USS Neville

Neville in February 1942
History
United States
Name	Independence 1918-1931 City of Norfolk 1931-1940 Neville 1940-1946 City of Norfolk 1946-1948 Independence 1948[1]
Namesake	Wendell Cushing Neville
Ordered	as War Harbour
Builder	Bethlehem Alameda Works Shipyard, Alameda, California
Launched	4 July 1918
Commissioned	18 November 1918
Decommissioned	20 March 1919
Fate	Returned to the United States Shipping Board for Merchant Marine service
Acquired	14 December 1940
Recommissioned	14 May 1941, as Neville (AP-16)
Reclassified	APA-9, 1 February 1943
Stricken	15 August 1946
Honors and awards	5 battle stars (World War II)
Fate	Scrapped, 1957
General characteristics
Class and type	Heywood-class attack transport
Displacement	8,000 long tons (8,128 t) light 14,450 long tons (14,682 t) full
Length	507 ft (155 m)
Beam	56 ft (17 m)
Draft	25 ft 6 in (7.77 m)
Propulsion	4 × Babcock & Wilcox header-type boilers, De Laval steam turbine, single screw, 9,500 hp (7,084 kW)
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Capacity	145,000 cubic feet, 1,800 tons cargo
Troops	1150 men
Complement	50 officers, 524 enlisted
Armament	4 × single 3"/50 caliber guns 2 × twin 40 mm AA guns 16 × single 20 mm guns

USS Neville was originally a cargo vessel ordered by the British for WW I under the name War Harbour and requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) before completion. The ship was renamed Independence, completed, delivered to the Navy and commissioned on 16 November 1918 to see brief service with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS).

After decommissioning 20 March 1919 the ship with four sisters was converted to turbine electric drive in 1920 to operate as one of the first U.S. cargo vessels with electric drive. The ship operated commercially under the USSB until sold in 1931to the Baltimore Mail Steamship Company. After being rebuilt and renamed City of Norfolk the ship served commercially until again acquired and commissioned in 1940 by the Navy as Nevile, first designated as the transport AP-16 and then converted into an attack transport and designated APA-9 in service until 1946. She was returned to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 16 July 1946 and scrapped in 1957.