USS Noble (APA-218)

USS Noble (APA-218) was a Haskell-class attack transport which saw service with the US Navy in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. She was later transferred to the Spanish Navy in the 1964 under a mutual assistance agreement. Noble was named after Noble County, Indiana, Noble County, Ohio, and Noble County, Oklahoma.Noble

For other ships with the same name, see USS Noble.
USS Noble (APA-218), underway off San Diego, December 1956
History
United States
Name: Noble
Namesake:
Ordered: as a Type VC2-S-AP5 hull, MCE hull 566[1]
Builder: Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond, California
Yard number: 566[1]
Laid down: 20 July 1944
Launched: 18 October 1944
Sponsored by: Mrs Maxine C. Jones
Commissioned: 27 November 1944
Decommissioned: 1 July 1964
Stricken: 1964
Identification:
Honors and
awards:
Fate: Sold to the Spanish Navy, 19 December 1964
Spain
Name: Aragón
Namesake: Autonomous Community of Aragon
Acquired: 19 December 1964
Decommissioned: 1980
Stricken: 1 January 1983
Identification: Hull symbol: TA-11
Fate: laid up in reserve, 1980
Status: scrapped 1987
General characteristics [2]
Class and type: Haskell-class attack transport
Type: Type VC2-S-AP5
Displacement:
  • 6,873 long tons (6,983 t) (light load)
  • 14,837 long tons (15,075 t) (full load)
Length: 455 ft (139 m)
Beam: 62 ft (19 m)
Draft: 24 ft (7.3 m)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Speed: 17.7 kn (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph)
Boats & landing
craft carried:
Capacity:
  • 2,900 long tons (2,900 t) DWT
  • 150,000 cu ft (4,200 m3) (non-refrigerated)
Troops: 87 officers, 1,475 enlisted
Complement: 56 officers, 480 enlisted
Armament:
Service record
Part of: TransRon 21 (WWII)
Operations:
  • World War II
  • Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto (1–5 April 1945)
  • Korean War
  • Inchon Landing (14–17 September 1950)
  • North Korean Aggression (18–21 September, 8–31 October 1950)
  • Communist China Aggression (2–28 December 1950)
  • First UN Counter Offensive (8–11 February, 27 February–6 March 1951)
  • UN Summer–Fall Offensive (6, 11–14 November 1951)
  • Second Korean Winter (22–23 January, 3–4 February 1952)
  • Vietnam War
  • Vietnam Advisory Campaign (24 April–4 May, 27 August–12 September, 1–10 November 1963)
Awards:

Construction

Noble was laid down 20 July 1944, under Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCV hull 566, by Permanente Metals Corporation, Yard No. 2, Richmond, California; as a modified Victory ship; completed by the Kaiser Shipyard at Richmond; launched 18 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Maxine C. Jones; acquired by the Navy 27 November 1944; and commissioned the same day, Commander, later Rear Admiral, Solomon S. Isquith in command.[3]

Operational history

World War II

Noble's primary mission was to transport to a combat area the men and some of the material necessary for an assault on an enemy shore. Her main armament, her boat group, was designed to deliver her troops and cargo to the beach in a planned and orderly fashion. After discharging troops and equipment, she could evacuate casualties or prisoners of war.[3]

Invasion of Okinawa
Further information: Battle of Okinawa

In January 1945, Noble steamed westward to participate in the Okinawa campaign.[3]

Post-war duties

Upon termination of the war, she assisted in the delivery of released allied prisoners of war from Korea to the Philippines. She also participated in Operation Magic Carpet, returning servicemen from the Pacific to the United States. Noble was attached to the US Atlantic Fleet from 1946 through 1949, operating out of Norfolk, Virginia.[3]

Korean War

Noble returned to San Diego 13 September 1949, and was undergoing overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, when war broke out in Korea in June 1950. In August, she steamed to Korea to participate in the September Inchon amphibious assault. Thereafter, she assisted in the transport of US and foreign troops and equipment to and from the Korean combat zone.[3]

In July 1953, she participated in Operation Big Switch, moving Communist North Korean prisoners from Koje Do to Inchon pursuant to the armistice agreement.[3]

Peacetime operations

Subsequent to the Korean War, Noble conducted training operations in both the eastern and western Pacific areas. In 1955, she assisted in the evacuation of Chinese civilians and military from the Tachen Islands to Formosa. Appeared in the 1956 20th Century Fox movie "D-Day the Sixth of June" starring Robert Taylor, Richard Todd and Dana Wynter. At the outset of the Cuban Missile Crisis 27 October 1962, Noble embarked 1,400 Marines with their equipment and steamed for the Caribbean in company with other Pacific Fleet amphibious units. She returned to San Diego in December, then deployed to WestPac in March 1963 for a tour with the 7th Fleet Amphibious Ready Group.[3]

Transfer to the Spanish Navy

Noble returned to San Diego in December 1963, and conducted upkeep and training operations until she decommissioned 1 July 1964. She then entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for preparation for transfer to Spain under the Mutual Assistance Program. The transfer ceremony took place 19 December, at San Francisco.[3]

Spanish service

Renamed attack transport Aragón (TA-11), by the Spanish Navy, the ship served until being laid up and struck from the Spanish Navy Vessel Register on 1 January 1982. She was sold for scrap in 1987.[4]

Notes

    ^Noble Noble County, Indiana, was named for Noah Noble, an early governor of that state; Noble County, Ohio, was named for Warren P. Noble, an early settler, member of the Ohio House of Representatives and a US Representative from Ohio; and Noble County, Oklahoma, was named for John Willock Noble, Secretary of the Interior from 1889 to 1893.

    Citations
    1. Kaiser No. 2 2010.
    2. Navsource 2017.
    3. DANFS 2015.
    4. Hazegray.

    Bibliography

    Online resources

    • "Noble II (APA-218)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. 13 August 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
    • "Kaiser Permanente No. 2, Richmond CA". www.ShipbuildingHistory.com. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
    • "USS Noble (APA-218)". Navsource.org. 7 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
    • "Noble". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. 1969. p. 487. Retrieved 26 January 2008.


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