Leo kept Pacific Fleet outfitted during WWII sea battles

Named after the northern constellation east of Cancer, the Andromeda-class attack cargo ship USS Leo (AKA-60) was built by Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Kearny, N.J., under a Maritime Commission contract.

She was acquired by the Navy Aug. 29, 1944 and was commissioned Aug. 30, 1944 with Cmdr. T.E. Healey as her first commanding officer.

Leo was 459-feet in length and carried a draft of about 26 feet. Displacing 6,556-tons, Leo could attain a top speed of 16.5 knots and had a complement of 404 Sailors aboard. Defensive weaponry consisted of one, 5-inch gunmount and eight, 40mm and 18, 20mm antiaircraft gunmounts.

After shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, the new attack cargo ship departed Norfolk for Hawaii Oct. 13, 1944, arriving at Pearl Harbor Nov. 4. After a month of training off Maui, Hawaii, Leo steamed for Port Hueneme, Calif., loaded cargo, and returned to Pearl Harbor Christmas Eve.

After a month of intensive amphibious training, Leo steamed Jan. 27, 1945 for the assault on Iwo Jima with Amphibious Task Force 51 under Vice Adm. Turner’s command. After brief calls at Eniwetok and Saipan, the ship arrived off the beaches of Iwo Jima early on D-Day, Feb. 19. Debarking her troops the first hour, Leo then offloaded her high-priority cargo of trucks, fresh water, and ammunition into boats alongside. For the next nine days, with interruptions only for night retirement, the ship evacuated casualties and continued sending crucial war material ashore. With her mission accomplished, she sailed for Kwajelein Atoll on Feb. 28.

Steaming to the Marianas from Kwajelein, the ship prepared for the Okinawa landing. She departed Saipan March 27 with Rear Adm. Wright’s Demonstration Force for simulated landings on the southeastern beaches of Okinawa. Arriving at dawn on April 1, the demonstration group received more attention from Japanese aircraft than did the actual landing group.

At bout 0550 on the same day, a Japanese suicide plane crashed Hinsdale (APA-120), killing 24 and wounding 21. Completing her mission, Leo sent all her LCVPs to Hinsdale to pick up survivors, after which she retired for night steaming. The next 3 days Leo moved in and out from the southeast beaches as a decoy, drawing fire from the shore. She was detached from Admiral Wright’s group April 4 and steamed for transport area “Baker” and an actual landing off the northern beaches of Okinawa. Arriving the next day, she transferred Hinsdale survivors to a hospital ship and began offloading cargo.

Gunfire from the ship’s starboard 40mm. mount splashed a low-flying Japanese aircraft as it swooped down on the formation the afternoon of April 6. Despite constant air raid, Leo offloaded all cargo by April 14 and steamed that afternoon for Ulithi, towing Hinsdale. They arrived on April 23. She departed for Saipan April 25 and through the rest of the war transported cargo between the Marianas and the Solomons. Leo completed two voyages from Saipan via Guam to Guadalcanal and Tulagi.

Departing Guam on Aug. 26, she steamed for Manila arriving Sept. 1, and loaded troops and equipment of the 43d Division, 8th Army, designated for occupation duty in Japan. Arriving Sept. 15, off Yokosuka, Leo debarked the Army troops, loaded troops and equipment of the 6th Marine Division. She then rode out a typhoon until the 18th, and departed the next day for Tsingtao, China. She arrived Tsingtao, which was headquarters for U.S. naval forces in the western Pacific after World War II, and had put the Marines ashore by Oct. 18.

Leo steamed for Manila arriving Oct. 23. After a fast cargo run to Haiphong, French Indochina, Leo departed the Orient Nov. 10 and arrived in Puget Sound 15 days later. Until the outbreak of the Korean War Leo operated with the Naval Transportation Service in the Pacific.

After the North Koreans invaded South Korea Leo steamed from San Francisco for Sasebo, Japan, with ammunition for the 7th Fleet. She arrived in Japan Sept. 19, 1950 and supplied ammunition to ships deploying to Korean waters. The AKA steamed for Korea Nov. 9, with ammunition, stores, and mail for the ships engaged in the siege of Wonsan. Departing Nov. 14, she returned to Sasebo for 10 days and then left for San Francisco on Dec. 19.

She was again underway for Sasebo on Jan. 9, 1951, and she spent that year operating between Japan and Korea. She arrived at Sasebo Jan. 27, rearmed ships there, then steamed for Korea and replenished ships at Pusan, Pohang, and Wonsan.

Because of the buildup of heavy combatants off Korea and the logistical demands attendant to keeping them on the line, Leo operated between Sasebo and various rendezvous points in the Sea of Japan for the next 9 months. Logistical problems diminished as Leo and her sister ships perfected night underway replenishment techniques. By Jan. 25, 1952, when Leo departed Sasebo for San Francisco, the logistics team was able to replenish a fast carrier task force in only 9 hours.

Upon arrival at San Francisco on Feb. 9, Leo underwent an overhaul and then steamed to Alaska on a cargo run during July and August. Between Oct. 7 and Dec. 5, she carried cargo from Oakland to Eniwetok.

As a unit of MSTS the ship made three more voyages to the Orient plus another run to Alaska during the next 24 months. Leo steamed from Oakland to Long Beach on Oct. 15, 1954 where she was decommissioned on Feb. 11, 1955 and was transferred to the Pacific Reserve Fleet San Diego. Later Leo was transferred to the Maritime Commission, her name was struck from the Navy’s list on July 1, 1960 and she was laid up at the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisan Bay, Calif.

USS Leo (AKA-60) was awarded two battle stars for World War II service and five battle stars for its Korean service.