- USS Blue Ridge (AGC-2)
USS "Blue Ridge" (AGC-2) was an "Appalachian"-class amphibious force flagship in the
United States Navy . She was named for the southeasternmost ridge of theAppalachian Mountains inVirginia andNorth Carolina .Commissioning
"Blue Ridge" was built by the
Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company ,Kearny, New Jersey , under aMaritime Commission contract. The ship was launched onMarch 7 ,1943 under the sponsorship of Mrs. David Arnott. "Blue Ridge" was transferred to the Navy onMarch 15 , 1943. TheBethlehem Steel Company ofBrooklyn ,New York , outfitted the ship as an amphibious force flagship and was commissioned onSeptember 27 , 1943. Commander Lewis R. McDowell, USN, was the commanding officer.1943-1944
Following trial runs in
Long Island Sound , "Blue Ridge" departed New York onOctober 8 ,1943 , to train in the Chesapeake Bay Area out ofNorfolk, Virginia . OnNovember 1 , the ship put to sea with twodestroyer s, bound for the South Pacific. After transit of thePanama Canal , "Blue Ridge" called at the Society,New Caledonia andFiji Islands, en route toBrisbane ,Australia , arriving onDecember 16 ,1943 . She pulled out of Brisbane three days later forMilne Bay ,New Guinea whereDecember 24 ,1943 , she became the flagship of Rear AdmiralDaniel E. Barbey , USN, Commander Seventh Amphibious Force. She served as the command ship for amphibious operations westward along the New Guinea Coast untilOctober 13 ,1944 . On that day, "Blue Ridge" left Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) as the flagship of Rear Admiral Barbey's Northern Attack Force bound for the liberation of thePhilippine Islands .The night of
October 19 -20, 1944 "Blue Ridge" and her formation stood through the swept part ofSurigao Strait , between Homonhon and Dinagat Islands and entered San Pedro Bay, Leyte, Philippine Islands. She served as a command ship for troops storming the beaches at Leyte the morning ofOctober 20 , and continued in support of the amphibious assault landings for six days. The ship's gunners drove off an enemy reconnaissance planOctober 23 . The morning ofOctober 25 , a torpedo-bomber made a run along her port side, coming in from her port quarter, and was shot down by her forward 40-mm gunners. That afternoon, the ship fired on 11 enemy planes of various types attacking the transport area.The morning of
October 26 ,1944 , "Blue Ridge" helped fight off five enemy bombers that attacked her formation. That afternoon she helped drive away three more enemy bombers. Several bombs fell in the vicinity during this action, but only one exploded close enough to shake the command ship. As she kept watch off the Leyte beaches, the three-pronged attack of the Japanese Fleet met disaster in theBattle of Surigao Strait , theBattle off Samar and theBattle of Cape Engano . She stood out of San Pedro Bay in the night ofOctober 26 ,1944 to stage at ports of New Guinea in preparation for the liberation landings to be made at Lingayen. She remained the flagship of Vice Admiral Barbey who was designated commander of the San Fabian Attack Force 78. Besides Admiral Barbey and his staff, she embarked Major General I. P. Swift, commanding the I Army Corps, and Major General L. F. Wing, Commanding the 43rd Infantry Division, together with their personal staffs."Blue Ridge" led the San Fabian Attack Force from
Aitape , New Guinea onDecember 28 ,1944 . An aerial snooper was driven off by gunfireJanuary 2 ,1945 and covering escort carrier aircraft shot down a bomber twenty miles out from her formation the following day. The night ofJanuary 4 ,1945 the command ship followed a covering group of cruisers and destroyers through Surigao Strait to enter the Mindanao Sea. The afternoon ofJanuary 5 an enemy submarine fired on the covering group, ten miles ahead, and was forced to surface and rammed by destroyer Dashiell. Enemy planes attacked the formation January 7; two being shot down by pilots of the Combat Air Patrol, and three fell victims to combined anti-aircraft fire of the formation. That night four destroyers sank a Japanese destroyer eleven miles to the east of Blue Ridge. The command ship helped repel six enemy planes onJanuary 8 ,1945 and entered Linguine Gulf before daybreak ofJanuary 9 . Troops stormed ashore that morning, some two hours after a single-engine enemy aircraft sneaked through cover of night, staffed to a point forward of the bow, barely missed the bridge, then overshot and dropped bombs about 500 yards off her port bow. The ship was not damaged and suffered no casualties. During the initial landings, three air attacks came close enough to be a threat to Blue Ridge, but veered off the in the face of heavy anti-suicide swimmers and small fast suicide boats. To combat this threat, a patrol boat was kept circling "Blue Ridge" and all shipboard security patrols were strengthened.1945
On
January 13 ,1945 Chief Storekeeper H. G. Williamson reported on board "Blue Ridge". He was an escapedprisoner of war , having been captured by the Japanese onJanuary 18 ,1942 , while attached to the Naval Air Station atCavite . He had escaped onMarch 15 ,1942 and had remained in hiding nearSan Fabian since then. Williamson was returned to duty at the Naval Base and "Blue Ridge" departedLingayen Gulf onJanuary 15 ,1945 . The ship continued to serve as Vice Admiral Barbey's flagship at San Pedro Bay and Subic Bay untilJune 8 ,1945 . Two days later, "Blue Ridge" was underway for Saipan and then to Pearl Harbor when she became the flagship of Rear AdmiralJerauld Wright , Commander Amphibious Group Five onJune 30 ,1945 . She hauled down his flag onJuly 20 and entered thePearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for alterations and repairs."Blue Ridge" departed Pearl Harbor on
September 8 ,1945 and reachedBuckner Bay ,Okinawa , onSeptember 22 . That afternoon, she hoisted the flag of Rear Admiral Ingolf N. Kiland, Commander Amphibious Group Seven. The ship got underway onOctober 21 to serve as a command ship at Tsingtao,China , arrivingOctober 24 ,1945 . Rear Admiral Kiland shifted his flag to USS|Wasatch|AGC-9 onNovember 6 ,1945 and "Blue Ridge" became the flagship of Rear AdmiralAlbert G. Noble , Commander Amphibious Group One.1946
The ship departed Tsingtao for
Jinsen ,Korea onDecember 13 ,1945 , then returned offTaku Bar before proceeding to Shanghai, China. She arrived in the Wonsung Anchorage of theUangtze River onDecember 22 ,1945 , and served as station command ship for Naval Forces there untilFebruary 24 ,1946 , when the ship departed Shanghai for Hawaii. After a brief stay at Pearl Harbor, she was routed to the western seaboard, arriving atSan Pedro, California onMarch 18 ,1946 . The ship entered the Naval Shipyard at Terminal Island to prepare for participation in "Operation Crossroads ", the atomic bomb tests to be carried out atBikini Atoll ,Marshall Islands ."Blue Ridge" departed San Francisco on
June 12 ,1946 , touching atHonolulu ,Hawaii , en route toKwajalein Atoll where she arrivedJune 28 ,1946 . Here the ship completed embarking general and flag officers of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps along withUnited Nations officials for transportation to Bikini Atoll to observe Atomic Bomb Tests. She hoisted the flag of Vice AdmiralHarry W. Hill . The senior officer on board was Vice AdmiralEdward L. Cochrane , Chief of the Bureau of Ships. Also on board were Vice AdmiralGeorge F. Hussey and Vice AdmiralA. E. Montgomery .The ship arrived at Bikini Atoll on
June 29 ,1946 , serving as one of the command and observation ships off Bikini during the Atomic Bomb Test "Able" onJuly 1 . Thereafter, she called at Ponape andTruk in theCaroline Islands , then proceeded to Kwajalein where, onJuly 23 , "Blue Ridge" became the flagship of Rear AdmiralC. C. Glover . The ship again served as observation flagship for the atomic bomb test ofJuly 24 , hauled down Rear Admiral Glover's flag onJuly 27 , and sailed for home onJuly 30 . She arrived atSan Francisco inactivation overhaul in the Naval Shipyard at Terminal Island; she decommissioned onMarch 14 ,1947 . The ship remained in reserve untilJanuary 1 ,1960 , when her name was struck from the Navy List. She was sold for scrappingAugust 26 ,1960 toZidell Exploration Incorporated ,Portland, Oregon .Awards
USS "Blue Ridge" (AGC-2) received two battle stars and other awards for the operations listed below:
* One Star/LEYTE OEPRATION: Leyte Landings: October 13-30, 1944
* One Star/LUZON OPERATION: Lingayen Gulf Landings: January 9-14, 1945
* NAVY OCCUPATION SERVICE MEDAL (Asia Clasp):September 22 ,1945 -February 24 ,1946
* CHINA SERVICE MEDAL:September 22 ,1945 -February 24 ,1946
* REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION BADGE:References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b7/blue-ridge-ii.htm
External links
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/0102.htm navsource.org: USS "Blue Ridge"]
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