Rial, James Alphonse, DCC

USS Chilton (APA-38) was a Bayfield-class attack transport. Her dangerous task was to deliver troops to the battle front, and to recover and care for the wounded. She served her country in thePacific Ocean in the war against the Empire of Japan and returned home post-war with one battle star to her credit.

Chilton (APA-38) was launched 29 December 1942 by the Western Pipe and Steel Company, San Francisco, California, under aMaritime Commission contract, as SS Sea Needle; sponsored by Mrs. W. A. Riley, Jr.; acquired by the Navy 29 May 1943; converted at New York Navy Yard; and commissioned 7 December 1943, Commander A. C. Geisenhoff, USNR, in command.

Chilton served at Newport, Rhode Island, as a training ship for pre-commissioning crews of attack transports from 31 January 1943 to 15 October 1944. She sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, 20 November for San Diego, California, before arriving at Pearl Harbor23 January 1945. Here she embarked troops, and sailed by way ofEniwetok and Ulithi, to Leyte, arriving 21 February. After rehearsal landings, Chilton put out of Leyte 16 March to land troops at Kerama Retto 26 March in a key preliminary to the assault on Okinawa. She remained off Okinawa as flagship for Transport Squadron 17 supporting the establishment and reinforcement of beachheads until 30 April, departing then for San Francisco and overhaul.

Chilton returned to Ulithi 17 July 1945 to load troops and cargo forOkinawa, where she lay until 31 August. From then until 8 December, when she arrived at Seattle, Washington, Chilton had duty in the redeployment of United States and Chinese troops, calling at Jinsen, Tientsin, Hong Kong, Chinwangtao, Tsingtao, andNagoya. She cleared Seattle 21 December for the first of two "Operation Magic Carpet" voyages to the Philippines and Okinawa to carry home servicemen, returning from the second of these to San Francisco 10 May 1946.

She cleared San Francisco 2 June to participate in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, returned to San Francisco 1 August, and sailed for transport duty in China and Japan from 7 September to 22 January 1947. She visited the Bikini area as a floating laboratory that summer, then returned to San Diego for local operations.

Chilton cleared San Diego, California, 15 November 1948 to withdraw U.S. Marines from China, returning to San Diego 31 May. Local operations and exercises in the Hawaiian Islands occupied her until 25 November 1949 when she sailed from San Diego for her new home port, Norfolk, Virginia, arriving 10 December. While based at Norfolk in 1951, she appeared at dock in the opening scenes of the film You're in the Navy Now.

Local operations, overhaul, and service as a training ship in Cuban waters preceded her first tour of duty in theMediterranean, 11 June-20 December 1951. On 21 August 1952, she sailed from Norfolk to participate in NATOOperation Mainbrace, proceeding to the Mediterranean for duty until 6 February 1953. Chilton continued to alternate local and Caribbean operations with tours of duty in the Mediterranean from 1954 through 1963. The Chilton continued to do Mediterranean training operations throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Other Memories
After preparations had been made for the atomic bomb tests at Bikini in June and July 1946, CHILTON headed for Majuro for a short stay then returned to Pearl Harbor and the west coast. Meanwhile on 1 August two A-bombs were set off at Bikini, one in the air and the other under water, amid many obsolete U. S. and captured enemy ships in order to study the blast effects on shipping.

CHILTON departed the United States 7 September 1946 for Yokosuka Japan as flagship for CAPT C. L. Tyler COMTRANSRON 13 taking part in joint amphibious exercises there. Following these, CHILTON departed for Tsingtao, China where she jointed COMSEVENTHFLEET for duty on arrival 30 September. On 20 December she left Tsingtao and headed for Chingwantao, China to remove U. S. Marines from a very hostile environment that was getting worse. At least one Marine was wounded and taken prisoner by the Northern Chinese Communists during December of 1946 a short fifteen months after the treaty ending World War II had been signed on board the USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay! CHILTON departed 3 January 1947 after several shots had been fired and several more Marines had been wounded. The temperature had dropped to 60 degrees below zero and ice formed over the waters in the harbor to a depth of nearly 12 inches which ice-bound many of the smaller ships there. But CHILTON kept up a constant stream of hot water pumping continuously around the hull to keep her free from the ice jam. As our Marines had to be evacuated under fire there was, obviously, no liberty granted on this her last ever visit to the port of Chinwangtao. She cleared the port of Chinwangtao 3 January and arrived San Diego 22 January 1947.

Captain Angerer was relieved by Captain Roy W. Lajeunesse on 4 February 1947 and CHILTON underwent two months of much-needed maintenance and repair at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard. Hunter's Point, then returned to San Diego where she received COMPHIBGRU ONE under RADM B. J. Rodgers, USN who was aboard from April to 25 June 1947.

"I Remember............by Donald G. Ferrell, BM2 1946-1947. This CHILTON Coxwain took a boat-load of civilian and Navy observers and photographers throughout the anchorage to see and to photograph the damage done by the atomic bomb. King posts and jumbo booms on the APA's and AKA's were wrapped and twisted around each other like pretzels. Some of the older carrier flight decks were rolled up like carpeting while many of the target ships's decks and plates were buckled and showed clearly where the struts, frames and support were located beneath the plate sheathing. One first class electrician's mate from another ship was electrocuted while checking on the damage to NEVADA and his body was returned to the west coast in a casket aboard the CHILTON. Also returned were the measuring devices exposed to the radiation blast including one "ticking bomb" device carried home up forward in #1 hold. These were the first items removed from CHILTON after docking 16 September 1947 at San Diego and were sent immediately to White Sands, NM for study and disposal. The crew received "short snorter" bills which were good for any drink in local bars whenever you could get someone to sign his name on it."


On 1 July through 11 September 1947 Captain Roy W. LaJeunesse took CHILTON back to Bikini where she was assigned as a "floating laboratory" to do a scientific resurvey of the atoll to determine the damage done by the two atomic blasts Able and Baker a year before. There were teams of scientists from all disciplines who lived aboard and conducted their tests and experiments both ashore and in the water to determine the effects of the blasts on everything dead or alive.
CAPT Oliver Franklin Naquin relieved CAPT Lajeunesse in September 1947 following the Scientific Survey of Bikini. As a Lieutenant, Naquin had been the commander of the ill-fated submarine Squalus which dove to the bottom in February 1939 off Portsmouth, NH during sea trials when an air intake valve failed to close completely. He managed to rescue half of his crew before leaving the ship himself.