Ten ships were built during World War II with 2 cancelled.[2] Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the construction of tenders and repair ships in May 1943, it was then recommended by the Auxiliary Vessels Board on 11 June later that year, the construction of barracks ships.
The class consists of barges with a two-story barracks built on top instead of the a warehouse design, and they had an auxiliary vessel designation of "A". Moreover, on their top deck, 4 Oerlikon 20 mm cannons were placed together with 2 gun and their platforms on each side of the ship. The guns were later removed after being put into the reserve fleet in 1946.
In December 1972, APL-47 and APL-53 were loaned to Turkey.[3] [4] Since 2011, only 3 ships have been in service at Naval Station Norfolk.
| APL-41-class barracks ship | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Builders | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Decommissioned | Fate |
| APL-41 | Willamette Iron and Steel | 2 September 1944 | 11 November 1944 | 24 March 1945 | - | Disposed on 17 May 1973 |
| APL-42 | 9 December 1944 | 6 February 1945 | 1 May 1945 | - | CincPacFlt Berthing and Messing Program and is berthed at Norfolk | |
| APL-43 | 13 December 1944 | 27 February 1945 | 31 May 1945 | - | Donated to Panama on 1 October 1993 | |
| APL-44 | 29 December 1944 | 30 April 1945 | 30 June 1945 | - | Transferred to the U.S. Army District Engineers, 30 April 1960 | |
| APL-45 | 7 February 1945 | 12 May 1945 | 28 July 1945 | - | CincPacFlt Berthing and Messing Program and is berthed at Norfolk | |
| APL-46 | 28 February 1945 | 23 May 1945 | 31 August 1945 | - | Scrapped in 1970 | |
| APL-47 | Puget Sound Shipbuilding | 17 October 1944 | 5 January 1945 | 1 June 1945 | - | Loaned to Turkey and redesignated TCG Y38, December 1972 |
| APL-48 | 8 November 1944 | 26 January 1945 | 26 July 1945 | - | Sold to commercial service, August 1958 | |
| APL-49 | 28 November 1944 | 28 May 1945 | 15 November 1945 | - | Transferred to the Thirteenth Naval District, 1961 | |
| APL-50 | 29 January 1945 | 26 July 1945 | 2 January 1946 | - | CincPacFlt Berthing and Messing Program and is berthed at Norfolk | |
| APL-51 | 15 May 1945 | Cancelled on 13 August 1945, completed as barge PACIFIC RIM | ||||
| APL-52 | Cancelled on 13 August 1945 | |||||