USS Tolland ( AKA - 64 ) USS " Tolland " ( AKA - 64 ) was the lead ship of her class of attack cargo ship s of the United States Navy . Named after Tolland County , Connecticut , 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 . USS " Tolland " served as a commissioned ship for 21 months . " Tolland " was laid down as a Type C2 - S - AJ3 ship under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 1385 ) on 22 April 1944 at Wilmington , N . C . , by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company ; launched on 26 June 1944 ; sponsored by Miss Beverley Peebles ; delivered to the Navy under loan - charter on 13 August 1944 ; and commissioned at Charleston , South Carolina , on 4 September 1944 , Comdr . Edward J . Kingsland , USNR , in command . Service history . World War II , 1944 – 1945 . Assigned to Task Group 29 . 7 , " Tolland " departed Hampton Roads on 14 October bound for Hawaii , transited the Panama Canal on 21 October , and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 5 November . The ship devoted the next month to amphibious maneuvers and exercises off Maui before heading back to the West Coast on 6 December and making port six days later . Returning to Pearl Harbor on 23 December , the ship spent Christmas and New Year ' s in Hawaiian waters before embarking on further training in preparation for combat operations across the Pacific . The day and night exercises continued through the third week of January 1945 as the ship ' s crew honed its skills in cargo loading and unloading , boat - handling , and antiaircraft gunnery . " Tolland " got underway with Task Force 53 on 27 January , bound for Eniwetok with marines of the 5th Marine Division and a construction battalion or Seabee unit embarked . Following brief stops at Eniwetok and Saipan , " Tolland " anchored off Iwo Jima on 19 February to commence ten days of unloading . After the initial landings had been blessed with good weather , rough tides hampered subsequent support operations . In spite of these natural impediments , the operations proceeded . In the vicious tidal conditions on the steep beaches , three of the ship ' s LCVP ' s and one LCM sank , but the men on board were saved . One unmanned amphibious craft struck the propeller , and a Japanese shell clipped a radio antenna for the ship ' s only damage . Twenty - five marines , wounded on shore in heavy fighting with the fanatical Japanese defenders , were evacuated to the ship for medical treatment while the ship lay to off the beachhead . The stars and stripes flew proudly over Mt . Suribachi as Marine forces secured the island after bitter fighting . " Tolland " and her companion AKA ' s in the squadron left the Bonins for a period of waiting , training , provisioning , and repairs , while American forces marshalled for the assault on an island one step closer to the Japanese homeland itself — Okinawa . Drydocked at Espiritu Santo late in February , " Tolland " then combat - loaded elements of the Army 27th Division and cleared the New Hebrides on 1 April 1945 , bound for the Ryūkyūs . With Kerama Retto secured earlier in the Okinawa campaign , " Tolland " put in on 9 April and anchored as a floating reserve with Task Force 53 . American forces endured terrific air attacks from the Japanese defenders , now nearly reduced to this last island defense post on their very doorstep . The attack cargo ship ' s crew stood to general quarters for hours at a time — night and day — some sleeping and eating at their stations during lulls in the action , to be so many steps closer to their guns at the sound of the alarm . In one of the 22 air attacks encountered during her eight - day deployment off Okinawa , " Tolland " s guns downed a Japanese " Betty " bomber on 12 April . On 15 April , an " Oscar " flew low over the transport area , attracting fire and spinning into the sea in flames as " Tolland " and other ships shared the kill . Departing from the Ryūkyūs on 16 April , " Tolland " proceeded via Saipan to Ulithi and engaged in nearly continuous exercises and drills through 14 May , when she was ordered to Angaur in the Palau Islands . Loading heavy guns soon after her arrival , she set out for the Philippines , to off - load her cargo at Cebu on 24 May , before moving to Subic Bay and anchoring there for three weeks of upkeep and training . Subsequent to her rest period at Subic Bay , the ship proceeded to Manila where she remained from 22 June to 28 June . She then steamed to Leyte where she embarked troops , vehicles , and equipment of the Army 323d Division for amphibious training . By this time , preparations for the invasion of Japan were proceeding apace . Estimates of fanatical and suicidal Japanese resistance projected astronomical casualties for both defender and invader alike , with untold devastation forecast . Accordingly , heavy air attacks by American B - 29 ' s pounded key Japanese targets while units of the American and British Navies steamed often close inshore , bombarding coastline targets . The entire month of July found " Tolland " and her sisters engaged in training for the projected invasion of Japan , conducting exercises in Subic Bay and Lingayen Gulf . While the attack transport was at Lingayen , word came that American B - 29 ' s had dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki . Now hardpressed on all sides and hemmed in by armadas of sea and air forces , Japan capitulated on 15 August 1945 . After a brief stop at Subic Bay from 17 August to 19 August , " Tolland " proceeded to Batangas Bay , Luzon , on the 20th and then moved on to Tokyo where she was present when Japanese representatives signed the formal articles of surrender on the deck of battleship . Post - war activities , 1945 – 1946 . Returning to the Philippines , the ship arrived at Zamboanga on 2 September , where she embarked units of the Army ' s 41st Division for transportation to Kure , Japan , for duty with the Allied occupation forces . Provisioning at Manila after delivering the Army troops , she embarked elements of the Chinese 52nd Army at Tonkin Gulf , French Indochina , and transported them to Chinwangtao , China , at the base of the Great Wall . On 14 November , " Tolland " departed Taku , China , and pointed her bow toward home , arriving at Seattle on 20 November 1945 as Task Unit 78 . 19 . 6 , and remaining in the Pacific northwest until 28 February 1946 , when the ship departed for Port Hueneme . On 11 March 1946 , with cargo loaded on board earmarked for Guam , " Tolland " departed the West Coast . She arrived at Apra Harbor on 27 March and remained there until 20 April when she departed for Panama . Making port at Balboa on 13 May , she transited the Panama Canal and reported to Commander in Chief , Atlantic Fleet , for duty on 14 May . Departing Panamanian waters on the 16th , she proceeded for Hampton Roads and arrived at Norfolk on 21 May . Decommissioning and sale . " Tolland " was decommissioned on 1 July 1946 and returned to the War Shipping Administration on 2 July . Seventeen days later , on 19 July 1946 , her name was struck from the Navy List . Acquired by the Luckenbach Steamship Co . she was renamed SS " Edgar F . Luckenbach " on 3 October 1947 and served under this company ' s flag into the second half of 1959 until purchased in October 1959 by States Marine Line and renamed SS " Blue Grass State " . After carrying cargo for States Marine for eleven years , she was sold on 6 November 1970 , renamed SS " Reliance Cordiality " and reflagged Panamanian . Less than a year later she was sold for the final time as scrap and broken up at Kaohsiung , Taiwan beginning in June 1971 . Awards . " Tolland " received two battle stars for her World War II service at Iwo Jima and Okinawa .