The USS Broadwater (APA-139) was a Haskell-class attack transport built during World War II, serving the United States Navy briefly from 1945 to 1946. Constructed by the California Shipbuilding Corporation in Wilmington, Los Angeles, she was laid down on September 1, 1944, under a Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 55), launched on November 5, 1944, and delivered to the Navy on December 31, 1944. She was commissioned at Terminal Island, California, on January 2, 1945, and was the only vessel to bear the name, representing Broadwater County, Montana. Her initial outfitting involved shakedown training out of San Pedro, followed by amphibious exercises in the San Diego area. After a post-shakedown availability at Long Beach, she loaded cargo in San Francisco and set sail for Hawaii, arriving in early March 1945. Broadwater conducted amphibious training in Hawaiian waters before embarking elements of construction battalions and proceeding across the Pacific, stopping at Eniwetok, Kossol Roads, and other locations in the Palau Islands and the Philippines, including Guiuan harbor at Samar. She participated in transporting troops and cargo between various Pacific islands, including Guam, Hollandia in New Guinea, and Manila. In August 1945, after loading occupation troops, she crossed the Pacific again, arriving in Manila and later participating in operations around Leyte and Legaspi in the Philippines. She then traveled to Tokyo, Japan, arriving on October 13, 1945, with subsequent voyages to Guam and the U.S. East Coast. In late 1945, she transported the personnel of the U.S. Marine Twelfth 155mm Gun Battalion back to the United States. Decommissioned on February 28, 1946, USS Broadwater was transferred to the Maritime Commission’s War Shipping Administration and placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at James River, Virginia. She remained in reserve until she was scrapped in 1974 or early 1975. Her brief service highlights her role in the final Pacific campaigns and occupation efforts at the end of World War II, representing the logistical backbone of U.S. amphibious operations during that period.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.