USS Natrona

Natrona was laid down 30 June 1944, under Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCV hull 562, by Permanente Metals Corporation, Yard No.

At Pearl Harbor, she debarked Marines, loaded men and equipment of the 806th Engineering Battalion, and continued her westward passage on 16 January.

On 21 March, Natrona, with Marine night fighters and 77th Infantry Division men and equipment on board, departed Dulag in TG 51.1.

After that air attack she moved to "Inner Transport Area George" to commence discharging her cargo of fuel and ammunition into small craft.

The following day, she crossed to the Hagushi Beach area of Okinawa to debark the Marine night fighters and then returned to Kerama Retto to transport the C.O., General Andrew Bruce and staff of the 77th Division to the same location.

[3] Moving to Mare Island, she underwent inactivation overhaul, and on 29 July, decommissioned and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Stockton, California.

USS Natrona (APA-214), in San Francisco Bay , in late 1945 or early 1946. The missing gun tub on the bow indicates that this photo was taken after all of her armament except two 20mm guns was removed, an action taken before late January 1946.