USS Turandot
USS Turandot after conversion to USS Aeolus
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS Turandot |
Namesake | The asteroid Turandot |
Builder | Walsh-Kaiser Company, Providence, Rhode Island |
Laid down | 29 March 1945 |
Launched | 20 May 1945 |
Commissioned | 18 June 1945 |
Decommissioned | 21 March 1946 |
Stricken | 17 April 1947 |
Fate | Recommissioned as USS Aeolus (ARC-3) in 1955 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | attack cargo ship |
Type | S4–SE2–BE1 |
Displacement |
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Length | 426 ft (130 m) |
Beam | 58 ft (18 m) |
Draft | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
Speed | 16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph) |
Complement | 303 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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USS Turandot (AKA-47) was an
Turandot (AKA-47) was laid down under
Service history
Following fitting out and conversion at the Boston Navy Yard, Turandot made her shakedown cruise in the Chesapeake Bay in July 1945. After undergoing availability at Norfolk, the new attack cargo ship took on passengers and cargo; then departed Hampton Roads on 24 July, bound for the Canal Zone. She transited the Panama Canal on 30 July and, early the next day, rendezvoused with the submarine Barbero for exercises en route to the Hawaiian Islands. On 10 August, she parted company and made her way independently to Oahu, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 14 August 1945.
After discharging her cargo, she embarked 172 Army troops and departed the Hawaiian Islands on 7 September, setting her course for the New Hebrides. She arrived at Espiritu Santo on the 17th, discharged her passengers, loaded cargo, and embarked elements of the 85th Construction Battalion.
On 22 September, she got underway for the
Voyage repairs occupied most of the remainder of the month. Turandot opened the new year with a voyage to
Recommissioning
On 4 November 1954, the former attack cargo ship was reacquired by the Navy to support Project Caesar, the unclassified name for the installation of the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS).[1] The ship was reclassified as a cable repair ship, redesignated ARC-3, and renamed Aeolus. Her conversion was completed on 15 May 1955 at Baltimore by the Key Highway Plant of the Bethlehem Steel Co. The ship was accepted for limited service and re-commissioned later that month.
References
- ^ "Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) History 1950 - 2010". IUSS * CAESAR Alumni Association. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.