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 | |
Ordered |
|
Laid down | 24 January 1944 |
Launched | 9 July 1944 |
Acquired | 18 July 1944 |
Out of service | 1959 |
Stricken | date unknown |
Fate |
|
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 1,677 t.(lt), 5,202 t.(fl) |
Length | 269 ft 10 in (82.25 m) |
Beam | 42 ft 6 in (12.95 m) |
Draught | 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) |
Propulsion | Diesel, single shaft, 1,300shp |
Speed | 10 kts. |
Notes | The ship was under Navy supervision 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. Subsequent Naval service was as unarmed, civilian crewed USNS Sagitta (T-AK-87). |
Sagitta (AK-87) [Note 1] was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation. [1]
The ship, contracted as the United States Maritime Commission MV Moses Pike, transferred to Navy supervision for construction and was then transferred shortly after launch as Sagitta (AK-87) to the Army to become the Engineer Port Repair Ship Marvin Lyle Thomas. She was one of two such repair ships transferred to Navy in 1952 and served as the civilian crewed, unarmed USNS Sagitta (T-AK-87). The ship may have been unique among her type in being then transferred back to the Army in 1966.
The ship was a Maritime Commission type N3-M-A1 cargo vessel hull (MC hull 650) assigned the name MV Moses Pike. The ship was transferred to Navy supervision for construction at the Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey and renamed Sagitta. [2] The ship was launched on 9 July 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Frank L. Hare.
On 18 July 1944 the ship was transferred to the United States Army for conversion into the Engineer Port Repair Ship Marvin Lyle Thomas for operation by the United States Army Corps of Engineers rehabilitating war damaged ports.
Marvin Lyle Thomas was one of the two last ships converted and was operational too late to participate in the postwar port rehabilitation to a significant degree. [3] Like her sister repair ship, Joe C. Specker (ex Vela (AK-89)), she remained operational with the Army until transferred to Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) in 1952.
Transferred from the Army to the Navy under assignment to the Military Sea Transportation Service on 26 April 1952, Sagitta operated as a summer DEW line resupply ship out of New York City from 1952 through 1959. She steamed annually to St. Johns and Argentia, Newfoundland; and to Goose Bay, Labrador. She also voyaged to Cartwright, Labrador, annually except in 1954; to Makkovick, Labrador, annually from 1957 through 1959; to Resolution Island, Northwest Territories, annually except in 1952 and 1957; and to Narsarsauk, Greenland, in June 1954 and 1957. During the winters, she carried cargo to Bermuda; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone, annually from 1953 through 1955; and to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in 1956. Occasionally sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, she visited Piraeus, Greece, from 9 to 12 February 1957, and Port Lyautey, Morocco, from 2 to 6 February 1958.
Transferred to the Maritime Administration on 23 February 1960, she remained in the National Defense Reserve Fleet until 25 April 1966 when she was transferred to the Army for duty as a training vessel, first at Fort Eustis, Virginia, then in about 1972 at Bayboro Harbor, St. Petersburg, Florida as USAV Resource [Note 2] and then at Curtis Bay, Maryland, where she provided stevedore training.
The vessel was scrapped in 1976.
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.
USS Aries (AK-51) (1918–1952) was a United States Navy cargo ship built as Lake Geneva under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract in 1918 at Duluth, Minnesota, by the McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company, to augment American logistics capability during World War I. The freighter was delivered to the Navy at Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on 21 September 1918 and was placed in commission the following day for service in the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. Aries was named for the constellation.
The USS Alnitah (AK-127) was a Crater-class cargo ship in the service of the US Navy in World War II. Named a spelling variation of the star Alnitak in the constellation Orion, it was the only ship of the Navy to bear this name.
Europa (AK-81) was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation.
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. The ship was converted to the U.S. Army Engineer Port Repair ship Richard R. Arnold and served in the Pacific during 1945.
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.
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 Muskingum (AK-198/T-AK-198) was an Alamosa-class cargo ship that was constructed for the US Navy under a US Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract during the closing period of World War II. She supported the end-of-war Navy effort. On 7 March 1946 Muskingum was placed in service under bareboat charter with the US Army under the Shipping Control Authority for the Japanese Merchant Marine with a Japanese crew. In 1950, she was reactivated and placed into service with the Military Sea Transportation Service as USNS Muskingum (T-AK-198) until being struck from the Navy list in 1973. She was ultimately transferred to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) and the Republic of Palau.
USNS Sgt. Jack J. Pendleton was a Lt. James E. Robinson-class cargo ship constructed during World War II as a Victory ship and named the SS Mandan Victory. The Mandan Victory was placed into service by the War Shipping Administration's Emergency Shipbuilding program under cognizance of the U.S. Maritime Commission.
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 John R. Towle (T-AK-240) was a Greenville Victory-class cargo ship that served as a commercial cargo ship during the final year of World War II. Post-war she was acquired by the U.S. Army as USAT Private John R. Towle until the 1950s when she was assigned to the U.S. Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service for various duties, including runs to Antarctica's McMurdo Sound.
USNS Private Francis X. McGraw (T-AK-241) was a Boulder Victory-class cargo ship built at the end of World War II and served the war and its demilitarization as a commercial cargo vessel. From 1946 to 1950 she served the U.S. Army as a transport named USAT Private Francis X. McGraw. In 1950 she was acquired by the United States Navy and assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service. In 1974 she ended her career and was scrapped.
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.
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 .The entry can be found here.