Below are a series of photographs of the USS Calvert during her two decades in service to the United States Navy as a commissioned vessel. You may view larger copies of each photo by clicking on the image.

World War II Era: 1942 to 1946

September, 1942 – Sparrows Point, MD

The Calvert underwent work in December 1942 at the Norfolk Navy Yard, and again in April 1943 at The Todd Shipyard, Brooklyn, NY, to improve defensive armament and undergo other wartime improvements. The next two photos show the raised, and improved, forward and aft gun positions when compared to the photograph above.

March, 1943 – Solomons Island, MD

August, 1943 – Norfolk, VA

1944 or 1945

Additional information regarding the next two photographs, provided by Bud Ruth, is available here.

Mid-1945

“Upon it’s arrival on 26 March 1945 at Seattle, a yard availability period was utilized to convert this vessel into a Relief ACG (RAGC). … tending to change her general characteristics from a conventional attack transport to an attack transport equipped to operate as a relief ACG-Amphibious Force Flagship. This entailed the installation of additional communication, plotting, gunnery, detection and administrative facilities, plus administrative and berthing facilities for embarked naval and troop staffs. During this period the original troop carrying capacity, and cargo capacity of the Calvert were reduced.” from David B. Cullen’s History of the USS Calvert

October, 1945 – Hiro Wan, Japan

The original post for the photo below is available here and additional details regarding the the Calvert’s time in the Hiroshima area, in late 1945, is available here.

January, 1946 – Portland, OR – Magic Carpet service

At this time the Calvert was participating in Operation Magic Carpet at this time and was transporting troops from the Far East to the West Coast United States.

This photo was provided by Himler Anderson’s Family:

The next two photos were provided by John Hartman, son of crewman Milton Hartman, MoMM2c(T) ’43-’46:

1950s

Japan, 1951. Source: Irving Hall

Between 1951 and 1954

The following photograph is from a large collection of slides made available by Robert B. Hile’s family, many additional photographs are available here:

Mid-to-Late 1950s (prior to February, 1958)

February, 1958 – San Francisco Naval Shipyard

From early-January to mid-March 1958 the Calvert underwent a significant overhaul at Hunter’s Point in San Francisco, including an overhaul of the engineering plant which resulted in trials where she made over 18 knots. Evident in this photograph, and a good marker for the general vintage, the new high smoke pipe is visible on the large false stack. The ship also underwent communications alterations and installation of electronic countermeasures equipment.

The photo below shows the Calvert in February, 1958, during the overhaul period. Additional high-resolution photographs of the ship during this period are available here.

Appreciation to Jack Hancock (RM3, 1965-1966) for this next photograph, from the same National Archives series:

Possibly 1959

Early-to-mid 1960s

The following photograph of the USS Calvert was found at an Argentinian history site, here, in reference to the Calvert’s original design for cargo and passenger service to South America. The exact date and location of photograph are unknown, but likely from the late 1950s or sometime during the early 1960s.

The next two photos below show the USS Calvert (APA-32) between 1962 and 1964. Source: Steve Straka:

1965

An official Navy photograph of the Calvert offered to crew members at that time. Source: Mr. Jack Hancock, RM3, 1965-1966

1965-66 Far East Cruise

Ensign Philip K. Selden provided these photographs from his ’65-66 Far East cruise photograph collection. Additional photographs of the ’65-66 cruise are available here.