USS Register (APD-92)

USS Register (APD-92), ex-DE-233, was a United States Navy high-speed transport in commission from 1945 to 1946.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Register.

USS Register during her commissioning ceremony at Charleston Navy Yard, on 11 January 1945
History
United States
Name:	USS Register (DE-233)
Namesake:	Paul J. Register
Builder:	Charleston Navy Yard
Laid down:	27 October 1943 as Rudderow-class destroyer escort
Launched:	20 January 1944
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Paul J. Register
Reclassified:	APD-92, 17 July 1944
Commissioned:	11 January 1945
Decommissioned:	31 March 1946
Stricken:	1 September 1966
Honors and awards:	1 battle star for World War II service
Fate:	Transferred to the Republic of China 1966
History
Taiwan
Name:	ROCS Tai Shan (DE-38)
Acquired:	1966
Reclassified:	PF-38
Reclassified:	PF-878
Reclassified:	PF-838
Stricken:	scrapped, 1991
General characteristics
Class and type:	Crosley-class high speed transport
Displacement:	2,130 long tons (2,164 t) full
Length:	306 ft (93 m)
Beam:	37 ft (11 m)
Draft:	12 ft 7 in (3.84 m)
Speed:	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Troops:	162
Complement:	204
Armament:	1 × 5 in (130 mm) gun 6 × 40 mm guns 6 × 20 mm guns 2 × depth charge tracks

Construction and commissioning

Destroyer escort USS Register (DE-233) is launched at Charleston Navy Yard, on 20 January 1944, prior to her conversion into high-speed transport USS Register (APD-92).

Register was laid down as the Rudderow-class destroyer escort USS Register (DE-233) on 27 October 1943 by the Charleston Navy Yard, and launched as such on 20 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Ethel L. Register, widow of the ship's namesake, Lieutenant Commander Paul J. Register. The ship was reclassified as a Crosley-class high speed transport and redesignated APD-92 on 17 July 1944. After conversion to her new role, the ship was commissioned on 11 January 1945 with Commander J. R. Cain, Jr., in command.

Service history

World War II

Following shakedown in the British West Indies, Register departed the United States East Coast on 11 March 1945 and headed via the Panama Canal for San Diego, California, where she arrived on 26 March 1945. She continued on to Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, which she reached on 3 April 1945. Training with underwater demolition teams followed and on 27 April 1945 she got underway, with 100 passengers embarked, for Ulithi Atoll. Arriving there on 13 May 1945, she departed as an escort of an Okinawa-bound convoy on 15 May 1945 for service in the Okinawa campaign.

Register anchored off the Hagushi beaches at Okinawa on 19 May 1945. On 20 May 1945 she got underway for screening station Baker-13. At 19:25 hours a flight of ten Japanese Mistbishi A6M Zero fighters was sighted approaching from the west, directly out of the sun. Register increased her speed and made radical course changes. The Japanese formation split up, but four of the planes headed for Register. Two came in from starboard, one from ahead, one from astern. Register shot down two, one of the starboard attackers and the one closing in astern; the plane attacking from ahead, however, began a low, gliding run in an attempt to crash Register's bridge. Passing down Register's port side, the kamikaze suicide plane was deflected overboard by the kingpost, which buckled and crashed over No. 3 40-millimeter gun, wounding 12 of Register's crew, including her commanding officer, and causing considerable damage to her hull. The fourth plane though damaged, escaped.

Relieved the following morning, 21 May 1945, Register retired to Hagushi, thence proceeded via Saipan in the Mariana Islands to Leyte in the Philippine Islands, where repairs begun at Okinawa were completed. By 29 June 1945 she was ready for action again.

Assigned to escort duty, Register escorted 20 tank landing ships (LSTs) to Okinawa, then accompanied a nine-ship convoy to Ulithi Atoll before returning to Leyte on 16 July 1945. At the end of July 1945 she escorted two escort aircraft carriers to Ulithi Atoll and, while en route back to Leyte, joined in the search for survivors of the sinking of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35). On 3 August 1945 she picked up 12 of the heavy cruiser's crew. Transferring them to the hospital at Peleliu on 4 August 1945, she returned to the scene of the rescue, but found only life rafts and floater nets.

Postwar

At Leyte when hostilities ended on 15 August 1945, Register screened the battleships and cruisers of Task Group 95.7 to Okinawa from 20 August 1945 to 26 August 1945, then returned to the Philippines for the month of September 1945. In October 1945 she escorted transports carrying occupation troops to Japan, then served as harbor entrance patrol ship at Wakayama, Japan. Shifted to Nagoya toward the end of October 1945, she embarked United States Army and U.S. Navy personnel as passengers and headed east. Reaching Pearl Harbor on 15 November 1945, she continued on to the United States West Coast, thence steamed through the Panama Canal to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to begin inactivation.

Decommissioning and disposal

Arriving at Philadelphia on 11 December 1945, Register departed in January 1946 and on 18 January 1946 arrived at Green Cove Springs, Florida. There she was decommissioned on 31 March 1946 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

Later transferred to the Orange, Texas, berthing area, Register remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until stricken from the Navy List on 1 September 1966. She was subsequently transferred to the Republic of China and served the Republic of China Navy as ROCS Tai Shan (PF-38) until scrapped in 1996.

Honors and awards

Register received one battle star for her service in World War II.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive USS Register (APD-92)