Gage was of the VC2-S-AP5
Victory ship design type and was named after
Gage County, Nebraska. She was built under
United States Maritime Commission contract by the
Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation,
Portland, Oregon; launched 14 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. H. L. Edmunds; acquired by the Navy 4 November 1944; and commissioned 12 November 1944. Commodore
Leroy John Alexanderson, USNR, was the first commanding officer of the USS Gage. After shakedown out of
San Diego, California,
Gage sailed from
San Francisco 17 January 1945 for the
South Pacific. Following the landing of a military civil affairs group at
Kaurimarau,
Russell Islands, she arrived off
West Kokum Beach,
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, 4 February 1945 with 298
Marines and military cargo. She became a unit of Division 34,
Transport Squadron 12, and spent the ensuing weeks in amphibious warfare maneuvers in the Solomons. On 15 March 1945, the attack transport departed Guadalcanal for
Ulithi, the staging base for the
Okinawa invasion. From there she sailed to
Hagushi Beach,
Okinawa, where she joined in the initial assault 1 April 1945 conducted under cover of heavy naval gun and plane bombardment. Through five grueling days and nights of almost continual "Flash Red" alerts against
Japanese suicide planes,
Gage landed marines of the
3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment,
6th Division; a Navy
construction battalion; a medical company, and combat equipment. Her mission completed 5 April, she proceeded via the
Marianas and
Hawaii to San Francisco, where she arrived 11 May 1945. Here
Gage embarked the men and equipment of an
Army Air Corps Casuals and landed them at
Manila,
Luzon,
Philippine Islands, 12 June 1945.
Gage reported for duty with
Amphibious Group 9 at
Leyte 22 June 1945 and was dispatched to
New Guinea. After embarking troops at
Langemak and
Humboldt Bays for transport to
Iloilo,
Panay Island, P.I., she steamed to San Francisco, Calif., where she arrived 2 August 1945. The announcement of
Japanese capitulation found her under repair in
Todd's Dry Dock at
Seattle, Washington.
Gage stood out from Seattle 21 August 1945 with 1,724
Army casual replacements who disembarked at
Saipan in the Marianas 5 September. Thirteen days later she departed with some 1,500 marines whom she landed late in October as part of the occupation forces at
Hiro Wan,
Honshū, Japan. Homeward bound, she served as the
"Magic-Carpet" for 1,700 Army veterans embarked at Okinawa and Manila. She reached
Portland, Oregon 14 December 1945. The attack transport made a "Magic-Carpet" voyage from San Francisco to
Yokosuka and back (10 January to 25 February 1946); followed by one to
Samar, P.I., and back (4 April to 10 May 1946). She again departed San Francisco 28 May 1946 to support Navy occupation forces at the Chinese ports of
Qingdao and
Tientsin and the Japanese ports of Yokosuka and
Sasebo.
Gage departed Sasebo 26 June; embarked Army veterans in the Marianas and Hawaii; then transited the
Panama Canal for
Norfolk, arriving 29 July 1946.
Decommissioning and fate Gage remained in the
Norfolk Naval Shipyard until decommissioning 26 February 1947.
Gage was placed in the
Atlantic Reserve Fleet and was inactive until her name was struck from the
Naval Vessel Register 1 October 1958. She was transferred the same day to the
Maritime Commission Reserve Fleet and was berthed in
James River, Virginia. One of the crew members was Albert Viola.
Gage was slated to be used as a target in
SINKEX 2004. This was cancelled pending historical review, and she remained in the
James River Reserve Fleet. There was an effort underway to preserve
Gage, the last ship remaining in the
Haskell-class configuration, as a
museum ship. The 29 February 2008 MARAD Inventory listed
Gage with the status "Historic Hold" (previously she was listed for "Disposal"). The 30 April 2009 Inventory had her back in "Disposal" status.
Gage left the James River Reserve Fleet on 23 July 2009, and was towed to
Brownsville, Texas, where she was scrapped by ESCO Marine, Inc. Some items from the ship were salvaged to be used in the restoration of , a museum ship moored near
Houston, Texas and Fletcher class destroyer , a museum ship moored on the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Other items were acquired from the Gage several years prior to her scrapping for use on the
Cannon-class destroyer escort , a museum ship moored in Albany, New York along with a plaque honoring
Gage in the communications room presented by the USS
Gage (APA-168) Association. In addition to the radios and other communications equipment on
Slater,
Gage was a source for many historical ship museums with which to backdate ships to WWII era design. In doing so,
Gage herself had given up so much of her own equipment that by the time she was put on historical hold, she was stripped of so much equipment that it was hard to justify the expense of turning her into a museum ship. Her legacy stands not so much as a warship, but as a donor to help preserve other ships to reflect a time in which those ships would otherwise have been preserved in a more modern appearance from the mid-1940s WWII timeframe due to a lack of available obsolete equipment. == Awards ==