Talk:USS Wakefield (AP-21)

My interest in this topic

My interest in seeing the Wakefield's story on Citizendium is because my dad served on this ship during WW II. Herbert Mahan, joined the Wakefield crew while it was undergoing it's conversion from the US Manhattan, which had been a high speed transatlantic liner previously. Dad would continue to serve on the Wakefield until the end of the war except for a period of time after a fire disabled the Wakefield in 1942. He returned to the Wakefield when it was rebuilt after a fire that almost destroyed it, He continued to serve on it until the end of the war. New York was where the Wakefield would dock between voyages. My mother got a job and moved there after they were married so she could see Dad between voyages. The Wakefield had made a large number of trips back and forth from Europe bringing home US soldiers and taking back German and Italian POWs. This is a list of the ports visited by Wakefield when my dad was on the ship. User:Warren William Mahan Mar 28, 2021

Halifax, Nova Scotia
Cape Town, South Africa
Keppel Harbor, Singapore
Colombo, Ceylon
Bombay, India
Crisabol, Panama
Panama Canal
Wellington, New Zealand
River Clyde, Scotland
New York
Philadelphia
Boston
Norfork
Liverpool, England
Naples, Italy
Marseille, France
Toulon, France
Oran, Algeria
Tartano, Italy
Le Harve, France
Cherbourg, France

My dad was a WW II European army combat veteran, and he kept a photo of the USS Saboney (the ship that brought him home) until his passing in 1992. These ships meant a lot to the troops who sailed on them. Thanks for writing this article.Pat Palmer (talk) 22:17, 28 March 2021 (UTC)

My interest in the Wakefield was kept alive by a book the Navy produced after the war for veterans who had served on the Wakefield. Evidently they produced ones for most of the ships that served in WW II. Here is the information on that book. Wakefield (AP 21)

USS Wakefield AP-21, Operated for the U.S. Navy by the U.S. Coast Guard. Cover: U.S.S. Wakefield AP-21 War Cruise History. Anon. Philadelphia: Clark Printing House, 1946. 66 pp., embossed blue hardcover with gold printing and Coast Guard seal and campaign ribbons, 27.6 x 20.4 cm, photos, ports., map. Advertised in All Hands, January 1948. NDL, private collection.

I found this on a US Navy history site. Unfortunately there is no listing for a USS Saboney. Warren William Mahan (talk) 18:38, 30 March 2021 (UTC)

Dad had this clip From the the December, 1941 issue of the Coast Guard Magazine. I retyped it so it is easier to read and will also upload a picture of the original article.

Coast Guard Magazine article, 12/1941

On the Transports By H.J. Mahan

Hello, Shipmates! Here's a breezy greeting to all our shipmates back on the cutters and Land stations. It would hardly be true if I were to say we were all happy on our new ship. Most of the fellows, including myself, would like to be back on the cutters. But we all feel that we have been given a job to do which is important during the present emergency, so you bet your “shipping-over-money: that we will do our upmost to live up to the splendid achievements of the Coast Guard in former emergencies. We had a few weeks of fairly tough work when we came abroad getting things shipshape. And we had petty growls over chow and long hours which show a sailor is happy but wasn't a man who really didn't get a real thrill out of seeing things begin to look like the cutters in respect to cleanness and order. The Coast Guard never fails to instill its men with a desire to want their ship to more shipshape and cleaner than the next. There is only one serious question in our minds, and it is really justified as one may prove if one cares to take the trouble. We go ashore and see old shipmates sporting new “crows' or more stripes on the old one. And we hear that, as a result of the present emergency and expansion, qualified men are being rated. However, all promotion on the transports is at a standstill. So it is only normal that we wonder why. And there is something I want to tell all my fellow boiler nurses. One of the thrills of a lifetime is to be had firing these boilers and knowing you are creating power to drive one of the largest liners ever built in the U.S. Through the water. I can't express the thrill in words but I'm sure you have all felt it at times underway and at full speed. It is something to tell our grand children about on long winter evenings in the far future. User:Warren William Mahan Mar 29, 2021

Here is a photo of the crew from 1944 after the rebuild. My dad is in the top row second from the left. I believe the picture is of the crew and officers who had been on the Wakefield before the fire and came back.

Wakefield crew 1944.

~~Warren William Mahan~~

I found this at Archive.org. It was made probably in 1944-1945 and tells the story of the Wakefield in movies and narration. Hopefully it will play when I add it. There are a couple of minutes of the engine room where my dad worked but I did not see him in the pictures. The first 90 seconds or so have nothing to do with the Wakefield but after that the rest of it is on subject. Warren William Mahan (talk) 17:07, 5 April 2021 (UTC)

https://archive.org/details/22490StoryOfATransport