Designed to make emergency repairs in forward areas to battle-damaged ships, Nestor left Norfolk 4 August 1944, for Guantanamo Bay, the Panama Canal, and Ulithi, arriving 21 October, to take up her primary mission. During the next five and a half months she acted as tender to small craft and repaired all types of naval vessels from battleships to LCIs.[2]
Nestor left Ulithi 19 April 1945, for Kerama Retto, seized in the initial phase of the Okinawa campaign at Naval Base Okinawa, to serve as a base for the ships engaged in the main assault. Japanese air attacks, often by suicide plane, inflicted heavy damage on the fleet, and Nestor worked round-the-clock, often under fire herself, to help keep the fighting ships in action. As Okinawa itself became secure, Nestor entered Buckner Bay 10 July, and continued her vital services, which here included the tremendous task of building a cofferdam. Nestor was driven aground by wind and heavy seas in the devastating Typhoon "Louise" of 9 October, and had to be abandoned. She decommissioned on 29 November, was stricken on 3 January 1946, and her hulk was sold for scrap on 1 May 1947.[2]
Nestor driven aground at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, by wind and heavy seas during Typhoon "Louise", 9 October 1945. The aftermath of the typhoon found this jumble of ships with Nestor's bow (center of photo) through the stern of Ocelot. Note the YTB alongside.
In November 1945 the CNO directed that the hulk be sunk or destroyed, but this was not done and she became one of around 15 Okinawa typhoon wrecks that were finally sold for scrap in two batches in May and November 1947 by the State Department's Foreign Liquidations Commission. Nestor along with LST-823, LST-826, three floating docks, and some smaller craft, were included in the May batch and were purchased by the Oklahoma-Philippines Company in what was referred to as the "Berry sale". The date of her scrapping is not known.
Awards
Nestor earned one battle stars for World War II service.
USS Numitor (ARL-17) was to be laid down as an LST-542-class tank landing ship but was instead laid down as one of 39 Achelous-class repair ships landing craft repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Numitor, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Inca, a 3,381-ton "Liberty" ship, was launched in March 1943 in Los Angeles, California, and entered merchant service later the same month as SS William B. Allison, MCE hull 724. Two years later she would be taken into US Navy as a stores ship and renamed USS Inca (IX-229). For much of her service as Inca she was also named USS Gamage (IX-227) because of bureaucratic confusion.
USS LST-31 was a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship used exclusively in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. Like many of her class, she was not originally named and is properly referred to by her hull designation. Later she was named for Addison County, Vermont. She was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Aristaeus (ARB-1) was planned as a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship, but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. The lead ship in her class, she was named for Aristaeus, the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Oceanus (ARB-2) was planned as a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship, but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Oceanus, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Phaon (ARB-3) was planned as a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship, but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Phaon, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Midas (ARB-5) was planned as a United States Navy LST-491-class tank landing ship, but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Midas, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Sarpedon (ARB-7) was laid down as a United States Navy LST-542-class tank landing ship but was converted as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the Navy during World War II. Named for Sarpedon, and also she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Telamon (ARB-8) was planned as a United States Navy LST-542-class tank landing ship but was converted as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the Navy during World War II. Named for Telamon, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Ulysses (ARB-9) was planned as a United States Navy LST-542-class tank landing ship, but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Ulysses, she was the second US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Demeter (ARB-10) was planned as a United States Navy LST-542-class tank landing ship, but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Demeter, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Coronis (ARL-10) was one of 39 Achelous-class repair ship landing craft built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Coronis, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS LST-826 was an LST-542-class tank landing ship in the United States Navy. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation.
USS LST-823 was an LST-542-class tank landing ship in the United States Navy. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation.
USS LST-767 was an LST-542-class tank landing ship in the United States Navy. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation.
USS Oahu (ARG-5) was a Luzon-class internal combustion engine repair ship that saw service in the United States Navy during World War II. Named for the Island of Oahu, third largest island in the Hawaiian chain, it was the second US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Mona Island (ARG-9) was Luzon-class internal combustion engine repair ship in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1947. She was sunk as an artificial reef in 1975.
USS Hunterdon County (LST-838) was an LST-542-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II, and later reconfigured and recommissioned for riverine warfare during the Vietnam War. Named after Hunterdon County, New Jersey, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Ocelot (IX–110) was an unclassified miscellaneous vessel of the United States Navy, which served as the flagship of Service Squadron 10 in the Pacific War from late 1944, until she was wrecked in a typhoon in late 1945.
Naval Base Ulithi was a major United States Navy base at the Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea during World War II. The base was built to support the island-hopping Pacific War efforts of the Allied nations fighting the Empire of Japan. In terms of the number of ships at one base, Naval Base Ulithi was the largest naval base in the world in 1944 and 1945, with over 600 ships at times.
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