Wakefield (AP-21) Class: Photographs
| These photographs were selected to show the original configuration of this class and major subsequent modifications. For more views see the former NHHC (now Hyperwar) Online Library of Selected Images and the NavSource Photo Archive. |
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S.S. Washington Shown during the 1930s. This ship and her sister Manhattan were the flagships of the U.S. merchant marine until the completion of America in 1940. Washington became USS Mount Vernon (AP-22) in 1941. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
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USS Mount Vernon (AP-22) Photographed off the California coast on 15 March 1943 by a blimp based in Santa Ana, Calif. In contrast with her sister, which initially resembled her, this ship was altered relatively little during the war. Photo No. 80-G-83201 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-80-G |
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USS Mount Vernon (AP-22) Near the Boston Navy Yard on 24 July 1944. The few changes in her configuration since 1943 include the radar mast and some additional small caliber antiaircraft guns. Two of the ship's four 5"/51 guns are on each side of the foremast and two are side by side at the stern. Photo No. 19-N-68410 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
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USS Mount Vernon (AP-22) Near the Boston Navy Yard on 24 July 1944. The two stern 5"/51 guns are at the corners of the deck immediately above the fantail, and smaller guns are mounted two decks above them. Photo No. 19-N-68410 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
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USS Wakefield (AP-21) Near the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 11 May 1942. She is emerging from an overhaul in which three of her four 5"/51 guns were removed and the other was moved to a centerline position at the stern. The lattice radar mast was probably also added at this time along with some smaller antiaircraft guns. Photo No. 19-N-29517 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM |
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USS Wakefield (AP-21) Under tow on 2 October 1942 approaching the Boston Navy Yard. The corrugated pattern on the side is hull plating distorted by the intense heat of the fire that gutted her in September. All of this structure had to be cut out and replaced during her reconstruction. Note the ship's only 5"/51 gun in its centerline position at the stern. Photo No. 80-G-16507 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-80-G |
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USS Wakefield (AP-21) Under reconstruction at the Boston Navy Yard on 20 April 1943. The ship has been cut down to roughly the level of the top of the engineering compartments, with only the extreme bow and stern surviving intact. The kingposts on the remaining portion of the bow are visible in this image. The reconstruction has begun with the fabrication of new trunks on the centerline and what appears to be some new shell plating on the sides. Photo No. Unknown Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM |
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USS Wakefield (AP-21) Probably photographed shortly before the completion of her reconstruction in February 1944. The ship appears complete but her guns have not been installed and she has not received her final paint scheme. By April 1944 a second smaller gun tub for 20mm guns had been added forward of the bow 5"/38 platform and some more 20mm guns had been added amidships. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
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USS Wakefield (AP-21) Photographed off Virginia Beach, Va., on 5 April 1944 by a blimp based in Weeksville, N.C. Two of the ship's three 5"/38 guns are in centerline superfiring positions on the stern, with two positions for quadruple 40mm mounts on the deck above them. Photo No. 80-G-229278 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-80-G |
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USS Wakefield (AP-21) Photographed east of Boston, Mass., on 6 April 1944 by a blimp based in South Weymouth, Mass. Photo No. 80-G-229739 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-80-G |
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