USS Trousdale ( AKA - 79 ) USS " Trousdale " ( AKA - 79 ) was a of the United States Navy named after Trousdale County , Tennessee . She 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 16 months . " Trousdale " was laid down as a Type C2 - S - AJ3 ship under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 1386 ) on 22 April 1944 at Wilmington , North Carolina , by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Co . ; launched on 3 July 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . J . R . Craig ; delivered to the Navy under loan - charter on 24 July 1944 ; and commissioned at Hoboken , N . J . , on 21 December 1944 , Lt . Comdr . William J . Lane , USNR , in command . Service history . World War II , 1945 . The attack cargo ship conducted shakedown training off Long Island , New York , and in the Virginia Capes area and proceeded to Bayonne , New Jersey , to load cargo earmarked for the Pacific theater of operations . On 27 January , " Trousdale " headed for the open sea in company with , bound for Panama . She transited the Panama Canal on 2 February and sailed for Hawaii on 3 February . Reaching Pearl Harbor on 17 February , " Trousdale " spent the next 25 days unloading cargo ; making minor repairs ; and waiting for orders . In mid - March 1945 , she unloaded her first combat cargo — miscellaneous units of the 10th Army , including signal battalions , military police , a weather squadron , communications companies , bomb disposal units , and occupational government personnel , together with 200 vehicles and 900 tons of equipment . On 14 March 1945 , " Trousdale " set out for the Marshall Islands . After anchoring at Eniwetok on 22 March , the ship headed for the Carolines , arriving at Ulithi on 29 March . She got underway for the Ryukyus on 13 April and arrived off Okinawa on the 17th . " Trousdale " anchored off Hagushi beach while the amassed battleships , cruisers , and destroyers shelled Japanese defenses further inland . After commencing unloading that evening , she temporarily suspended operations as Japanese " kamikazes " flew in from the north to attempt to crash American ships engaged in the landings . Hampered by kamikazes and bad weather conditions with heavy seas and high winds , the ship lay off the beach for the next six days , engaged in nearly continuous unloading operations . On 22 April , she joined a south - bound convoy and , on 27 April , made port at Saipan , where she transferred all of her landing craft , save two , to other ships . Crossing the equator on 7 May , " Trousdale " anchored off Guadalcanal on the 9th and soon commenced loading equipment belonging to rear - echelon units of the 6th Marine Division . On 18 May , the ship weighed anchor and steamed for Tulagi , where she loaded landing craft and set out , via Eniwetok and Saipan , for Guam , arriving there on 7 June . On 13 June , the attack cargo ship sailed for the west coast , making port at San Francisco . The ship then underwent minor repairs and loaded a cargo of oil and a new set of landing craft before setting a westerly course on 10 July , bound for Tinian , the American B - 29 bomber base in the Marianas . Meanwhile , the war in the Pacific was drawing to a close as American forces swept close to the Japanese home islands themselves . Carrier planes and ships offshore bombarded coastal targets ; planes and ships made the sea lanes untenable for Japanese sea power ; and the Japanese air force rapidly dwindled in numbers . Arriving at Tinian on 27 July , the ship commenced offloading immediately and was working hard at the task on 5 August when an American B - 29 bomber exploded an atomic bomb over Hiroshima . " Trousdale " completed discharging her cargo on the 8th and shifted her anchorage to Saipan the same day . While she was anchored there on 15 August , word came through that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and capitulated to the Allies . The long and bloody war in the Pacific was over . Post - war activities , 1945 – 1946 . Yet for " Trousdale " , and ships like her , the occupation operations were just commencing . Accordingly , the ship departed Saipan on 29 August , arriving at Okinawa on 4 September . The attack cargo ship spent a week loading Army equipment for occupation forces and , in company with three other AKA ' s , sailed on 11 September for Korea . En route , lookouts sighted mines drifting in the murky waters of the East China and Yellow Seas . Gunfire from the ships destroyed these menaces to navigation . The ships made port at Jinsen on 13 September and commenced offloading soon after arrival . The AKA ' s encountered difficulties posed by the 20 - to 30 - foot tidal range which permitted larger landing craft to discharge cargo only at specific times . After completing the unloading operations , the ships headed back to Okinawa , arriving there on 18 September . " Trousdale " then embarked marines for passage to Taku , China . Anchoring off Taku Bar , the ship sent her landing boats up the Wei River for special duties , while unloading the marines for occupation duty . Orders soon came , sending " Trousdale " to the Philippines . She departed the China coast on 6 October , and — after steaming through a typhoon so intense that the ship ' s inclinometer recorded 55 - degree rolls — reached Manila on 13 October 1945 . There , the ship took on fuel and provisions and was soon underway for Hong Kong . Upon her arrival in the vicinity of the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong , the ship prepared to embark Chinese soldiers for passage to North China . Chiang Kai - shek , as he had done during the war with Japan , sought American assistance in his as yet undeclared war against the communists . This included the air lift and sea lift of Nationalist troops to cities in northern China , population centers rapidly coming under the influence of the communist forces who had taken pains to encourage popular support while fighting the Japanese . Accordingly , " Trousdale " took on board large contingents of Chinese troops , many of whom had never before been on a ship . Commencing the loading on 24 October , the operation was completed the next day , and the ship sailed with her human cargo for Chinwangtao at the base of the Great Wall of China . Making port on 30 October , she offloaded her troops and returned southward for another load — the Chinese First Division — making port at Hong Kong on 7 November and departing two days later for Tsingtao where she arrived on 14 November . While remaining at Tsingtao , the ship received urgent boiler repairs . The attack cargo ship got underway again on 14 November for Japan and arrived at Sasebo on the 20th . The ship sailed on New Year ' s Day , 1946 , bound , via Midway Island , for the west coast . " Trousdale " moored at San Diego , California , on 18 January 1946 , but soon headed for Panama and steamed through the Canal on 2 February , exactly one year to the day since her first transit . She arrived at Norfolk , Virginia , on 11 February and , six days later , headed for the New York Navy Yard to prepare for decommissioning . Decommissioning and Sale . On 6 March , the attack cargo ship departed New York City on her last voyage as a United States Navy man - of - war and arrived at Norfolk on the following day . " Trousdale " was decommissioned on 29 April 1946 , returned to the War Shipping Board of the Maritime Commission on the 30th , assigned to the National Defense Reserve Fleet , and berthed in the James River . Her name was struck from the Navy List on 8 May 1946 . The ship was sold in 1947 to the Waterman Steamship Corporation , of Mobile , Alabama , and served as a merchant ship under the name SS " Lafayette " until purchased in 1954 by the Ocean Transportation Co . , Inc . , New York , N . Y . , and renamed SS " Ocean Deborah " . In 1962 , she was purchased by the Central Gulf Steamship Corp . , New Orleans , Louisiana , and renamed SS " Green Dale " . She served under that name until 1970 when she was sold to a purchaser in Taiwan and , presumably , she was soon scrapped . Awards . " Trousdale " received one battle star for her World War II service at Okinawa .