USS Sheliak

History
United States
Name	USS Sheliak
Namesake	The star Sheliak in the constellation Lyra
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Laid down	19 June 1944
Launched	17 October 1944
Commissioned	1 December 1944
Decommissioned	10 May 1946
Stricken	21 May 1946
Honours and; awards	1 battle star (World War II)
Fate	Sold into commercial service, 1948; Scrapped, 1969;
General characteristics
Class and type	attack cargo ship
Type	Type C2-S-B1
Displacement	6,715 long tons (6,823 t)
Length	459 ft 2 in (139.95 m)
Beam	63 ft (19 m)
Draft	26 ft 4 in (8.03 m)
Speed	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Complement	399
Armament	1 × 5"/38 caliber gun mount; 4 × twin 40 mm gun mounts; 18 × 20 mm gun mounts;

USS Sheliak (AKA-62) was an

attack cargo ship

in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. In 1948, she was sold into commercial service and was scrapped in 1969.

History

Sheliak (AKA-62) was named after

Kearny, N.J.; launched on 17 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Nellie Blanch Regan; and commissioned on 1 December 1944. She was one of a handful of AKA's manned by a Coast Guard

crew.

Pacific War

Sheliak arrived in

Pacific. Departing Bayonne on 4 January 1945, Sheliak delivered her cargo to Pearl Harbor on 25 January. From 2 to 5 February, she underwent training at Pearl Harbor; and, from 5 to 13 February, she received 1,827 tons of Tenth Army equipment, plus other cargo and 201 troops. Departing Pearl Harbor on 15 February, Sheliak arrived at Tulagi on 25 February and underwent pre-invasion training there. Departing Tulagi on 15 March, she arrived at Ulithi on the 21st and sailed from there for the Okinawa invasion on 27 March. Sheliak arrived off the beach at Okinawa

on 1 April; and, for the first seven days, provided cargo on call to troops ashore. After general unloading was ordered, she put the Tenth Army cargo ashore between 8 and 17 April. During these operations, she shot down one Japanese aircraft on 15 April.

Sheliak departed Okinawa on 19 April; and, sailing via Ulithi and Pearl Harbor, arrived at

Samar, Subic Bay, and Guam

before returning to San Francisco on 22 February 1946. On 15 March, she sailed from San Francisco and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 3 April for deactivation.

Decommissioning and fate

Sheliak was decommissioned on 10 May 1946, transferred to the War Shipping Administration the following day, and struck from the Navy List on 21 May. Sold into mercantile service as SS Pioneer Isle in 1948, she was renamed Australian Isle in 1965 and Transluna in 1969 before being scrapped later that year.

Awards

Sheliak received one

Battle Star for her World War II

service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

Photo gallery of USS Sheliak (AKA-62) at NavSource Naval History
51 Years of AKAs