Panamint (AGC–13) was laid down as SS Northern Light (MC
hull 1354) on 1 September 1943 by the North Carolina Shipbuilding
Co., Wilmington, N.C.; launched 9 November 1943; acquired
by the Navy 29 February 1944; converted to a general communications
vessel at the Todd-Hoboken Yard, Hoboken, N.J.; commissioned
14 October 1944, Capt. E. E. Woods in command.
Following shakedown, Panamint got underway 22 November 1944
for Guadalcanal via Panama, Mare Island, and Pearl Harbor.
On 1 March Panamint sailed for Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal
in company with Transport Group ABLE to stage for the forthcoming
Okinawa invasion. The group proceeded to Ulithi on the 15th,
and on the 27th sailed for Okinawa.
Panamint, part of the Northern Attack Force, served as flagship
of Rear Admiral L. F. Reifsnider, Commander Amphibious Group
4. Going in under plane attacks, on 1 April the transports
took station in approach formation. At 0800 the first assault
wave passed the line of departure and landed forty minutes
later. By 0930 all the assault battalions were ashore. Only
sporadic opposition was encountered, and progress was so rapid
that by 22 April all organized resistance in the northern
two thirds of the island had ceased.
On 10 April Admiral Richmond K. Turner designated Commander
Amphibious Group 4, on board Panamint, as commander Task Force
51, le Shima Attack Group. Their mission was to capture and
defend Ie Shima and to establish air base facilities on the
island.
Six days later assault landings began on three designated
beaches of this small island northwest of Okinawa. Troops
of the 77th Infantry Division reached the northwest edge of
the island’s airfield within three hours after the first waves
had landed.
By nightfall two-thirds of the island was secured, but enemy
resistance was mounting. On the morning of 21 April, Rear
Admiral Reifsnider sent the following message to Admiral Turner:
“The American Flag Is Now Atop The Pinnacle of Ie Shima.”
During the capture of le Shima and until mid-June 1945 Amphibious
Group 4 retained responsibility for naval support of troop
operations in northern Okinawa. For Panamint this was a two-and-a-half
month period of nightly aerial attacks.
Kamikaze planes were in evidence from before D-Day, but the
first mass enemy air attack occurred on 6 April. No ships
of the Northern Attack Force were hit. Other large scale attacks
came on the 12th, 16th, 22nd, and 28th. On the 30th a plane
crashed into liberty ship S. Hall Young, 800 yards from Panamint,
and carrying ammunition. A bomb from the plane pierced the
shell plating on both sides of the ship in the vicinity of
the No. 5 hold. The plane itself struck the after boom and
fell into the hold, starting a fire. Panamint’s fire and rescue
party boarded the S. Hall Young and extinguished the fire.
On 6 May when a plane approached Panamint from the starboard
beam, Panamint, her sister ships, and shore batteries on le
Shima commenced firing. The plane circled to port for a suicide
dive, but the anti-aircraft fire proved effective. He overshot
Panamint, splashing 1500 yards off her port bow.
On the 11th two enemy planes were sighted low over the water
approaching the Ie Shima transport area on the star-board
beam. The planes were following an evasive course to get through
the screening vessels which had commenced firing.
Panamint opened fire on one of the planes, which dropped
a torpedo. Panamint put her rudder hard right at full speed
and swung on the anchor to a position paralleling the course
of the approaching plane and torpedo. The plane erupted intoflames,
passed 150 yards astern of Panamint, glanced off the cargo
boom of Dutch ship Tjisadane, and splashed into thesea. The
torpedo passed the stern of the ship. The second plane closed
on the starboard bow, dropped a torpedo which passed to starboard
and cleared Panamint’s stern by 30 feet.
In the first 45 days, the ships of Amphibious Group 4 were
exposed to many “Red Alerts.” Only nine days were free of
enemy air raids. Throughout this ordeal Panamint directed
the Combat Air Patrol attacks in repelling the enemy. On 15
June Panamint steamed to Saipan and then on to Pearl Harbor,
arriving 8 July.
On 12 August 1945 the ship sailed for Adak, Aleutian Islands,
where she reported for duty to Commander North Pacific Force
and Area. On 29 August Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Commander
North Pacific Force and Area, hoisted his flag on Panamint.
Two days later she left Adak with the 9th Fleet and headed
west for the occupation of northern Japan.
On 7 September the flagship pulled away from the anchored
task force and proceeded to a rendezvous point to await the
Japanese surrender ship from nearby Ominato Naval Base. On
schedule a Japanese destroyer escort boredown the Tsugaru
Strait carrying emissaries to hand over northern Japan, and
pilots to guide the American ships through Japanese waters.
The commissioners were quickly transferred to Panamint. Commodore
R. E. Robinson, Jr., represented Vice Admiral Fletcher, and
Rear Admiral Den-suke Kanome was the head of the Japanese
delegation.
On the morning of the 8th the massive naval force got underway
led by a Japanese frigate through the mineswept channel and
Tsugaru Straits leading to Ominato Anchorage. Panamint moored
off the shattered naval base that afternoon, and the following
morning the formal occupation ceremony was held on her decks.
Surrender had come so quickly that two weeks passed before
American troops arrived to occupy the countryside. On 20 September
Panamint returned to Adak, and proceeded to Kodiak 2 October.
Panamint’s next served as flagship for Rear Admiral A. D.
Struble, Commander Minecraft Pacific Fleet. Upon leaving this
command she departed from Sasebo, Japan, arriving San Francisco
28 March 1946.
On 1 July 1946 she covered Joint Army-Navy Task Force I’s
operation “Crossroads,” the atomic bomb test at Bikini, where
she served as floating headquarters for congressional, scientific,
and U.N. observers.
By directive dated January 1947 Panamit was placed out of
commission in reserve, U.S. Pacific Reserve Fleet, and berthed
at San Diego, Calif. Panamint was struck from the Navy List
1 July 1960 and approved for disposal 4 November 1960.
Panamint received one battle star for World War II service.
