McCracken (APA-198)
1944–1958
Named for the county in the western part of the state of Kentucky that honors Captain Virgil McCracken of Woodford County, Kentucky, killed in January 1813 at the Battle of Frenchtown (River Raisin) in southeast Michigan Territory during the War of 1812.
(APA‑198: displacement 6,720; length 455'0"; beam 62'0"; draft 24'0"; speed 17.0 knots.; complement 536; troop capacity 1,556; armament 1 5-inch, 12 40 millimeter, 10 20 millimeter; class Haskell; type VC2‑S‑AP5)
McCracken (APA‑198) was laid down on 8 June 1944 at Vancouver, Wash., by the Kaiser Co., Inc. under a Maritime Commission contract (M. C. Hull 666); launched on 29 September 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Albert Bauer. She was acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 21 October 1944 at Astoria, Ore., Cmdr. Brainerd N. Bock in command.
After training out of Astoria, McCracken sailed on 1 November 1944 for Seattle, Wash., to load ammunition. She sailed on the 5th for San Francisco, Calif., where she swung her landing craft aboard on the 8th. On 16 November, she steamed to conduct shakedown exercises and training at San Pedro, Calif.
On 1 December 1944, McCracken moved to San Diego, Calif., to conduct amphibious training and exercises. She entered the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard at San Pedro on 19 December for post-shakedown repairs and to repair a bent screw and shaft. Repairs completed and stores loaded, McCracken embarked elements of the 83rd Construction Battalion (Seabees) from Port Hueneme, Calif., and sailed for Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 27 December 1944.
Arriving on 2 January 1945, she departed for the South Pacific on the 10th. She reached Nouméa, New Caledonia, on 20 January. Between 26 and 31 January, she steamed via the Russell Islands to Guadalcanal, where she began six weeks of intensive training. Assigned to Transportation Division 52, she departed Guadalcanal on 15 March with elements of the Third Battalion, Fifth Regiment, and Fourth Battalion, Eleventh Regiment of the First Marine Division on board and sailed for the invasion of Okinawa.
After touching at Ulithi in the Carolines, McCracken closed the beaches off Okinawa early on 1 April 1945 and landed her assault troops shortly after sunrise. During the day, she offloaded cargo despite enemy air attacks. On 2 April, she resumed landing troops and received casualties from shore aboard. Her guns fired on a plane that went down, but it was unclear if McCracken had hit it. She transferred the casualties to the hospital ship Comfort (AH-6) on 3 April and landed the rest of her marines. Bad weather on 6 April prevented her from landing Seabees of the 11th Special Construction Battalion, and they sailed with her back to Saipan that day.
On 10 April 1945, McCracken reached Saipan and disembarked her remaining troops. Departing for Pearl Harbor on 11 April, she paused en route at 1000 on 15 April for a memorial service in honor of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had died at Warm Springs, Georgia, on 12 April of a cerebral hemorrhage. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 22nd. On 5 May, she cleared Pearl for San Francisco and arrived on the 10th.
McCracken loaded fuel, provisions, ammunition, replacement landing craft, and men of the 68th Naval Construction Battalion and sailed on the 20th for Pearl Harbor. She arrived on the 26th to load men of the Navy Garrison Boat Pool and U.S. Army 47th Engineer Battalion elements. She departed on 29 May and arrived at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 5 July after stops at Eniwetok and Ulithi.
After landing her men and supplies, McCracken embarked elements of the Sixth Marine Division, including Maj. Gen. Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., at Hagushi on 9 July and carried them to Guam, arriving on the 16th. She sailed for the West Coast on 17 July 1945, arriving at San Francisco on the 30th. She loaded dry provisions there and departed for San Pedro. It was there on 14 August 1945 that McCracken received word of the end of the war.
On the 15th, she embarked more than 1,400 U.S. Army troops and departed on 16 August. Though the war was over, McCracken steamed a zig-zag course, still darkened ship, and conducted gunnery and anti-aircraft practice until 2 September 1945, the date of Japan’s formal surrender.
She arrived in Manila on 12 September 1945, disembarked her troops, and unloaded cargo. A week later, she embarked troops of the 161st Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, at Lingayen Gulf. On 1 October, she sailed in a convoy to carry these occupation troops to Japan.
McCracken reached Nagoya, Honshu, and landed her soldiers and cargo on 28 and 29 October 1945. Between 4 and 8 November, the transport sailed via Yokosuka to Sasebo, Kyushu, where she took aboard 760 sailors for a Magic Carpet ride home. On 12 November, she loaded 737 additional Navy and marine veterans at Nagasaki, Japan, and departed for the United States on the 13th. On 17 November, she attempted to assist the U.S. tanker Mission San Miguel (Pacific Tankers, Inc.) which was under tow, with feed water but could not do so due to heavy weather.
McCracken reached San Pedro on 1 December 1945. Sailing for a second Magic Carpet cruise on the 12th, McCracken arrived in Manila on 2 January 1946, boarded veteran troops, sailed on 6 January, and arrived in Los Angeles, Calif., on the 25th.
McCracken arrived in San Francisco on 10 March 1946. She began inactivation overhaul at Mare Island on 2 April and was decommissioned at Stockton, Calif., on 10 October 1946, entering the Pacific Reserve Fleet. She was transferred to the Mare Island Group on 17 June 1949, reassigned to the Stockton Group on 28 November 1950, and assigned to the San Diego Group on 30 March 1958. Authorized for transfer to the Maritime Administration on 5 September 1958, her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 October 1958, and she was placed in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet at 1345 on 2 October 1958.
Sold to Zidell Explorations on 8 May 1975, McCracken was withdrawn from the reserve fleet at 1045 on 24 May 1975 and delivered to her purchasers for scrapping.
McCracken received one battle star for her World War II service: for her participation in the Okinawa Gunto Operation (Assault and Occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 1 - 6 April 1945)
Commanding Officer Date Assumed Command
Cmdr. Brainerd N. Bock 21 October 1944
Gary J. Candelaria
12 February 2025
