Register I APD-92

Register I

(APD-92: dp. 1,650,1. 306', b. 37', dr. 12'7" (mean), s. 24 k.; cpl. 204; trp. 162, a. 1 5", 6 40mm., 6 20mm.; cl. Charles Lawrence)

Register (DE-233) was laid down 27 October 1943 by the Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., launched 20 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Paul J. Register, widow of Lt. Comdr. P. J. Register; redesignated a high-speed transport (APD-92) on 17 July 1944; and commissioned 11 January 1945, Comdr. J. R. Cain, Jr., in command.

Following shakedown in the British West Indies, Register departed the east coast on 11 March 1945 and headed via the Panama Canal for the pacific. Touching at San Diego 26 March, she continued on to Hawaii and reached Pearl Harbor on 3 April. Training with underwater demolition teams followed and on the 27th she got underway, with 100 passengers embarked, for Ulithi. Arriving 13 May, she sailed in the screen of an Okinawa bound convoy 2 days later.

Register anchored off the Hagushi beaches on the lOth and the next day got underway for screening station Baker-13. At 1925 a flight of 10 Zeros was sighted approaching from the west, directly Ollt of the sun. Speed was increased. Radical course changes were made. The enemy formation split up, but four of the planes headed for the APD. Two came in from starboard, one from ahead, one from astern. Two, one of the starboard attackers and the one closing in astern, were splashed. The plane attacking from ahead, however, began a low, gliding run in an attempt to crash the bridge. Passing down the port side, the kamikaze was deflected overboard by the kingpost, which buckled and crashed over No. 3 40mm. gun, wounding 12 of the crew, including the captain, and causing considerahle damage to the hull. The fourth plane though damaged, escaped.

Relieved the following morning, Register retired to Hagushi, thence proceeded via Saipan to Leyte, where repairs begun at Okinawa were completed. By 29 June she was ready for action again. Assigned to escort duty, she escorted 20 LST's to Okinawa, then accompanied a nine-ship convoy to Ulithi before returning to Leyte 16 July. At the end of the month she escorted two escort carriers to Ulithi and, while en route back, joined in the search for survivors of Indianapolis (CA 35). On 3 August she picked up 12 of the cruiser's crew. Transferring them to the hospital at Peleliu on the 4th, she returned to the scene, but found only liferafts and floater nets.

At Leyte when hostilities ended, Register screened the battleships and cruisers of TG 95.7 to Okinawa 20-26 August, then returned to the Philippines for the month of September. In October she escorted transports carrying occupation troops to Japan, then served as harbor entrance patrol ship at Wakayama. Shifted to Nagoya toward the end of the month she embarked Army and Navy personnel as passengers and headed east. Reaching Pearl Harbor on 15 November, she continued on to the west coast, thence steamed through the Panama Canal to Philadelphia to begin inactivation. Arriving 11 December, she sailed south in January 1946 and on the 18th arrived at Green Cove Springs, Fla. There she decommissioned 31 March and entered the Atlantic Reserye Fleet. Later transferred to the Orange, Tex., berthing area, she remained in the Reserve Fleet until struck from the Navy list on 1 September 1966. She was subsequently transferred to the Republic of China and seryes the Nationalist Chinese Navy into 1970 as Tai Shan (PF-38).

Register earned one battle star during World War II.