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Concept
High-speed transport
Summary
High-speed transports were converted destroyers and destroyer escorts used in US Navy amphibious operations in World War II and afterward. They received the US Hull classification symbol APD; "AP" for transport and "D" for destroyer. In 1969, the remaining ships were reclassified as "Fast Amphibious Transports", hull symbol LPR.
APDs were intended to deliver small units such as Marine Raiders, Underwater Demolition Teams, and United States Army Rangers onto hostile shores. An APD could carry up to 200 troops - a company-size unit - and approximately 40 tons of cargo. It could also provide gunfire support if needed. was officially designated the Navy's first high-speed transport on 2 August 1940 when she became APD-1.
Before the United States entered World War II, as newer and more modern destroyers joined the fleet, some older destroyers were refitted for other duties: as seaplane tenders, destroyer minelayers, or destroyer minesweepers, and in an innovation, as fast transports carrying fully equipped troops for assault landings. During the war, newly built or unfinished destroyer escorts were converted to APDs.
The first group of APDs (APD-1 through APD-36) were converted from one , 17 , and 14 "flush-deck" destroyers built during and after World War I. Some of these had been previously converted to aircraft tenders or other uses.
In the conversion, the two forward boilers (out of four) were removed along with their smokestacks (reducing speed to ). Accommodation for 200 troops was installed in the former engine spaces. The original armament of four 4"/50 low-angle guns, one 3"/23 anti-aircraft gun, and twelve 21-inch torpedo tubes was replaced with three modern 3"/50 dual-purpose guns, one 40 mm AA gun, and five 20 mm AA guns. Two depth charge racks and up to six K-gun depth charge throwers were carried. In place of the torpedo mounts, four davit-mounted LCPLs (Landing Craft Personnel, Large) were shipped. Later, the LCPLs were replaced by a version with a bow ramp, the LCPR (Landing Craft Personnel, Ramped).
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