USS Delta (AR-9)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Delta.

USS Delta in the 1960s
History
United States
NameUSS Delta
BuilderNewport News Shipbuilding
Launched2 April 1941
Acquired4 June 1941
Commissioned16 June 1941
Decommissioned5 March 1947
Recommissioned1 November 1950
Decommissioned1 December 1955
Recommissioned31 October 1959
Decommissioned20 June 1970
Stricken1 October 1970
FateSold for scrapping 1983
General characteristics
Displacement8,975 long tons  light
Length490 ft 6 in (149.50 m)
Beam69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draught23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Armament
  • 1 ×
    5 in (130 mm)
    gun
  • 4 × 3 in (76 mm) guns

USS Delta (AK-29/AR-9) was the lead ship of her class of repair ships in the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally built as the merchant ship SS Hawaiian Packer before her requisition by the U.S. Navy in 1941. Before conversion to a repair ships, Delta briefly served as a U.S. Navy cargo ship.

Career

World War II

Delta was built in 1941 as the Hawaiian Packer by

Type C3 ships ordered by the Matson Navigation Company. Launched on 2 April,[1]
she was acquired by the Navy on 4 June 1941; and commissioned as USS Delta (AK-29) on 16 June 1941.

From 8 July 1941 to May 1942 Delta carried cargo from east coast ports to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Puerto Rico; Bermuda; Argentina; Newfoundland, Halifax, and Nova Scotia, Canada; and Reykjavík, Iceland. On 1 July 1942, Delta was reclassified as AR-9, and was placed in reserve commission for conversion to a fleet repair ship by Cramp Shipyard, Philadelphia.

Delta sailed from Philadelphia on 3 March 1943, and between March and June repaired amphibious ships and craft at

Mediterranean duty, from November to April 1945, was to tend destroyers
at Oran.

She returned to

atomic weapons tests of 1946 at Bikini. Delta served the Fleet at Shanghai
from March through June 1946, and on 17 July arrived at Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve on 5 March 1947.

Korea

Recommissioned 1 November 1950, Delta arrived at San Diego on 8 March 1951 to provide repair services to ships of the

Indochina. During her last Far Eastern service, in 1955, she served as flagship for the Blockading and Escort Force off Korea. She returned from this cruise to Tacoma, Washington
, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 1 December 1955.


Vietnam

On 31 October 1959, Delta was recommissioned in a dual ceremony at

Bremerton Naval Shipyard, as USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16)
was decommissioned and her crew simultaneously recommissioned Delta. She served for another eleven years until being decommissioned on 20 June 1970 at Bremerton Naval Shipyard. Delta was stricken from the Naval Register on 1 October 1977 and transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. MARAD finally sold Delta on 19 July 1983, probably for scrapping.

Delta served as a floating machine shop at Mare Island Naval Shipyard under MARAD in 1980 and was located there until detached from MARAD in 1983.

Awards

Delta received two

campaign star
for Vietnam War service.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Delta (AR-9) (ship, 1941).
  1. ^ Roberts, Stephen S. (2007). "US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Delta (AR-9) Class". shipscribe.com. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
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