USS Braxton (APA-138) was a Haskell-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1973.
History
Braxton (APA-138) was laid down on 29 August 1944 at Wilmington, California, by the California Shipbuilding Corp. under a Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 54); launched on 3 November 1944; sponsored by Mrs. J. R. DeFrees; acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission on a loan-charter basis on 28 December 1944; and commissioned the following day at Terminal Island, San Pedro, California.
Pacific War
Following alterations and repairs between 3 and 5 January 1945, the attack transport sailed on 9 January for shakedown training in the Long Beach, California, area. Less than a week later on 14 January, Braxton collided with the merchant tanker SS Mission Capistrano during a heavy fog and suffered damage to two LCVP's, three life rafts, and her hull. Following repairs, the attack transport departed Long Beach on 22 January, proceeded to San Diego, California, and reported the next day for duty with the Amphibious Training Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Braxton then conducted amphibious exercises off the coast of southern California until mid-February and then headed for San Francisco, California, where she arrived on the 20th. After embarking passengers, she departed from the Bay area on the 24th, bound for Hawaii. The ship moored at Pearl Harbor on 1 March and disembarked her passengers. For the rest of the month, she operated in Hawaiian waters conducting amphibious exercises off Maui and Oahu.
On the morning of 9 April, the attack transport sailed for the Marshalls in convoy PD-372T—with also , Sea Flasher, and the minesweepers and —and anchored at Eniwetok on the morning of 18 April. The following day, after picking up additional escorts in the form of and PCE-898, the convoy sailed thence for the Marianas.
Braxton reached Saipan early on 23 April and disembarked some of her passengers before pushing on to Guam which she reached on the afternoon of the 26th. There, she disembarked her remaining out-bound passengers before embarking U.S. Marine Corps officers and enlisted men for the return voyage on 1 May. That afternoon, the transport sailed for Oahu. Braxton arrived at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 10 May, but sailed the following morning for the U.S. West Coast. Although initially ordered to San Diego, she was redirected to San Francisco en route and disembarked 120 Marines and 217 casualties there on 17 May. After brief voyage repairs, the ship then shifted to the Naval Supply Depot at Oakland, California, where she loaded a cargo of fuel, ammunition, and supplies, before sailing for Hawaii on 30 May.
Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 5 June, the attack transport disembarked passengers from the U.S. West Coast and embarked 5 army officers and 296 enlisted men for the voyage westward, returning to sea on the 8th bound for the Marshalls. Following a stop at Eniwetok on 15 and 16 June, she pushed on to Saipan, remained there from the 19th through the 26th, and finally headed on to Ulithi. Underway from that atoll on 20 July in convoy UOK 39, consisting of 40 ships—both merchant and naval—the vessel arrived at Okinawa soon thereafter and discharged her cargo near Kinmu Wan on 25 July.
While Braxton remained at Okinawa for the remainder of the month, wartime conditions were very much in evidence. As her war diary for 27 July states: "enemy planes definitely in [the] vicinity...." The presence of the Japanese planes usually triggered the use of smoke boats and shipboard generators to screen the ship in artificial fog. Such conditions continued into August, but the arrival of a typhoon forced the ship to sea on the 1st for two days to ride out the "blow."
Early on the 6th, the ship weighed anchor and sailed for Ulithi, joining convoy 0KU-17—34 ships and 11 escorts. Upon her arrival there on the 10th, she fueled from and received orders to sail for Saipan. Underway on 13 August, she had not gone far before she received orders re-routing her to Guam. Braxton moored in Apra Harbor on 14 August and commenced loading cargo and embarking passengers. All through the night and most of the morning, the embarking and loading continued until shortly before noon. Underway on the 15th, Braxton stood out of Apra Harbor, bound for Japan. She then formed up with , , , , , and a trio of destroyers to make up Task Unit (TU) 12.1.2.