| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Wheatland |
| Namesake: | Wheatland County, Montana |
| Builder: | North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina |
| Laid down: | 17 July 1944 |
| Launched: | 21 September 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 3 April 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 25 April 1946 |
| Renamed: | SS Beatrice SS Bangor SS Grand Loyalty |
| Struck: | 8 May 1946 |
| Fate: | Sold for merchant service, 3 April 1947 Scrapped at Taiwan, December 1973 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Tolland-class attack cargo ship |
| Displacement: | 13,910 long tons (14,133 t) full |
| Length: | 459 ft 2 in (139.95 m) |
| Beam: | 63 ft (19 m) |
| Draft: | 26 ft 4 in (8.03 m) |
| Speed: | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) |
| Complement: | 395 |
| Armament: | • 1 × 5"/38 caliber gun • 4 × twin 40 mm guns • 16 × 20 mm guns |
USS Wheatland (AKA-85) was a Tolland-class attack cargo ship of the United States Navy named after Wheatland County, Montana. She was designed to carry military cargo and landing craft, and to use the latter to land weapons, supplies, and Marines on enemy shores during amphibious operations. She served as a commissioned ship for 12 months.
Wheatland was laid down as a Type C2-S-AJ3 ship on 17 July 1944 at Wilmington, North Carolina, by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1397); launched on 21 September 1944; sponsored by Miss Shirley B. Anderson; transferred to the Navy on 6 October 1944; converted to an attack cargo ship in New York by the Atlantic Basin Iron Works; and commissioned on 3 April 1945, Comdr. Attilio A. Vischio, USNR, in command.