U.S. troops landing during an exercise near Algiers, North Africa, in April 1944. The landing craft No. 5 belongs to the attack transport USS Cepheus (AKA-18), which was manned by the U.S. Coast Guard. Cepheus was commissioned on 16 December 1943 and put to sea from Staten Island, New York (USA), 27 February 1944, bound in a convoy for Liverpool (UK). The convoy arrived safely 9 March, with its cargo destined for the Normandy invasion. Joining her assigned division in Scottish waters, Cepheus sailed for Oran (French Algeria), where she arrived 6 April to report to the Eighth Amphibious Force. After training exercises along the Algerian coast, she loaded vehicles and troops for the passage to Naples (Italy), where she unloaded 19 June to 23 June 1944.