USS Begor

USS Begor (DE-711/APD-127) was a Crosley-class high speed transport of the United States Navy, named for Lieutenant (junior grade) Fay B. Begor (1916–1943), a Navy doctor who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. Begor was killed in action during landings of the 9th Australian Division on the Huon Peninsula 4 September 1943. The infantry landing craft LCI(L)-339 was strafed on the way to the beach and then hit by bombers as Begor was treating wounded troops. Severely wounded, Begor was treated at the U.S. Army 87th Station Hospital at Buna, Papua New Guinea and evacuated to USS LST-464 that had been converted to a hospital ship on 7 September and died aboard on 9 September 1943. [{sfn|Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Begor}}

USS Begor (APD-127) stands offshore during the evacuation and demolition of Hŭngnam, Korea, 24 December 1950.
History
United States
Name: USS Begor
Namesake: Fay B. Begor
Ordered: 1942
Builder: Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan
Laid down: 6 March 1944
Launched: 25 May 1944
Commissioned: 14 March 1945
Decommissioned: 20 July 1959
Recommissioned: 20 November 1961
Decommissioned: 13 July 1962
Reclassified: LPR-127, 1 January 1969
Stricken: 15 May 1975
Honors and
awards:		 5 battle stars (Korea)
Fate: Sold for scrap, 6 December 1976
General characteristics
Class and type: Crosley-class high speed transport
Displacement: 1,450 long tons (1,473 t)
Length: 306 ft (93 m)
Beam: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
Draft: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range:
  • 3,700 nmi (6,900 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
  • 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 4 × LCVPs
Troops: 162 troops
Complement: 204 (12 officers, 192 enlisted)
Armament:

Begor was laid down by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan, as a Rudderow-class destroyer escort with the hull number DE-711. She was launched on 25 May 1944, sponsored by Mrs. F. B. Begor, widow of Lt.(jg) Begor. A few weeks after launching, on 17 July 1944, it was decided that Begor would be completed as a Crosley-class high speed transport, with the designation APD-127. She was commissioned on 14 March 1945, with Lieutenant Commander B. T. Brooks, USNR, in command.

Service history

World War II, 1945

Assigned to the Pacific Fleet, Begor arrived at Pearl Harbor on 30 May 1945. She arrived at Guam on 17 August after escorting convoys among the Marshall, Caroline, and Philippine Islands from June through August 1945. Departing 20 August with Underwater Demolition Team 21 embarked, she joined 3rd Fleet units en route to occupy Japan. Begor entered Sagami Wan on 27 August, and on the 30th, her frogmen reconnoitered the landing beaches over which the occupation forces landed the next day. Proceeding to Yokosuka Naval Dockyard, she assisted in the de-militarization of the vessels there, and made dock surveys until departing for the United States on 25 September. Begor arrived at San Diego, California on 21 October 1945.

1945–1949

The fast transport operated along the west coast until June 1946, when she sailed for Bikini Atoll to act as a drone control vessel during the "Operation Crossroads" atomic bomb tests. Begor returned in October, and during the next four years, carried out normal peacetime operations along the west coast, and made two cruises to the Far East from July 1947 through February 1948, and August through December 1949.

Korean War, 1950–1953
Begor (foreground) stands by off Hungnam, North Korea, as U.S. Navy and U.S. Army explosives teams destroy facilities and abandoned United Nations supplies in Hungnam on 24 December 1950, the last day of the amphibious evacuation of United Nations forces from Hungnam during the Korean War.

During the Korean War, Begor served two tours. The first tour, 7 December 1950 through September 1951, included participation in the Hŭngnam Evacuation from 9 through 24 December, and the landing of Underwater Demolition Teams and British Commandos behind enemy lines for reconnaissance and demolition missions. On 7 April 1951, as part of Special Task Force 74, Begor along with destroyers Wallace L. Lind (DD-703), and Massey (DD-778), landing ship dock Fort Marion (LSD-22) and heavy cruiser Saint Paul (CA-73), helped to carry out raids on rail lines and tunnels utilizing 250 commandos of the 41 (Independent) Commando, Royal Marines. These highly successful and destructive raids slowed the enemy's resupply efforts, forcing the Communists to attempt to repair or rebuild the rail facilities by night while hiding the work crews and locomotives in tunnels by day. The second tour, from 14 November 1952 through 12 August 1953, consisted of patrol and UDT operations, as well as participation in the post-Armistice prisoner of war exchange.

1954–1962

After Korea, Begor continued alternating between the United States West Coast and the Far East. She made a Far Eastern cruise between July 1954 and March 1955, during which she participated in the Vietnamese "Operation Passage to Freedom", from 16 August through 30 September 1954.

Begor was decommissioned on 20 July 1959, and laid up in the Reserve Fleet. She was briefly put back in commission on 20 November 1961, then laid up again on 13 July 1962. On 1 January 1969 she was redesignated to Amphibious Transport, Small, LPR-127.

Decommissioning and sale

Begor was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 May 1975, and on 6 December 1976 sold for scrapping for $60,000 to National Metal and Steel Corporation, Terminal Island, California.

Awards

References

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

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