USS Washburn (AKA-108, later LKA-108)
The Tolland-class attack cargo ship, USS Washburn (AKA-108), was commissioned on May 17, 1945, at Todd-Hoboken Shipyard, Hoboken, New Jersey. Arriving in the Mediterranean at the end of the European Theatre operations, she was deployed to the Pacific, where she carried passengers and equipment between various western Pacific locations. Despite a quick cruise to the Mediterranean in February 1950, Washburn returned to the Pacific to serve in the Korean War, participating in the Inchon and Wonsan landings that fall. Remaining in the region, she assisted in Operation Big Switch, the mutual repatriation of prisoners of war, and with the evacuation of the Tachen Islands in 1955. Washburn performed regular duties in the Pacific until called for service in the Vietnam War in 1964. For the next four years, she assisted in amphibious and combat operations by transporting troops and supplies to and from Vietnam base points. Returning to the United States in late 1968, she was reclassified in January 1969 as an attack cargo ship and redesignated LKA-108. On May 16, 1970, she was decommissioned and placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California. Washburn was struck from the Navy List in October 1976 and then sold for scrapping.
A model of the Tolland-class attack cargo ship was on display at the In Harm's Way (Pacific Section) at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Bldg. 76, until 2022.
Image: 80-G-324143: USS Washburn (AKA-108), aerial at 300 feet. Shown Broadside. Photographed by Floyd Bennett Field aircraft, May 21, 1945. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
