US Army Small Ships Section
Civilian fleet in WWII
US Army Small Ships Section
The US Army Small Ships Section was an improvised civilian fleet that provided logistical support to Allied operations in the South West Pacific Area during World War II. Between 1942 and 1945, more than 4,000 Allied personnel served aboard its vessels. The section has its origins in Mission X, a project initiated by brothers John Sheridan Fahnestock and Adam Bruce Fahnestock of the Fahnestock South Sea Expeditions fame. The section operated ships acquired in Australia and New Zealand under Reverse Lend-Lease. The section operated schooners, ketches, and even a Clemson-class destroyer converted to a freighter, but the preferred type was seine trawlers. These were sturdy diesel-powered, 15-to-20-metre (49 to 66 ft) wooden fishing boats, built to withstand the rough waters of the Bass Strait and Tasman Sea. They also had powerful winches that allowed them to beach and retract at high tide. The Small Ships Section was critically important to the logistics of the Buna–Gona campaign in late...
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