USS Leedstown (AP-73)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Leedstown.

History
Name	USS Leedstown
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, New Jersey
Launched	1933
Acquired	6 August 1942
Commissioned	24 September 1942
Stricken	7 December 1942
Honors and awards	1 battle star (World War II)
Fate	Sunk, 9 November 1942
General characteristics
Type	Troopship
Displacement	8,600 long tons (8,738 t) light 9,135 long tons (9,282 t) full
Length	484 ft (148 m)
Beam	72 ft (22 m)
Draft	26 ft (7.9 m)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Troops	2,505
Complement	538

USS Leedstown (AP-73), (originally SS Santa Lucia) was a Grace Line passenger and cargo ocean liner that served as a United States Navy amphibious assault ship in World War II. She was one of four sister ships (the others being Santa Elena, Santa Paula and Santa Rosa) ordered in 1930 from the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Kearny, NJ.

Service history

Santa Lucia was acquired for the Navy in August 1942, converted for amphibious assault service and renamed USS Leedstown. She was commissioned in late September 1942 and almost immediately crossed the Atlantic to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she joined a force preparing for Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa.

Early on the evening of 8 November, shortly after putting her troops and some of her cargo ashore east of Algiers, she was attacked by Ju 88 bombers and immobilised by a torpedo in her stern. The next day three bombs only just missed her. On 9 November 1942 the German submarine U-331 hit her with two torpedoes. She sank bow first off the Algerian coast with the loss of eight men out of more than 500 aboard when abandon ship was ordered.

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Photo gallery of USS Leedstown at NavSource Naval History
• Photo gallery at Naval Historical Center