Entry: 79142
Subject: JAPANESE TROOP SHIP
Subject: JAPANESE TROOP SHIP
Edward Breen wrote on May 31, 2011
City and State: COLUMBIA CT
Unit: 51ST SIGNALE BATTALION
Service or Relationship: Army Veteran
Comments: Went from Sasebo Pusan in the fall of 1951 on the Congo Maru.
Straw mats to lay on very low overhead.
Hit bad weather.
Very rough crossing. Much sea sickness.
I believe that there was a Japanese crew, but US Navy or Coast Guard command.
Keywords: Fromer Japanese Troop Carriers
Entry: 58402
Subject: JAPENESE LSTS AT INCHON
Subject: JAPENESE LSTS AT INCHON
Lyle Brown wrote on August 8, 2006
Email Update Needed
City and State: ROBINSON TX
Unit: COMMANDER THIRD SERVICE SQUADRON STAFF
Service or Relationship: Navy Veteran
Comments: As a communications watch officer and crypto officer with CAPT
Bernard Austin's COMSERVRON 3 staff, I moved from the destroyer
tender Piedmont to the heavy repair ship Hector shortly before
steaming up a channel to anchor near Walmi-do at Inchon in
September 1950. The port had been taken by marines, but I saw one or
more cruisers providing gunfire support for the marines as they
advanced on Seoul. Other ships present were LSTs flying the SCAPJAP
ensign (red and black, as I remember). I was informed that these ships
had been engaged in Japanese interisland shipping before the Inchon
operation. In June 1954, while performing annual Naval Reserve activie
duty for training at Algiers, I met some Japanese merchant marine
personnel at the French Quarter Baptist Mission. On the following day I
drove them around New Orleans, and they invited me to mess with
them aboard their new merchant vessel. One of the mates had been
aboard a SCAPJAP LST at Inchon, so in my limited Japanese and his
limited English, we talked about our Inchon experiences. Later I read
somewhere that the captain of one one of the SCAPJAP LST's at Inchon
had commanded a Japanese battleship during World War II. Whether
that is true or not, I can't say. But everyone who participated in
Operation Chromite helped make history.
Keywords: Inchon, SCAPJAP LSTs, Piedmont, Hector, Bernard Austin
Entry: 21844
Subject: JAPANESE TROOP SHIP
Subject: JAPANESE TROOP SHIP
William J. Curtis wrote on December 29, 2001
City and State: CRANFORD NJ
Unit: VF-51
Service or Relationship: Navy Veteran - Korea
Comments: Myself and 3 other Naval Air Reservists were recalled from NAS Floyd Bennett NY in Sep't 1950. We traveled together to San Francisco, boarded a MSTS ship with US Army Close Air Support personnel and ultimately landed in I believe Pusan Korea.There we boarded a Japanese Troop ship the Takeju Maru for a 24 hour trip to I believe Sasebo or Yokosuka.The Jap ship was a coal burning very old ship that had been used during WW2 as a troop carrier.Bunks were straw mats on a platform,toilets were 2 planks straddling a hole,below the main deck, was not compartmented it was all open.Food was a case of Army 10 in 1 rations.A US Navy officer was in command of the ship.Had we hit a mine it would have sunk immediately like a stone. When we got to our destination we each went into a different squadron of Air Group 5 on the Valley Forge.It was an interesting way to begin the almost 2 years I spent in VF-51 as an Aviation Machinist Mate.After the cruise on the Valley I made the cruise with the Essex, and was discharged upon return to the States in 1952.
Keywords: Takeju Maru, Valley Forge, VF-51
Entry: 20320
Subject: JAPENESE LSTS
Subject: JAPENESE LSTS
Edward Sullivan wrote on November 2, 2001
Email Update Needed
City and State:
Unit:
Service or Relationship: Army Veteran - Korea
Comments: Surfing LST, trying to find if Japanese had any. Glad to find your note. Sailed from Sasebo to Pusan on 9 JUL 50 with 25th Div. Signal Co. Remember crew being all Japanese, as I went up to the bridge or Pilot House and watched what was going on. They showed me charts, etc. Couldn't understand too much, but it was interesting.
Can't remember Ship numbers or any other ID. But ship did not have any gun mounts as I recall and was rusty in spots. We had fun climbing down the ladders on the front doors and getting ducked in the water when the bow went down. That was probably pretty stupid, but we were invincible 18 yr. olds going to a place that would only last a few weeks.
Anyway thanks for verifying that the Japanese did have LSTs. I believe two LSTs and an Australian destoyer were in our group at sea.
Keywords:
Entry: 15281
Subject: LOOKING FOR DAD USS CALVERT
Subject: LOOKING FOR DAD USS CALVERT
Melanie Zoeller wrote on March 4, 2001
Email Update Needed
City and State:
Unit:
Service or Relationship: Family Member
Comments: I have been searching for information on my dad's military history, with no success. I recently learned that he was on a military transport ship, the USS Calvert, a Cruise ship that had been refitted to transport marines (?) to Puson where allied forces were trapped. The information that I got said that the Calvert would 'tip over' when the USS Missouri fired at the enemy. If anyone knows of this ship and its mission, I'd love to hear from you! I haven't found anything on the internet, but I'm still looking. My dad's name was Jimmie Raper. I don't remember what his position was.
Keywords: USS Calvert, Puson, USS Missouri, Jimmie Raper
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MSTS - Military Ship Transport
- Japanese Ships Operation Chromite
- Military Ship Transport ( MSTS Info page)
- USS General E.T. Collins (AP-147)
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