51784 1945 WWII USS BLACKFORD (APB-45) HOME MOVIES HONOLULU, HAWAII

Dating to 1945, this home movie shows life aboard the USS Blackford (APB-45), a Benewah-class self-propelled barracks ship that was in service with the United States Navy during the waning days of World War II. It was apparently shot by photographer’s mate R.E. Markell between August of 1945 and April of 1946. The film begins somewhere off the Sea of Japan with shots of sailors scrubbing the ships’ deck (:41), eating sandwiches (:55) and sunbathing. At 1:00 two Japanese floating mines are spotted off the coast of Japan and destroyed by gunfire while the crew observes. At 2:25 sailors play catch on the deck of the ship. At 3:52 haircuts are given on deck. At 4:44 an observant crew member points out an island, possibly Eniwetok, where the ship was stationed for a few months as a floating barracks. Crew members relax and swim, diving off the ship. At 10:25 more swabbing of the deck. At 12:21 crew sleep on deck and are woken up by a crewmate to do more swabbing.

At 14:00 the ship arrives in Hawaii Pearl Harbor and the crew departs for shore in landing ships. At 15:41 are views of Honolulu in the immediate post-WWII period. At 15:57 the Hawaii theater marquee is seen with the “continuous show” displayed on the marquee. At 16:13 the movie “Tokyo Rose” is advertised. It was released in February of 1946 so gives a rough idea of timeframe. At 16:18 a soldier tries to get lucky with a beautiful looking Hawaiian woman, but it looks like it goes nowhere. At 16:34 the Lai Fong A fancy dry goods store is shown in Japantown. A tattoo shop is also seen. The Hawaii & South Seas Curio Co. is visible at 18:00 and at 18:04 a sign advertises the Waikiki Baths and surfboard rentals. At 18:17 the beach at Waikiki is shown with Diamond Head in the background. At 22:30 the hula girls do their thing. The film ends with crew of the ship returning to the Blackford in a playful mood. The war is over and their next stop will be the mainland and freedom.

Authorized as LST-1111, she was redesignated as General Issue Stores Ship Blackford AKS-16 on 8 December 1944. On 2 January 1945, her keel was laid down at Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Co., and on 6 March 1945 she was once more redesignated, this time as Self-Propelled Barracks Ship Blackford APB-45. She launched on 9 April 1945 and was commissioned 9 July 1945 at Navy Supply Depot, New Orleans with Lieutenant A. E. Lorance, Jr., USNR, in command.

During the war, Blackford served the U.S. Navy in the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre of Operations.Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 19 August 1945, she joined the 3rd Amphibious Force. On 5 October 1945, she was assigned with Occupation Duty for 25 days up to 30 October 1945. During the next eight months she served at Eniwetok, Ulithi, Leyte, and Tokyo Bay as a floating barracks. She departed Yokosuka, Japan, 7 April and arrived at New Orleans 14 May 1946. Moving to Orange, Texas, 10 June, she went out of commission in reserve there 26 April 1947.

After 13 years of being laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, she was struck from the Naval Register on 1 April 1960. 3 years later, in 1963, she was purchased by Collins Submarine Pipeline. She would serve this merchant role until 1968-1970, when she was sunk as a target by the South African military.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

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