The U.S. Army’s Harbor Boat Service comprised of yard craft, all of which fell into the category of auxiliary vessels if using the U.S. Navy’s definition as a guide. Thus, in looking at the examples below, the Army was not nearly so rigid in its classification by designated categories as the Navy was with its combatants. The Army was much more apt to group different hull types into functional and general size categories; for this reason, there is often no typical vessel silhouette for the various vessels. The Army’s designation system detailed below is akin to the U.S. Navy’s “Miscellaneous Auxiliary (AG)” group that includes vessels of many designs, sizes, and functions.
Early in the war, the Army took what it could get: fishing vessels, yachts, pleasure boats, ferry boats, or whatever it could obtain to meet its immediate needs. These vessels were given designations for administrative purposes that generally fit the function anticipated, often determined by general size; e.g.: San Francisco ferry boats pressed into service became FP/FS designated vessels without any similarity in silhouette or operational functionality to the vessels of the same designation later in the war.
In addition, some of the designations appear to be duplicates of each other. As seen in the designations below, one example appears to be the “H” and “HA.” Both seem to apply to only eleven ships; each identical in casual appearance to the FS Design 330-D (Vessel, Supply, Diesel, Steel, 180′). In U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II David Grover notes:
Aircraft Retrieval Vessels
In connection with the salvaging of aircraft downed at sea, the Army Air Forces found it necessary in World War II to develop and utilize oceangoing vessels large enough to transport planes back to aircraft repair ships. Resembling FS boats in appearance, eleven of these ships were built on the Great Lakes and were designated H boats. No comparable vessels of this type were operated by the Navy.
In summary, Army designations are not equivalent to Navy ship “classes” or even some of the more orderly functional designations. Only later in the war, as production geared up and settled down, did fairly orderly “types” emerge.
It is also worth mentioning that the Army did not have an exact equivalent of the Navy’s “United States Ship” (USS) for commissioned vessels or “United States Naval Ship” (USNS) for Navy-owned, non commissioned auxiliaries “in service.” The Army also did not have an equivalent of the Navy’s “in commission” distinction vice ships “in service.” The term “United States Army Transport” (U.S.A.T) was applied (or sometimes not) to the large troop and cargo vessels owned by the Army and it was never applied to other vessels. The mine planters were “U.S. Army MP” abbreviated USAMP before the name. Most Army vessels, as with smaller non-commissioned Navy yard and utility craft, had no prefix at all.
HARBOR BOAT DESIGNATIONS WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES
| B | Barge or Lorcha | L | Distribution Box Boat |
| BB | Balloon Barge | LT | Large Tug, over 100′ |
| BBP | Balloon Barrage Leader | M | Motor Mine Yawl |
| BC | Cargo Barge (Med. 110′-130′) | MP | Mine Planter |
| BCS | Cargo Barge (Sm. 45′ – 60′) | AMP | Mine Planter (Army) |
| BCL | Cargo Barge (Large – 210′ or more) | MT | Motor Towboat (Sm. 26′) |
| BD | Derrick and Crane Barges | MTL | Motor Towboat (Large, over 26′) |
| BDP | Pontoon Derrick Barge | OB | Outboard Launch – Detachable Motor |
| BK | Knocked-down barge | QBM | Outboard Motor – Stationary Motor |
| BG | Gasoline Barge | P | Rescue Boat 42′, 83′, 104′, Picket Boat |
| BSP | Self-propelled Barge | Q | Launch, more than 60′ |
| BW | Water Barge | R | Rowboat |
| BTL | Truck Lighter | SG | Swamp Glider |
| C | Navy Type Launch (Obsolete designation) | ST | Tug (Small – under 100′) |
| CL | Landing Boat | ||
| D | Dory and Dinghie | T | Freight & Passenger Vessel 65′ |
| F | Cargo Vesse1 99′ Steel | TKL | Tank Lighter |
| FA | Cargo Vessel (Air Corps) | TP-TH | Freight & Passenger Vessel (Sm. – under 100′) |
| FT | Freight & Passenger Boat 115′ | V | Speed Boat |
| FP-FH | Freight and Passenger Boat over 100′ | Y | Tanker – 176′ |
| G | Marine Tractor | ||
| H | 150′ Retrieving Vessel – Air Corps Boat | ||
| HA | Hoisting or Retrieving Vessel | ||
| JR | Radio Controlled Boat | ||
| J | Launch up to 50′ which includes: Ambulance Boat Launch (Navy type) Motor Sailer ??? Boat Shallow Draft Boat Skiff Speed Boat Utility Boat |
designation notes
BB
BB types were not Army battleships, rather small, unpowered barges for carrying barrage balloons. Barrage balloons were attached to BB by cables; an example of their use is seen in the photograph of the Normandy beachhead above.
FP/FS
Late in the war, the HBS re-designated FP vessels as FS vessels types; these were in essence “small freighters.” Some of these vessels were acquired by the Navy from the Army and became the Navy AKL type. One of the most well-known of these vessels was the USS Reluctant used in the 1955 film Mr. Roberts. Some ex-FP/FS vessels were given other Navy classifications, as was the case with the Army cargo ship FP-344 (1944-1966), acquired by the Navy in April 1966 and renamed the USS Pueblo (AGER 2). These ships were used primarily in the Pacific to carrying cargo and passengers; their complement was quite small.
After the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, I had the points to return to the USA but transportation was very scarce, so I managed to come home as a deck officer aboard a very small Army Transport ship (FS 533) out of Saipan in the Marianna Islands. Total crew was 12 men. It was like coming home in a yacht compared to the troopship Zoella Lykes that brought me to Saipan from Seattle. This small ship was crewed by Army officers of the Army Transport Corps. [Ex Lieutenant W. J. Uhlich]
The Australian-built Fairmile ML design was used in SWPA by the Army (often with Australian crew) as a highspeed supply vessel designated “FS” with the numbers followed by an “A” as in “FS 8A.”
QS
From time to time, Army vessels received different designators if they could be used in a different capacity. The 104-foot “P” air rescue vessel was converted to a “Q” category and used as local transport in the Philippines:
During WWII, I and nine others manned a 104′ long, 140 ton, mahogany hulled, modified aircraft twin engine ship named the QS-19. I believe that 34 of these ships were built, originally to serve in the Atlantic for air-craft rescue. They had a stern A-frame to lift fighter planes, a center hold with body baskets and a big reefer for blood and medical supplies.
Unfortunately they were too slow (18 knots) to save any pilots or planes as the planes had already sunk. Some were sent to the Pacific where they were used for inter island communication. This is where the 369th Harbor Craft Unit came in. The QS-19 made weekly circuits to islands in the Philippines from just after the Leyte invasion until our crew was relived in Feb. of 1946. We worked for the Military Police, who were in effect the government of the Islands, carrying official mail, passengers and sometimes cargo.
As soon as we got the ship, we stripped it of its guns, gasoline fired furnace, and medical equipment. We had a super record for reliability, even though sister ships were seldom operable. The aircraft engines had over 1,200 operational hours on them, without over-haul, something our employer couldn’t see the need for. The ship also leaked, and we couldn’t go to dry-dock.
None of our crew had any special training, we all had been around small boats, that was all. Such was our part of the USTC.
I have tried to find archive material on the Harbor Craft Units and the QS ships, to no avail. Do you have any suggestions. I could write a small book on our adventures. Many of my company mates were college students, yanked out of the ASTP. While we bitched, we later learned that a much larger group were thrown into the Battle of the Bulge with little combat training. Luckily us army sailors didn’t sink our ship.
QS-19 was a variant “C” of Design 235 (Boat, Supply, High Speed, Gasoline, Wood, 104′) which itself was patterned on the British Fairmile Rescue Motor Launch (RML), a variant of the workhorse Motor Launch (ML). It was a 104′ Army Aircraft Rescue Boats built by Casey Boat Building Company, Inc. of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The as a “P” air rescue vessel, the 235-C was not entirely successful as an air rescue craft over the long ranges involved outside the European Theater. Other converted “P” 235-C types had hull numbers QS 2-34 and QS 33-78. Some other “P” vessels may have been drafted for fast supply as well.
Insignia worn by officers aboard QS vessels are interesting. On their khaki coats, they would have an Army Air Corps collar insignia on the lapels a Navy-style PT boat shoulder patch in place of a typical Air Corps division patch. Late-war, miniature U.S. Navy pilot wings and U.S. Army Transportation – Water Division cap badges were worn on garrison hats.