Windsor-class attack transport

The Windsor-class attack transport was a class of US Navy attack transport. Ships of the class saw service in World War II.

Like all attack transports, the purpose of the Windsors was to transport troops and their equipment to foreign shores in order to execute amphibious invasions using an array of smaller assault boats integral to the attack transport itself. Like all the attack transports, the Windsor-class was well armed with antiaircraft weaponry to protect itself and its cargo of troops from air attack in the battle zone.

Class history
The Windsor class is inconsistently documented in the US Navy's official Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS). The ships were based upon the Maritime Commission's ubiquitous C3 cargo type, but unusually, appear to be of more than one subtype. This is probably because the class entered service in fits and starts, the first two vessels from June 1943 and the remaining seven between July 1944 and January 1945.

The early examples, then, were based upon the C3-S-A1 hull and the later ships on the C3-S-A3, but the last two, Griggs and Grundy have larger length, beam and draft specifications which are inconsistent with their listed subtype, but consistent (in length and beam) with some other C3 subtypes - for example the C3-S-A2 or the C3-S1-A3. It is unknown therefore whether DANFS has listed the subtype incorrectly for these two ships, or whether it has listed the specifications incorrectly. Since ships of a given class usually have the same dimensions, the latter explanation may be the more correct - either that, or the class was constructed of three different C3 hull types, which would make it quite unusual.

Other unusual aspects in regards to this class is that they are listed with a variety of different armaments. Early models had two five-inch guns while the later ships had only one; the Leedstown was at least initially fitted with 1.1" antiaircraft guns instead of 40mm; and Griggs is listed with 8 x 40mm guns and no 20mm, whereas the other ships are listed with a maximum of 2 x 40mm and 22 x 20mm. The Windsors also appear to be more lightly armed than most other attack transport classes, particularly with respect to the 40mm weapon which was considered far more effective than the 20mm gun which comprised most of the Windsor's armament.

Most of the ships were built by Bethlehem Steel at its Sparrows Point Shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland; the last two, Griggs and Grundy, were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

In service
Ships of the Windsor class served exclusively in the Pacific Theatre. The first two ships of the class, the USS Windsor (APA-55) and USS Leedstown (APA-56), were built and commissioned in mid-1943, much earlier than the later units. Consequently they saw much more action, both earning at least five battle stars. The next two were not commissioned until at least July 1944 and only saw three combat operations between them. The remaining five ships arrived too late to see combat and served out the war on transport and training missions.

After V-J Day, the Windsors, like virtually all classes of attack transport, were assigned first to transporting fresh troops to occupation missions in Japan and its former occupied territories such as China and Korea, and later to Operation Magic Carpet, the giant sealift organized to bring millions of demobilizing servicemen back to the United States. The class as a whole was subsequently demobilized in early 1946, and the individual ships sold into commercial service, mostly as cargo ships. Most of the ships were scrapped in the early-to-mid-1970s, having enjoyed overall service lives of approximately 30 years. A notable exception was the USS Queens (APA-103). Following her refurbishment and service as passenger-cargo ship SS Excambion, she was loaned to the Texas Maritime Academy in April 1965 and spent the next 30 years as training ship USTS Texas Clipper. She was finally decommissioned in 1995 and sunk as an artificial reef in 2007. Another Windsor class ship, USS Dauphin (APA-97) became dormitory ship SS Stevens for Stevens Institute of Technology after serving as passenger-cargo ship SS Exochorda.