with an exclusive wartime function in mind and had little adaptability to other roles. The need for these specialized attack transports had largely evaporated, and because their cargo carrying capacity and endurance was limited the Maritime Commission had no use for them in the peacetime merchant fleet. Consequently many were allocated to the atomic tests as their type possessed characteristics typical of the naval auxiliary fleet at that time. All but five of the Gilliam class were sent to Pearl Harbor early in 1946 to prepare for the tests. Of these 27 ships, six were decommissioned before the tests and were not used, two were sunk in Test Able and a further 12 were left in a damaged or radioactive state which necessitated their deliberate sinking months later. The remaining seven ships were located far enough outside the main target arrays to avoid damage, permitting them to be re-manned and remain in service for a time. One - - was selected to become the "detector vessel" for the third test, designated Charlie, which was to be a deep-water test of the same type of bomb used in the Baker test. Test Charlie was cancelled following the unexpectedly high levels of radioactive fallout produced by the Baker blast, but had the test proceeded Appling would have been equipped in the same manner as to support and ultimately detonate the bomb. In all likelihood Appling would have been obliterated in the blast, but fate saw that she was returned to the United States and laid up along with the remainder of her sisters who either survived or avoided the tests. Later years Four ships (Clarendon, Crenshaw, Elkhart and Garrard) were selected in September 1945 to be converted to surveying ships (AGS), but these conversions were cancelled prior to the atomic tests the following year. As it was, all remaining Gilliam class vessels were decommissioned by 1947 and saw no further naval (or merchant) service. The sole exception was , which although decommissioned remained in use with the Navy as a training ship until 1 September 1968. Serious consideration was later given to utilizing the ships as mobile power-generating stations, as their turbo-electric plant was seen as their biggest asset and was capable of generating a significant amount of electricity. The project never came to fruition however and was ultimately abandoned. The remainder of the class was ultimately sold off to scrapping companies