USS Inca (IX-229)

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For other ships going by the same name, see USS Inca. For other ships known by its alternative name, see USS Gamage.
Okinawa
awaiting scrapping.
History
United States
Name
  • William B. Allison
  • Inca
Namesake
OwnerWar Shipping Administration (WSA)
Operator
Builder
Los Angeles, California[1]
Laid down8 February 1943 as SS William B. Allison[2]
Launched8 March 1943[1]
Completed24 March 1943[1]
Acquired24 March 1943[1]
Commissioned30 July 1945[1]
Decommissioned12 March 1946[1]
In service19 August 1943[1]
Out of service8 February 1946[1]
Renamed
  • S.S. William B. Allison
  • USS Inca (IX-229)
  • USS Gamage (IX-227) [1][2]
Stricken12 March 1946[1]
Honors and
awards
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal[1]
FateSold for scrapping 19 February 1948 to China Merchants & Engineers, Inc.[2]
General characteristics
Class and typeMCtype EC2-S-C1 hull
Type
Liberty Ship
Displacement4,023 tons(lt) 14,250 tons(fl)
Length441 ft 6 in (134.57 m)
Beam56 ft 11 in (17.35 m)
Draft27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)
Propulsion
  • Two oil-fired boilers
  • Triple-expansion steam engine
  • Single screw
  • 2,500 hp (1,864 kW)
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Range17,000 mi (27,000 km)
Capacity9,140 tons cargo
Complement41
Armament1 × Stern-mounted 4 in (100 mm) deck gun

USS Inca, a 3,381-ton (light displacement)

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.[2]

Service history

William B. Allison was laid down by

Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was named after William B. Allison, (March 2, 1829 – August 4, 1908) a politician and leader of the Iowa Republican Party and became a United States House of Representatives member. He supported Abraham Lincoln for President of the United States.[3] William B. Allison was built for the War Shipping Administration (WSA), who allocated the ship to Waterman Steamship Corporation for operation as a World War II United States Merchant Navy ship. William B. Allison took supplies to the troops fighting in the Pacific War, including supplies to Naval Base Okinawa. [4]

On 25 May 1945 she was damaged by an aircraft

USS Nestor (ARB-6) reported nearly hit her as Nestor was inexorably being driven ashore. Inca went aground during the storm and remained aground afterwards, but plans to survey her in late October were canceled and she appears to have remained in service as a storage ship into December. [2]

Name confusion

Inca was placed in the category "grounded ships, salvage not warranted" on 2 January 1946, and on 12 January 1946 ComServDiv 104 reported that the ship was no longer required, that an informal inspection indicated needed repairs were too extensive, and asked that she be returned to WSA. In turn, the

Pacific Theater through mid-January 1946, and a photograph of her ashore at Buckner Bay appears to show the hull number IX-229 painted on her bow.[2]

Disposition

On 15 January 1946 CNO directed that the ship be redelivered to WSA. She was placed out of service on 8 February 1946, when she was reported lying on the bottom in Yonabaru Wan, Buckner Bay, Okinawa, with water in the holds up to the tween-decks. and was stricken from the Navy List on 12 March 1946. On 26 February CNO told the naval base at Okinawa that WSA Okinawa was authorized to accept redelivery, but on 27 March the Okinawa naval base replied that WSA Okinawa refused to accept delivery without a specific directive from WSA Washington. The ship was finally redelivered to War Shipping Administration as she lay on 6 April 1946. The Maritime Commission sold her under her merchant name, William B. Allison, with seven other Okinawa wrecks, including

USS Ocelot (IX-110), Vandalia (IX-191) and five civilian Liberty ships, to China Merchants and Engineers, Inc., for scrap. The ships were delivered to the buyer on 19 February 1948 under the condition that they be scrapped within two years and three months. An extension was later granted, and the scrapping of all the ships except one of the civilian vessels was reported complete on 31 January 1952. Not worth repairing, William B. Allison was scrapped in China in 1948.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Miscellaneous Photo Index". www.navsource.org.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "USN Ships--USS Inca (IX-229). Also named Gamage, (IX-227)". www.history.navy.mil. Archived from the original on 13 August 2006.
  3. ^ "Iowa Election – Official". Davenport Daily Gazette. 20 November 1862. p. 1. Retrieved 14 April 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.
  4. ^ mariners.uk William B. Allison

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