USS Chilton ( APA - 38 ) USS Chilton ( APA - 38 ) was a " Bayfield " - class attack transport . Her task was to deliver troops to the battle front , and to recover and care for the wounded . She served in the Pacific Ocean in the war against the Empire of Japan and returned home post - war with one battle star to her credit . " Chilton " ( APA - 38 ) was launched 29 December 1942 by the Western Pipe and Steel Company , San Francisco , California , under a Maritime Commission contract , as SS Sea Needle ; sponsored by Mrs . W . A . Riley , Jr . ; acquired by the Navy 29 May 1943 ; converted at New York Navy Yard ; and commissioned 7 December 1943 , Commander A . C . Geisenhoff , USNR , in command . World War II Pacific Theatre operations . " Chilton " served at Newport , Rhode Island , as a training ship for pre - commissioning crews of attack transports from 31 January 1943 to 15 October 1944 . She sailed from Boston , Massachusetts , 20 November for San Diego , California , before arriving at Pearl Harbor 23 January 1945 . Here she embarked troops , and sailed by way of Eniwetok and Ulithi , to Leyte , arriving 21 February . After rehearsal landings , " Chilton " put out of Leyte 16 March to land troops at Kerama Retto 26 March in a key preliminary to the assault on Okinawa . She remained off Okinawa as flagship for Transport Squadron 17 supporting the establishment and reinforcement of beachheads until 30 April , departing then for San Francisco and overhaul . Supporting the Okinawa invasion . " Chilton " returned to Ulithi 17 July 1945 to load troops and cargo for Okinawa , where she lay until 31 August . From then until 8 December , when she arrived at Seattle , Washington , " Chilton " had duty in the redeployment of United States and Chinese troops , calling at Jinsen , Tientsin , Hong Kong , Chinwangtao , Tsingtao , and Nagoya . She cleared Seattle 21 December for the first of two " Operation Magic Carpet " voyages to the Philippines and Okinawa to carry home servicemen , returning from the second of these to San Francisco 10 May 1946 . Supporting Bikini nuclear testing . She cleared San Francisco 2 June to participate in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll , returned to San Francisco 1 August , and sailed for transport duty in China and Japan from 7 September to 22 January 1947 . She visited the Bikini area as a floating laboratory that summer , then returned to San Diego for local operations . Final operations . " Chilton " cleared San Diego , California , 15 November 1948 to withdraw U . S . Marines from China , returning to San Diego 31 May . Local operations and exercises in the Hawaiian Islands occupied her until 25 November 1949 when she sailed from San Diego for her new home port , Norfolk , Virginia , arriving 10 December . While based at Norfolk in 1951 , she appeared at dock in the opening scenes of the film " You ' re in the Navy Now " . Local operations , overhaul , and service as a training ship in Cuban waters preceded her first tour of duty in the Mediterranean , 11 June - 20 December 1951 . On 21 August 1952 , she sailed from Norfolk to participate in NATO Operation Mainbrace , proceeding to the Mediterranean for duty until 6 February 1953 . " Chilton " continued to alternate local and Caribbean operations with tours of duty in the Mediterranean from 1954 through 1963 . The Chilton continued to do Mediterranean training operations throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s . Final decommissioning . " Chilton " was reclassified as an Amphibious transport ( LPA - 38 ) , 1 January 1969 before being decommissioned on 1 July 1972 . On 1 July 1972 she was struck from the Naval Register , and transferred to the Maritime Administration for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet . On 15 July 1974 she was sold by MARAD to Ships Incorporated of Camden , New Jersey , for scrapping Military honors and awards . " Chilton " received one battle star for World War II service .