Earheart (APD-113)
1945-1963
James Edward Earheart, Jr., born on 25 April 1913 in Cincinnati, Ohio, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on 7 January 1942. On 8 November 1942, during Operation Torch, Private First Class Earheart was a member of a naval antisabotage party embarked in a British warship which was damaged during the entry into Oran, Algeria. Heroically, he volunteered, in the face of continuous shelling, to swim to a harbor tug whose movements were endangering the men abandoning the warship. Killed in this effort, he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.
(APD-113: displacement1,390; length 306'; beam 37'; draft 12'7"; speed 24 knots; complement 204; troops 162; armament 1 5-inch; 6 40 millimeter, 6 20 millimeter, 2 depth charge tracks; class Crosley)
Earheart (DE-603) was laid down on 20 March 1945 at Hingham, Mass., by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc.; launched on 12 May 1945; sponsored by Mrs. James Earheart, mother of Pfc. Earheart, and commissioned on 26 July 1945, Lt.Cmdr. Nathaniel M. Goodhue (D) USNR in command.
Earheart conducted shakedown training at Guantanamo Bay, then sailed to Providence, R.I., to celebrate Navy Day, 27 October 1945. Earheart was placed out of commission in reserve, up the St. Johns River, Florida, on 29 April 1946.
Strticken from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 December 1963, ex-Earheart was transferred to the government of Mexico on the same day. Placed in service as H-4, the high speed transport was reclassified to an escort vessel and renamed Papaloapan (B-4) in 1964. Damaged in a grounding in 1976, the ship was scrapped later the same year.
Commanding Officers Date Assumed Command
Lt.Cmdr. Nathanioel M. Goodhue, (D) USNR 26 July 1945
Lt.(j.g.) James S. Wise, Jr., (D) USNR 15 December 1945
Lt.(j.g.) Franklin J. Vaughn, (D) USNR 2 April 1946
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
23 February 2022
