Thomas Jefferson (APA-30) served as an attack transport of the President Jackson class. She was launched on 20 November 1940, with Miss Eugenia Merrill as sponsor, and she was commissioned on 31 August 1942.
In June 1943 she combat-loaded at Oran, then carried troops for the invasion of Sicily.
On 1 April 1945, lying off the beaches at Hagushi, she received Admiral Richmond K. Turner's order sending the landing force in. At 0800 her boats cleared the departure line, and they were on the beach half an hour afterward. She remained for five days. She then steamed for Saipan and went on to Pearl Harbor.
A second Okinawa voyage began when she left Hawaii on 8 May 1945, troops and cargo aboard. She unloaded at the island and then went on to San Francisco, entering that port on 15 July.
That San Francisco arrival closed her wartime cruises. She served again after 1950.