USS Beltrami

	Whangpoo River, off Shanghai, China, c. 18 November to 26 January 1946
History
United States
Name	Beltrami
Namesake	Beltrami County, Minnesota
Ordered	as type ( MC hull 2107
Builder	Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Richmond, California
Yard number	64
Laid down	18 July 1944
Launched	26 September 1944
Sponsored by	Mrs. Marvin A. Thrash
Acquired	4 January 1945
Commissioned	4 January 1945
Decommissioned	10 November 1955
Stricken	1 April 1960
Identification	Hull symbol: AK-162; Code letters: NEFU; ;
Fate	Sold for scrapping, 28 July 1960, to Hugo Neu Steel Products
General characteristics
Class and type	Alamosa-class cargo ship
Type	C1-M-AV1
Tonnage	5,032 long tons deadweight (DWT)
Displacement	2,382 long tons (2,420 t) (standard); 7,450 long tons (7,570 t) (full load);
Length	388 ft 8 in (118.47 m)
Beam	50 ft (15 m)
Draft	21 ft 1 in (6.43 m)
Installed power	1 × Nordberg, TSM 6 diesel engine ; 1,750 shp (1,300 kW);
Propulsion	1 × propeller
Speed	11.5 kn (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Capacity	3,945 t (3,883 long tons) DWT; 9,830 cu ft (278 m3) ( refrigerated); 227,730 cu ft (6,449 m3) (non-refrigerated);
Complement	15 Officers; 70 Enlisted;
Armament	1 × dual purpose gun (DP); 6 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft (AA) cannons;

USS Beltrami (AK-162) was an

U.S. Navy for service in World War II

. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.

Service history

Beltrami was laid down under a

Nawiliwili Bay, Kauai, before returning to Pearl Harbor.^[3]

Assigned to the

Okinawa campaign, Beltrami proceeded to the Philippines on 20 May, arriving in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on 25 May. She then spent the next month discharging and loading fleet freight before sailing for the Mariana Islands on 22 June. Beltrami operated at Apra Harbor, Guam, for the next four weeks before heading to Ulithi on 21 July. She remained in reserve at that atoll through the end of the war on 15 August.^[3]

Beltrami sailed to the Philippines late in August and spent nine weeks operating in the

US East Coast, Beltrami got underway on 15 March, passed through the Panama Canal on the 28th, and arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, on 8 April.^[3]

Operation Nanook

While at that base, the ship received orders to prepare for

US Marines. Beltrami sailed independently on 15 July, heading north toward the Strait of Belle Isle, Newfoundland.^[3]

On 25 July, after passing through the Labrador Sea and the Davis Strait, Beltrami rendezvoused with the icebreaker Northwind in Lancaster Sound, well above the Arctic Circle. Two days later, the ships entered Dundas Harbor, Devon Island, to disembark the marine detachment. Upon entering the harbor, Northwind grounded on an uncharted pinnacle but was refloated about ten hours later without serious damage. Meanwhile, the marine detachment went ashore and set up a temporary camp at the base of an inactive glacier.^[3]

Beltrami then proceeded to

airstrip, before the ship returned to Dundas Harbor on 20 August and reembarked the marines after their three-week field expedition. Returning to Thule on the 22d, she sailed for home two days later and arrived in Boston on 3 September.^[3]

Later operations

Over the next two years, Beltrami plied the Atlantic coastal waters of

Plymouth, and Londonderry between 20 July and 8 September 1950.^[3]

For the remainder of her service, Beltrami operated out of

Maritime Administration on 21 June 1960. She was sold for scrap to Hugo Neu Steel Products on 29 August 1960.^[3]

Military awards and honors

The record does not indicate

battle stars

for Beltrami. However, her crew was eligible for the following medals and campaign ribbons:

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c C1 Cargo Ships 2009.
^ Navsource.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m DANFS 2015.

Bibliography

Francis, Timothy L. (24 June 2015). "Beltrami". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 12 November 2016. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
"C1 Cargo Ships". ShipbuildingHistory.com. 28 August 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
"USS Beltrami (AK-162)". Navsource.org. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2016.

External links

Photo gallery of USS Beltrami (AK-162) at NavSource Naval History

[FOOTNOTEC1_Cargo_Ships2009-1] C1 Cargo Ships 2009.

[FOOTNOTENavsource-2] Navsource.

[FOOTNOTEDANFS2015-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m DANFS 2015.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Alamosa-class cargo ships
Alamosa Alcona Amador Antrim Autauga Beaverhead Beltrami Blount Brevard Bullock Cabell Caledonia Charlevoix Chatham Chicot Claiborne Clarion Codington Colquitt Craighead Doddridge^* Duval^* Fairfield Faribault Fentress Flagler Gadsden Glacier Grainger Gwinnett Habersham Hennepin Herkimer Hidalgo Kenosha Lebanon Lehigh Lancaster Marengo Midland Minidoka Muscatine Muskingum Nicollet Pembina Pemiscot Pinellas Pipestone Pitkin Poinsett Pontotoc Richland Rockdale Schuyler Screven Sebastian Somerset / Coastal Sentry Sussex Tarrant Tipton Traverse^* Tulare^* Washtenaw^** / Sgt. George Peterson Westchester^* Wexford^† / Coastal Crusader Maiden's Eye / Colonel William J. O'Brien Becket Bend / Private John F. Thorson Short Splice Long Splice / Private Frank J. Petrarca
* = Canceled August 1945 ** = Canceled August 1945, but completed as Coastal Guide † = Canceled August 1945, but completed as Coastal Crusader
List of auxiliaries of the United States Navy