parry Island . The landing there took place on the 21st and 22d and , the next day , the ship sailed for Pearl Harbor with American casualties and Japanese prisoners of war embarked . She paused en route at Kwajalein on the 26th to embark more troops and then resumed her voyage to Hawaii , arriving at Pearl Harbor on 8 March . The attack transport held training exercises off Hawaii through late May . On the 30th , she sailed with TG 52 . 3 for the invasion of the Marianas . The ship arrived off Saipan on 15 June and debarked her passengers later that day at Charan Kanoa . She then began taking casualties on board while unloading her cargo . Although there were frequent air raid alerts during these operations , no Japan ese planes came within range of the transport guns . She departed Saipan on 23 June , stopped at Eniwetok and Tarawa to pick up Army troops and Japanese prisoners , and continued on to Pearl Harbor where she arrived on 9 July . After disembarking her passengers , she began the first of two voyages between San Diego and Hilo , Hawaii , carrying troops and equipment between the two points . At the end of these shuttle runs , the transport sailed for the Admiralty Islands . She arrived at Manus on 3 October and began preparations for the long awaited operations to liberate the Philippine Islands . On 14 October , " Arthur Middleton " sortied with TG 79 . 2 and arrived in Leyte Gulf on the 20th . The ship remained in the area unloading troops until 24 October , when she headed for Hollandia , New Guinea . The attack transport returned to Leyte on 14 November , carrying personnel and supplies from Hollandia and Morotai , Netherlands East Indies . The next day , she sailed back to New Guinea and conducted training exercises in conjunction with Marine Corps units . On 31 December , the ship sailed with TG 79 . 4 for the invasion of Luzon and arrived in the transport area in the Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945 and landed her troops in the face of enemy air attack . During the operation , fifteen members of her crew were wounded by flying shrapnel from the guns of other vessels firing at the Japanese planes . The transport left Lingayen Gulf later that day to take on more supplies at Leyte and returned to Lingayen Gulf on 27 January . During February and early March , " Arthur Middleton " carried out training exercises at Guadalcanal . On 16 March , the transport sailed with TG 53 . 1 for Ulithi , where staging operations were held for the Ryūkyū campaign . The ship discharged troops and cargo at Okinawa during the first five days of April and then returned via Saipan to Pearl Harbor . She was routed on to the west coast and arrived at San Pedro , Calif . , on 30 April to begin a period of overhaul . While the ship was still in the yard , Japan surrendered on 14 August 1945 . The repair work was completed on 4 September , and " Arthur Middleton " was assigned to duty transporting relief forces to the Philippines and returning veterans to the United States . By the end of 1945 , the ship had made two voyages to the Philippines . In January 1946 , she underwent repairs at Terminal Island , California . Following the detachment of her Coast Guard personnel , " Arthur Middleton " was transferred to the Naval Transportation Service on 1 February 1946 . During the next four months , the transport made six round trips between San Francisco and Pearl Harbor . She then steamed through the Panama Canal and continued on to Norfolk , Virginia , where she arrived on 19 July 1946 . The ship was placed out of commission at Norfolk on 21 October 1946 and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet . At the end of a dozen years in reserve , her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 October 1958 ; and the ship was transferred to the Maritime Administration for layup in the James River . She was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet on 3 March 1959 . The vessel was sold on 9 May 1973 to the Consolidated Steel Corporation , Brownsville , Texas , and was later scrapped . " Arthur Middleton " won six battle star s for her World War II service . There was another ship with the name " Arthur Middleton " , a Liberty ( EC2 - S - C1 ) launched and delivered May – June 1942 , operating at the same time as the USS " Arthur Middleton " until sunk by an explosion off Oran , North Africa 1 January 1943 . As of 2005 , no other ship in the United States Navy has been named " Arthur Middleton " .