USS Antaeus

Last updated

USS Antaeus (AS-21) underway off the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 25 June 1943 (NH 96628).jpg
Antaeus (AS-21) on 25 June 1943
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
Name
  • 1932: Saint John
  • 1941: USS Antaeus
Namesake1941: Antaeus
Owner Eastern Steamship Lines
Port of registry Boston
Builder Newport News Sb & DD Co
Yard number350 [1]
Launched9 January 1932 [1]
Acquiredby the Navy, 24 April 1941
Commissioned17 May 1941 as USS Antaeus (AS-21)
Decommissioned29 April 1946 as USS Rescue (AH-18)
ReclassifiedAG-67, 15 September 1943; USS Rescue (AH-18), 18 January 1945
RefitConverted to a hospital ship at Brooklyn Navy Yard
Stricken15 August 1946
Identification
Honors and
awards		two battle stars for her World War II service
FateScrapped in 1959
General characteristics
Type passenger ship
Tonnage6,815  GRT, 3,020  NRT
Displacement8,350 tons
Length402.7 ft (122.7 m)
Beam61.0 ft (18.6 m)
Draft20 ft (240.0 in)
Depth29.7 ft (9.1 m)
Installed power13,000 hp
Propulsiongeared turbines, twin screws
Speed20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement440 as a hospital ship
Armamentone 4 in (100 mm) gun mount aft; two 3 in (76 mm) gun mounts forward; upgraded to one 4 in (100 mm) gun mount aft; four 3 in (76 mm) gun mounts, two forward, two aft

USS Antaeus (AS-21/AG-67) was a commercial passenger liner that the United States Navy acquired in World War II. She was SS Saint John from 1932 until 1941 before the US Navy acquired her and commissioned her as Antaeus. From 1941 to 1943, she was a submarine tender; she was later redesignated AG-67 and used as a troop transport from 1943 to 1944. In 1945, she was converted to a hospital ship, renamed USS Rescue (AH-18), and served in the Pacific War. Decommissioned in 1946, she was sold for scrap in 1958.

Contents

Civilian service

Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia built Saint John in 1932 as a passenger liner for Eastern Steamship Lines. Saint John and her sister ship Acadia entered coastal service for New York – Yarmouth – Halifax or Saint John. [2] From 1938 to 1940 the ship also ran in New York-Bermuda or Nassau service. [2] In 1939, the ship was chartered to the United States Lines for one voyage to carry American construction workers to air base projects in Bermuda. [3] Acquired by the Navy on 24 April 1941 the ship was renamed Antaeus (AS-21) and commissioned on 17 May 1941.

World War II service

As USS Antaeus

Following her commissioning, the submarine tender operated in the Caribbean. She took part in training exercises and made repairs to the American submarines patrolling in those waters. Antaeus finished this task in September 1943, when she was assigned to transport duties and was redesignated AG-67. The ship then began shuttling troops to points in the Caribbean, the Panama Canal Zone, and to Argentia, Newfoundland, from bases at New York City and Davisville, Rhode Island.

As hospital ship USS Rescue

Antaeus entered the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York City, on 28 December 1944. There she was converted to a hospital ship. On 18 January 1945 she was renamed Rescue and redesignated (AH-18). After her sea trials she got underway for the Pacific Ocean theater of action.

She arrived off Okinawa on 13 June, embarked men wounded in the fighting ashore, survived unscathed despite almost constant Japanese air attack against Allied shipping in the area, and safely delivered her patients to a hospital on Guam.

With a bed capacity of 792 and a complement of 440, Rescue provided hospital services, consultation, preventative medicine, and casualty evacuation.

After a short upkeep period, Rescue joined the United States Third Fleet on 5 July. She supported 3d Fleet ships conducting carrier strikes and bombardment of the Japanese home islands. The ship would rendezvous with the combatant vessels and take on casualties by breeches buoy both at night and under battle conditions. Upon the conclusion of World War II, Rescue sailed into Tokyo Bay with the 3d Fleet and began the medical screening of Allied prisoners of war and shuttling them from various prison camps to the base at Yokohama.

Post-war activity

In late September, the ship arrived at Guam where she discharged a few former prisoners whose home had been on that island. Rescue then proceeded to San Francisco, California. She was decommissioned on 29 June 1946 and was transferred to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

She was stricken from the Navy List on 15 August 1946. The ship was put in permanent reserve on 28 September 1948 in Olympia, Washington, and remained there until being sold for scrap in October of that year. She was scrapped by Dulien Steel Products, in Washington. [4]

Honors and awards

Rescue earned two battle stars for her World War II service:

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Dahlgren</i> (DD-187) Clemson-class destroyer

USS Dahlgren (DD-187/AG-91) was a Clemson-class destroyer which served in the United States Navy during World War II. Entering service in 1920, the ship had a brief active life before being placed in reserve in 1922. Reactivated in 1932, Dahlgren remained in service mainly as a test ship until 1945. She was sold for scrapping in 1946. She was named for Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren (1809–1870), and was the second ship of three which served in the US Navy to receive the name.

USS <i>Litchfield</i> Clemson-class destroyer

USS Litchfield (DD-336/AG-95) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I.

USS <i>Gainard</i> Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer

USS Gainard (DD-706), was an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer of the United States Navy.

HMS Montclare (F85) was a British ocean liner that was commissioned into the Royal Navy as an armed merchant cruiser in 1939, converted into a destroyer depot ship in 1944 and a submarine depot ship in 1946. She was decommissioned in 1954 and scrapped in 1958.

USS <i>Refuge</i> (AH-11) Hospital ship of the United States Navy

USS Refuge (AH-11), was a hospital ship of the United States Navy during World War II. The ship was built in 1921 by the New York Shipbuilding Corp., of Camden, New Jersey, as SS Blue Hen State, but was renamed President Garfield in 1923 and then SS President Madison in 1940 for service with American President Lines. Acquired by the Navy from the War Shipping Administration on 11 April 1942 the ship was commissioned as the transport USS Kenmore until conversion to a hospital ship.

USS <i>Siboney</i> (ID-2999) United States Navy ship transport

USS Siboney (ID-2999) was a ship transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Orizaba (ID-1536) but neither was part of a ship class. Launched as SS Oriente, she was soon renamed after Siboney, Cuba, a landing site of United States forces during the Spanish–American War. After her navy service ended, she was SS Siboney for the New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co.. The ship was operated under charter by American Export Lines beginning in late 1940. During World War II she served the U.S. Army as transport USAT Siboney and as hospital ship USAHS Charles A. Stafford.

USS <i>Ajax</i> (AG-15) Collier of the United States Navy

USS Ajax (AC-14/AG-15) was a collier in the United States Navy. Originally she retained her previous name of Scindia, and was renamed for the mythical Ajax in 1901. In 1921, she became a receiving ship and was redesignated AC-14. She was reclassified as a seaplane tender and given the hull designator AG-15 in 1924.

USS <i>Taurus</i> (AF-25) Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Taurus (AF-25), formerly SS San Benito, was a refrigerated banana boat of the United Fruit Company that may have been the first merchant ship to be built with turbo-electric transmission. From October 1942 to December 1945 she was a United States Navy stores ship in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II. She was scrapped in 1953.

SS <i>Shinyō Maru</i> Second World War Japanese hell ship

Shin'yō Maru was a cargo steamship that was built in 1894, had a fifty-year career under successive British, Australian, Chinese and Greek owners, was captured by Japan in the Second World War, and sunk by a United States Navy submarine in 1944.

USS <i>Crescent City</i> (APA-21)

USS Crescent City (AP-40/APA-21) was the lead ship of the Crescent City-class attack transports that served with the US Navy during World War II. The ship was built as the cargo and passenger liner Delorleans for the Mississippi Shipping Company's Delta Line. After brief commercial operation the ship was among 28 vessels requisitioned in June 1941 for the Navy and the Army. The Navy renamed the ship Crescent City, a popular nickname for New Orleans, Louisiana, upon commissioning 10 October 1941. The ship was decommissioned and laid up in 1948 before being loaned to the California Maritime Academy to serve as a training ship 1971–1995 and then transferred to a foundation in a failed art colony project. The ship left California for Texas scrapping in 2012.

USAT <i>Thomas H. Barry</i>

USAT Thomas H. Barry, formerly SS Oriente, was a Ward Line ocean liner that became a United States Army troopship in the Second World War. She was intended for transfer to the United States Navy and assigned the hull number AP-45, but was not transferred and remained with the Army.

Type C4-class ship Cargo ships built by the United States Maritime Commission

The Type C4-class ship were the largest cargo ships built by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) during World War II. The design was originally developed for the American-Hawaiian Lines in 1941, but in late 1941 the plans were taken over by the MARCOM.

USS <i>Howick Hall</i> (ID-1303) Cargo steamship that served in the US Army, US Navy and US Maritime Commission

USS Howick Hall (ID-1303) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1910 and served in the merchant fleets of the United Kingdom, United States, Italy and Panama. She served in the United States Army in 1917–18 and then the United States Navy in 1918–19. The United States Maritime Commission bought her in 1941, and a German air attack sank her in 1942.

USS <i>Charlton Hall</i> (ID-1359) Cargo steamship that served in the US Navy in World War I

USS Charlton Hall (ID-1359) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1907 and served in the merchant fleets of the United Kingdom, United States and Greece. She served in the United States Navy in 1918. She was renamed Atlantis and then Anastasis in 1930. She was scrapped in China in 1934.

USS <i>Santa Rosalia</i> (ID-1503) Cargo steamship that served in the US Navy in World War I

USS Santa Rosalia (ID-1503) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1910 and served in the merchant fleets of the United Kingdom, United States and Greece. She served in the United States Navy in 1918–19. She was renamed Stefanos Costomenis in 1929 and sank in the North Atlantic in 1936.

Stettin was a 2,646 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1923 for the Stettiner Dampfer Compagnie. In 1930 she was sold to Norddeutscher Lloyd and renamed Akka. She was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in 1940. Akka was seized as a war prize in 1945, passing to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and being renamed Empire Calder.

SS Empire Chamois was a 5,864 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1918 by Ames Shipbuilding and Drydock Co, Seattle. She was ordered by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique but was requisitioned by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS West Mount with the pennant number ID-3202 in 1918. She was decommissioned in May 1919 and passed to the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as SS Westmount. In 1927 she was sold to the Dimon Steamship Corporation and renamed SS Pacific Redwood. She returned to the USSB in 1932 and passed to the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) in 1937. In 1940, she was passed to the Ministry of Shipping, passing to the Ministry of War Transport in 1941 and being renamed SS Empire Chamois. She was sold to Astral Shipping Co Ltd in 1946 and renamed SS Granview. In 1949 she was sold to the Compagnia Maritime del Este, Panama and renamed SS Chamois, serving until 1958 when she was scrapped. She was the last Ames-built ship afloat.

SS <i>Polar Chief</i> British merchant steamship

SS Polar Chief was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1897 and scrapped in Scotland in 1952. In her 55-year career she had previously been called Montcalm, RFA Crenella, Crenella, Rey Alfonso, Anglo-Norse and Empire Chief. Early in the First World War she spent eight months pretending to be the battleship HMS Audacious.

SS Huntingdon was a refrigerated steam cargo liner that was built in Germany in 1920 as Münsterland. The United Kingdom took her as war reparations and sold her to the Federal Steam Navigation Company, who renamed her Huntingdon. She operated between Britain and Australasia until 1941, when an Italian submarine sank her in the Atlantic Ocean.

USS <i>P.H. Burnett</i> Liberty ship of World War II

SS Peter H. Burnett was an American Liberty ship built in 1942 for service in World War II. She was later acquired by the United States Navy and renamed USS P.H. Burnett (IX-104). Her namesake was Peter Hardeman Burnett, an American Governor from 1849 to 1851.

References

  1. 1 2 "Ships Built By Newport News Shipbuilding" (PDF). Huntington-Ingalls. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  2. 1 2 "TimeTable Images-Eastern Steamship Lines". Björn Larsson, Maritime Timetable Images. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  3. ↑ "SIU & Maritime History". Seafarers International Union. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  4. ↑ "Antaeus (AS-21)".

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.