World War II
George Clymer sailed 21 June via Charleston to Norfolk, Virginia where she arrived 30 July for training in Chesapeake Bay. She embarked 1,400 men of the 9th Infantry Division and departed 23 October for French Morocco.
Invasion of French Morocco
After joining Rear Admiral Monroe Kelley's Northern Attack Group off the Moroccan coast 7 November, at midnight 8 November she debarked assault troops on special net-cutting and scouting missions against garrisons at Mehedia and the fortress Kasba. Just before dawn the first wave of troops hit the beach and encountered resistance from the Vichy French. Enemy shore batteries fired on the assembled transports and straddled George Clymer before she opened the range. Hard fighting continued ashore until 11 November. George Clymer debarked troops, unloaded cargo, and treated casualties until 15 November when she sailed to Casablanca to complete offloading cargo. She departed for the United States the 17th, arriving at Norfolk 30 November.
Transfer to the Pacific
After embarking more than 1,300 Seabees, George Clymer sailed 17 December for the Pacific. One of the first transports to serve in both the Atlantic and Pacific, she reached Nouméa, New Caledonia, 18 January 1943; sailed 23 January for the Fiji Islands, and arrived Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, 30 January. Redesignated (APA-27) on 1 February, she sailed in convoy 5 February for Guadalcanal, Solomons, where she arrived the 7th to debark reinforcements and embark casualties and Japanese prisoners of war. During almost the next 9 months she sailed the Southwest Pacific, carrying cargo and rotating troops from bases in New Zealand, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and the Fijis to Guadalcanal. On 19 April she evacuated 38 Chinese and Fijian women and children, who had hidden from the Japanese for more than a year, from Guadalcanal and transported them to Nouméa.
Invasion of Bougainville
As flagship of Rear Admiral T. S. Wilkinson's 3rd Amphibious Force, George Clymer departed Guadalcanal 30 October for the invasion of Bougainville. Closing Cape Torokina 1 November, she disembarked men of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion before joining other transports in a combined bombardment of enemy positions on Cape Torokina. She returned to Port Purvis, Florida Island, 3 November; and during the next 2 months she made three runs to Bougainville, carrying reinforcements and cargo from the Fijis and Guadalcanal.
Invasion of the Marianas
George Clymer continued troop-carrying and supply runs in the Southwest Pacific until 4 June when she departed Guadalcanal for the invasion of the Marianas. Steaming via Kwajalein, she operated off Saipan from 17 to 30 June while serving as flagship of Rear Admiral L. R. Reifsnider's Southern Attack Group. She reached Eniwetok 4 July; departed 17 July for the assault against Guam - and arrived off Agat 21 July. After debarking assault troops, she served as receiving ship, boat pool tender, and medical station for the Southern Transport Group. She remained at Guam until 20 August; steamed via Saipan to Hawaii; and arrived Pearl Harbor 31 August.
Invasion of Leyte
Underway again 15 September, George Clymer steamed via Eniwetok and Manus, Admiralties, to the Philippines, where she landed nearly 1,000 troops at Dulag 21 October during the battle of Leyte. She returned to Manus 28 October; and, following a troop and cargo-carrying mission to New Britain and back, she sailed l1 November for the United States and arrived San Francisco 3 December for overhaul.
Invasion of Okinawa
Sailing 26 January 1945, she reached Guadalcanal 11 February and for more than a month trained for the invasion of Okinawa. She departed Ulithi, Carolines, in convoy 27 March; arrived off Hagushi 1 April; then debarked troops and unloaded cargo before departing 5 April. Steaming via Saipan and Pearl Harbor, she arrived San Francisco 9 May.
After conversion to a transport squadron and relief amphibious force flagship, she transported 1,200 Seabees to Pearl Harbor from 21 to 27 July. After returning to San Francisco 5 August with wounded veterans embarked, she sailed 12 August for the Philippines.
After hostilities
She reached Manila 7 September; embarked nearly 1,000 occupation troops of the 33rd Infantry Division; and transported them to Japan, arriving Wakayama 25 September. Between 3 and 21 October she made a similar voyage from Leyte to Japan; then, as part of the Operation Magic-Carpet fleet, between 31 October and 14 November she carried more than 1,200 veterans from Saipan to San Francisco. Between 27 November and 28 December she cruised to Guam and Saipan and returned to San Pedro, California with homebound troops.
