USS Trego ( AKA - 78 ) USS " Trego " ( AKA - 78 ) was a of the United States Navy named after Trego County , Kansas . 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 17 months . " Trego " was laid down as a Type C2 - S - AJ3 ship under Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 1384 ) on 14 April 1944 at Wilmington , North Carolina , by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Co . ; launched on 20 June 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . M . W . Nettles ; acquired by the Navy on 4 July 1944 ; and commissioned on 21 December 1944 , Lt . Comdr . James F . Hunnewell , USNR , in command . Service history . World War II , 1945 . " Trego " held shakedown training at Oyster Bay in the Chesapeake / Maryland area in early February 1945 . On the first night at anchor the radar operators on duty noticed the ship was drifting towards shore at about . The Officer of the Deck was notified , but did not believe it . ( Radar was new and its reliability was suspect by some ) . The Captain was woken and told . His response was the Officer of the Deck was in control of the ship . Again when told , the Officer of the Deck did not believe it , but at dawn he saw that the ship had drifted close to shore . The engine room was then accidentally signaled to go full speed ahead rather than reverse and the ship grounded at full speed within 15 feet of the shore . Two days later , tugs pulled the " Trego " off the beach . The ship was repaired at the Brooklyn Navy Yard , where 22 plates and the screw were replaced . The attack cargo ship then loaded cargo at Norfolk . She stood out of Norfolk on 16 February bound for Hawaii , transited the Panama Canal on Washington ' s Birthday , and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 March . The ship unloaded ; participated in training exercises for a week ; discharged her landing craft ; and on 31 March got underway for San Francisco to replace them and to load equipment for the 5th Marine Division which had just returned from Iwo Jima . " Trego " discharged her cargo at Pearl Harbor on 19 April ; loaded men and equipment of the 7th Air Force ; and sailed on 2 May with a convoy bound , via Eniwetok and Ulithi , for Okinawa . After unloading her troops and supplies at the Hagushi beaches between 3 and 11 June , the ship returned to Pearl Harbor . On 19 July , she headed for Guam laden with maintenance equipment and arrived at Apra Harbor on 30 July . The following week , she got underway for the South Pacific ; picked up equipment at Guadalcanal and at the Russell Islands ; and delivered it back at Guam on the 29th . Post - war activities , 1945 – 1946 . On 8 September , she headed for the Philippines to join Transport Squadron 20 of the 5th Amphibious Force . She and the other ships of the squadron embarked the entire 25th Infantry Division and sortied for Japan on 1 October . However , due to several typhoons , the convoy did not reach Nagoya until the 28th . The ships began unloading immediately and finished on 1 November . After disembarking their troops , the squadron disbanded ; and " Trego " got underway on 2 November for the South Pacific . She called at Milne Bay on the 11th ; at Manus in early December ; at Batavia on 18 December 1945 ; and at Guam on 11 January 1946 . On 18 January , the cargo ship headed for the United States and reached San Diego on 5 February . Decommissioning . She stood put to sea on 29 March , bound for the east coast and inactivation . She arrived at Norfolk on 17 April . Decommissioned there on 21 May , " Trego " was returned to the War Shipping Administration the next day and was struck from the Navy List on 5 June 1946 and place in reserve with the James River Group of the reserve fleet at Lee Hall , Virginia . Civilian Service and Fate . Ex - USS " Trego " was sold to Lykes Brothers Steamship Company in 1946 but was not withdrawn from reserve until 27 January 1947 . She was towed to Mobile , Alabama by Moran Towing & Transportation Co . On 9 July 1947 she was finally turned over to her new owners and renamed SS " Mason Lykes " . Lykes sold the ship to Ocean Freighting & Brokerage Corp ( aka T . J . Stevensons Steamship Company ) and she was renamed SS " Flower Hill " . She served under this name until 27 October 1969 when she was sold for the final time to Tung Tan Manufacturing of Taiwan and subsequently scrapped . Awards . " Trego " received one battle star for her service in World War II