USS Odum

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USS Odum (APD-71) was a United States Navy high‑speed transport in service from 1945 to 1946. It was originally laid down as a Buckley‑class destroyer escort, DE‑670, and named for Fireman First Class Joseph R. Odum, who earned the Silver Star for staying at his gun station to protect shipmates as USS Meredith sank in 1942. Odum gave his life saving others.

The ship was built by Consolidated Steel Corporation in Orange, Texas, laid down on 15 October 1943, and launched on 19 January 1944. It was reclassified as APD‑71 on 27 June 1944 and commissioned on 12 January 1945.

Odum trained off Bermuda, then moved through the Panama Canal to the Pacific. It carried underwater demolition gear, participated in amphibious training, and escorted transports to locations such as Guam, Ulithi, Leyte, and Hollandia. After Japan’s surrender, Odum helped with the occupation of Japan by escorting troops and later assisted in moving Allied prisoners of war to the Philippines. It returned to the United States in late 1945 and joined the Atlantic Fleet, operating along the East Coast and near Cuba and Puerto Rico.

The ship was decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Florida, on 15 November 1946 and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. It remained in reserve until being stricken from the Navy List in 1966 and transferred to Chile on 15 November 1966, where it served as Serrano (APD‑26). In Chilean service, the vessel was used to transport political prisoners to Dawson Island during Augusto Pinochet’s regime and remained in service until 1984, when it was scrapped.

Odum was a Charles Lawrence‑class high‑speed transport—about 306 feet long, displacing roughly 1,400 tons, capable of about 24 knots, with a crew of around 186 and capacity for 162 troops.