Sister ship USAPRS Thomas F. Farrel, Jr. underway off the East Coast of the United States, 26 August 1944. US National Archives photo # 80-G-420158 RG-80-G, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name |
|
Ordered | as Josiah Paul, transferred to Navy for construction as Nashira |
Builder | Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey |
Laid down | 1 November 1943 |
Launched | 23 April 1944 |
Acquired | 25 April 1944 (delivered to Navy/transferred to Army) |
Commissioned | Never commissioned |
In service | 1944-1947 (U.S. Army) |
Out of service | 1947 |
Renamed |
|
Stricken | 9 June 1944 |
Fate | Sold March 1965 to Kelbar, Inc. for scrap |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Navy: Enceladus-class cargo ship |
Type | N3–M–A1 cargo ship |
Displacement |
|
Length | 269 ft 10 in (82.25 m) |
Beam | 42 ft 6 in (12.95 m) |
Draft | 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) |
Propulsion | Diesel, single shaft, 1,300 shp (969 kW) |
Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Notes | The ship was Navy only during construction, transferred to Army upon delivery to Navy and underwent extensive modifications for operation by the Corps of Engineers as a port repair ship. |
Nashira (AK-85) was planned as a civilian cargo ship for the United States Maritime Commission, transferred to the Navy for construction then transferred to the U.S. Army and renamed two days after launching. The ship was never commissioned, thus never bore the USS designation, and had no significant naval service. [1] [2] [Note 1] The ship was converted to the U.S. Army Engineer Port Repair ship Richard R. Arnold and served in the Pacific during 1945.
Nashira (AK-85), named after Nashira, the third-brightest star in the constellation Capricorn, was a Maritime Commission type N3-M-A1 cargo vessel originally assigned the name Josiah Paul. The ship was transferred from the control of the Maritime Commission to the U.S. Navy 1 January 1943, prior to the start of construction. [1]
Renamed Nashira 30 October 1943, she was laid down by Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, New Jersey, 1 November 1943; launched 23 April 1944; sponsored by Miss Patricia Palmer; delivered to the Navy 25 April 1944; and transferred to the U.S. Army the same day for use as a U.S. Army Port Repair ship. Nashira was struck from the Navy List 9 June 1944. [1]
The Army renamed the ship Richard R. Arnold after an Engineer officer, Colonel Richard R. Arnold, on General Eisenhower's personal staff killed by a mine 6 June 1943 in North Africa while commanding the 20th Engineer Regiment. [3] The ship and its crew served as part of the Army Corps of Engineers (1070th Engineer Service Detachment) in the Pacific during 1945, participated in the Battle of Luzon (Philippines), crossed the equator four times, was present in Japan after the war, and returned to San Francisco on 24 December 1945. [4]
Richard R. Arnold was turned in to the Maritime Commission for disposal 17 July 1947 and placed in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet where it remained until sold for $31,151 on 4 March 1965 to Kelbar, Inc. for scrap. [5]
USS Bellatrix (AK-20/AKA-3) was an Arcturus-class attack cargo ship in the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War. Originally ordered as a C2-T cargo ship named Raven for the Maritime Commission, the vessel was transferred to United States Navy control while under construction and launched in August 1941.
Europa (AK-81) was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation.
USS Etamin (AK-93) was the Liberty ship (EC2) Isaac Babbitt constructed for the US Maritime Commission (MARCOM) in 1943, for World War II service at a cost of $959,509. After acquisition by the US Navy, the ship was named Etamin, after the brightest star in the constellation Draco and manned by a US Coast Guard crew. As a Crater-class cargo ship, she served the military in the Pacific Ocean by providing food and material until she was torpedoed and put out of service. After repairs, she served as a non-self-propelled floating warehouse for the rest of the war. The ship ended the war in the Philippines and was among fifteen hulls sold for scrap for a lump sum of $271,000.
USS Enceladus (AK-80) was an Enceladus-class cargo ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.
USS Hydra (AK-82), ex MV Eben H. Linnell, was an Enceladus-class cargo ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for cargo service in World War II. Hydra was in naval service from 1 January through 19 November 1943 before she was transferred to the U.S. Army for conversion to the Engineer Port Repair ship Madison Jordan Manchester.
Media (AK-83) was a World War II US navy ship that was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation.
Mira (AK-84) was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation. The ship was transferred to become the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Port Repair ship Robert M. Emery the day after acquisition by Navy.
Norma (AK-86) was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation. Norma is the name of constellation.
Sagitta (AK-87) was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation.
Tucana (AK-88) was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation. She was transferred upon launching on 13 September 1944 to the U.S. Army as the U.S. Army Engineer Port Repair ship Arthur C. Ely.
Vela (AK-89) was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation. The ship was transferred to the Army to become the Engineer Port Repair Ship Joe C. Specker shortly after launching. She was one of two such repair ships transferred to Navy in 1952 and served as the civilian crewed, unarmed USNS Vela (T-AK-89).
USS Crux (AK-115) was a Crater-class cargo ship, converted from a Liberty Ship, commissioned by the US Navy for service in World War II. She was first named after Peter Stuyvesant, a Dutch politician that served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664. She was renamed and commissioned after Crux, a constellation centered on four stars in the southern sky in a bright portion of the Milky Way. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.
USS Menkar (AK-123) was a Crater-class cargo ship, converted from a Liberty Ship, commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was first named after John White, a settler among those who sailed with Richard Grenville, to present-day North Carolina, in 1585, to found the Roanoke Colony. White acted as artist and mapmaker to the expedition. He became the governor, in 1587, of the colony, and his granddaughter, Virginia Dare, was the first English child born in the Americas. She was renamed and commissioned after Menkar, the second-brightest star in the constellation of Cetus. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.
USS Marengo (AK-194) was an Alamosa-class cargo ship that was constructed by the US Navy during the closing period of World War II. She was declared excess-to-needs and returned to the US Maritime Commission shortly after commissioning.
USS Pembina (AK-200) – later known as USNS Pembina (T-AK-200) -- was an Alamosa-class cargo ship that was constructed for the U.S. Navy during the closing period of World War II. She supported the end-of-war Navy effort and was subsequently placed in service with the US Army under the Shipping Control Authority for the Japanese Merchant Marine with a Japanese crew in Yokosuka, Japan.
USNS Private Leonard C. Brostrom (T-AK–255) was a cargo ship for the United States Navy that was converted into a heavy lift cargo ship in the early 1950s. She was built in 1943 for the United States Maritime Commission as SS Marine Eagle, a Type C4-S-B1 tank carrier, by Sun Shipbuilding during World War II. In 1948, she was transferred to the United States Army as USAT Private Leonard C. Brostrom after Leonard C. Brostrom, a recipient of the Medal of Honor. In 1950, the ship was transferred to the Military Sea Transport Service of the U.S. Navy as a United States Naval Ship staffed by a civilian crew. After ending her naval service, she entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet in October 1980 and was sold for scrapping in June 1982.
The U.S. Army acquired ten ships during World War II as Engineer Port Repair Ships, also sometimes known as Port Rehabilitation ships, for use by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clear war damaged harbors. The need was anticipated by 1942 for the post invasion recovery of ports in Europe and the Transportation Corps was assigned the responsibility to acquire and modify the ships that would be military crewed under the Corps of Engineers.
Junior N. Van Noy was a Great Lakes steamer converted as one of ten U.S. U.S. Army Port Repair ships to be operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in rehabilitating war damaged ports. The other nine ships were Maritime Commission type N3–M–A1 cargo ship hulls built under U.S. Navy supervision and transferred upon completion or after very brief Navy service to the U.S. Army for conversion to port repair ships.
Type N3-S ships were a Maritime Commission small coastal cargo ship design to meet urgent World War II shipping needs, with the first of the 109 N3, both steam and diesel, type hulls delivered in December 1942.
Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Corp. of Camden, New Jersey was a shipyard opened in March 1940 to build ships for World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. The shipyard was on Cooper Point at north end of North 5th Street at 39.957309°N 75.117501°W. After building 29 vessels Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Corp. closed in June 1945 after building its last vessels.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .