Rigel before World War II | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Rigel |
Builder | Skinner and Eddy Corporation, Seattle |
Laid down | 1918 |
Launched | 23 November 1918 as SS Edgecombe |
Completed | December 1918 |
Acquired | 29 October 1921 |
Commissioned | 24 February 1922 |
Decommissioned | 11 July 1946 |
Reclassified | AR-11, 10 April 1941 |
Honours and awards | 4 battle stars (WWII) |
Fate | Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal, 12 July 1946 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Altair-class destroyer tender |
Displacement |
|
Length | 423 ft 9 in (129.16 m) |
Beam | 54 ft 3 in (16.54 m) |
Draft | 20 ft 7 in (6.27 m) |
Propulsion | Geared turbine, single propeller |
Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
Complement | 481 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
|
USS Rigel (AD-13/ARb-1/AR-11) was an Altair class destroyer tender named for Rigel , the brightest star in the constellation Orion. [1]
Originally built in 1918 as SS Edgecombe by the Skinner and Eddy Corporation of Seattle, Washington for the United States Shipping Board, she was transferred to the United States Navy by Executive Order on 29 October 1921, delivered 16 November 1921, converted to a destroyer tender, and commissioned as USS Rigel on 24 February 1922.
Following an extensive fitting out period and shakedown, Rigel was homeported at San Diego. During the interwar period she remained in southern California, usually serving as a stationary receiving and headquarters ship for Destroyer Base San Diego. During 1941, she was briefly redesignated as ARb-1, (a base repair ship). [2]
Redesignated a repair ship, AR-11, on 10 April 1941, she underwent overhaul at Bremerton, Washington then sailed to Hawaii for more extensive repairs and alterations. By mid-July, she was at Pearl Harbor and was still in the yard on 7 December 1941. She was without her authorized armament and superstructure and was slightly damaged during the Japanese attack. Her crew, unable to fire, immediately turned their skills to rescue and salvage operations. Conversion work on Rigel was completed on 7 April 1942.
On 20 April, with four 3-inch guns mounted, she got underway for the South Pacific. Steaming first to Fanning Island, she disembarked U.S. Army units and material and embarked personnel of New Zealand's Pacific Island Force and civilian evacuees. On the 28th, she continued westward and on 16 May arrived at Auckland to add her equipment and personnel to the repair and construction facilities offered by that port. Between then and November she converted merchant ships and tugboats to Navy use, repaired other merchantmen, installed and repaired guns on merchant ships; trained armed guard crews, served as flagship for Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, and as store ship and receiving ship; provided printing facilities; assisted in the construction of shore facilities; and added ten 20 mm guns to her own armament, in addition to her assigned duties of repairing Allied warships and auxiliaries.
In November, she was again called on to substitute as a transport. On the 8th, she embarked Army units and on the 9th, she sailed for New Caledonia. Arriving at Nouméa on 14 November, she shifted to Espiritu Santo two days later and contributed her skills to the Guadalcanal campaign.
In mid-January 1943, she shifted to Efate, and, on 24 April, got underway to return to the South Pacific where the 7th Amphibious Force was being formed. Rigel arrived at Sydney on 1 May, moved on to Brisbane on the 15th and until 14 June helped take the pressure off repair facilities there. But the 7th Amphibious Force's first assault landing was imminent and Rigel's assistance was needed in the forward area. On 21 June the repair ship arrived in Milne Bay, New Guinea, and on the 22nd Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, Commander, 7th Amphibious Force, raised his flag. On the 30th, the force landed troops on Woodlark and Kiriwina and the encirclement of Rabaul from the south was initiated.
For the next 61⁄2 months Rigel remained at Milne Bay, repairing ships from LSTs, LCIs, and MTBs to tankers, cruisers, and battleships. By December, Allied forces had moved up the coast to dispute control of Vitiaz and Dampier Straits. In December, landings were made on New Britain at Arawe and Cape Gloucester, and in January 1944, at Finschhafen and Saidor in New Guinea. Rigel, no longer Admiral Barbey's flagship, soon followed.
Again bringing her vital equipment and trained men closer to the front, she moved to Cape Sudest, thence proceeded to Buna where her crew continued their round-the-clock schedule from 13 January until 9 June. From Buna she moved up the coast to Alexishafen, whence, in late August, she returned to Australia for a much needed overhaul. She was at Sydney during the initial thrust into the Philippines, but in November returned to New Guinea and continued her work at Hollandia, 22 November to 10 January 1945. On the latter date she got underway for the Philippines.
Rigel arrived in Leyte Gulf on 15 January. On the 16th she anchored in San Pedro Bay, where she remained through the end of the War. After brief postwar service, Rigel returned to the United States for inactivation. She was decommissioned on 11 July 1946 and was transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 12 July 1946, her final fate unknown.
Rigel earned four battle stars during World War II.
USS Shaw (DD-373) was a Mahan-class destroyer and the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Captain John Shaw, a naval officer. Commissioned in 1936, Shaw was plagued by construction deficiencies and was not fully operational until 1938. After training in the Atlantic, she was transferred to the Pacific and was berthed in a dry dock in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
USS Blue Ridge (AGC-2) was an Appalachian-class amphibious force flagship in the United States Navy. She was named for the southeasternmost ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and North Carolina.
Mahan-class destroyers of the United States Navy were a series of 18 destroyers of which the first 16 were laid down in 1934. The last two of the 18, Dunlap and Fanning, are sometimes considered a separate ship class. All 18 were commissioned in 1936 and 1937. Mahan was the lead ship, named for Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, an influential historian and theorist on sea power.
USS LST-455 was a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship used in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. She was converted at Sydney, Australia, into an Achelous-class repair ship, shortly after commissioning, and used in the repairing of landing craft. Named after the Greek hero Achilles, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Hutchins (DD-476), was a Fletcher-class destroyer, of the United States Navy named after Naval aviator Lieutenant Carlton B. Hutchins (1904–1938), who though mortally injured, was able to remain at the controls of his aircraft and allow his surviving crew to parachute to safety and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
USS Medusa (AR-1) was the United States Navy's first purpose-built repair ship. She served in the U.S. Navy from 1924 to 1946.
USS Humphreys (DD-236/APD-12) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Joshua Humphreys, a pioneer US shipbuilder.
USS Beale (DD/DDE-471), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1822–1893).
USS Welles (DD-628), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Gideon Welles.
USS Mahan (DD-364) was the lead ship of the United States Navy's Mahan-class destroyers. The ship was named for Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, a 19th-century naval historian and strategic theorist. Her design ushered in major advances over traditional destroyers. Among them were a third set of quadruple torpedo tubes, protective gun shelters, and emergency diesel generators, along with a steam propulsion system that was simpler and more efficient to operate.
USS Bagley (DD-386), a Bagley-class destroyer, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Ensign Worth Bagley, officer during the Spanish–American War, distinguished as the only U.S. naval officer killed in action during that war.
USS Drayton (DD-366) was a Mahan-class destroyer in the United States Navy before and during World War II. She was the second ship named for Captain Percival Drayton, a career naval officer who served during the American Civil War.
The second USS Perkins (DD–377) was a Mahan-class destroyer in the United States Navy before and during World War II and named in honour of Commodore George Hamilton Perkins an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Van Buren (PG-150/PF-42), a Tacoma-class frigate patrol frigate, was the second ship of the United States Navy to hold this name. The first Van Buren, a revenue cutter, was named for President Martin Van Buren; the second Van Buren honors Van Buren, Arkansas.
USS Wasatch (AGC-9) was a Mount McKinley-class amphibious force command ship, named after a mountain chain in northern Utah. She was designed as a cargo ship and converted into an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations.
USS Amycus (ARL-2) was one of 39 Achelous-class landing craft repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Amycus, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS LST-453 was a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship used in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. She was converted at Brisbane, Australia, into an Achelous-class repair ship, shortly after commissioning, and used in the repairing of landing craft. She was later renamed for Remus, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Sonoma (AT-12) was a Sonoma-class fleet tug which had the distinction of serving her country during World War I and World War II. For her work as a tugboat in some very dangerous battle areas, she earned five battle stars during World War II. She ended her battle career when she was sunk by a crashing Japanese bomber.
The Altair class destroyer tender was a class of three United States Navy destroyer tenders. These ships were built in Skinner & Eddy's Seattle shipyard as commercial cargo ships during World War I, and acquired by the Navy when the shipyard closed in 1921. All three served through World War II, and were decommissioned and scrapped shortly after the war.
Naval Base Alexishafen was a United States Navy base built during World War II at Alexishafen, north of the city of Madang in New Guinea. The base was built by the US Navy Seabees starting June 13, 1944 as part of the New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War. The base was built at the request of the Seventh Amphibious Force of the United States Seventh Fleet to support the many boats patrolling the area. The US Navy built a boat repair depot including Auxiliary floating drydocks. The base was closed in January 28, 1945.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.