USS Vega (AK-17)

USS Vega (AK-17)
History
United States
Name	Lebanon Vega
Namesake	Vega
Builder	American International Shipbuilding, Hog Island, Pennsylvania
Laid down	8 July 1918, as SS Lebanon
Launched	18 July 1919
Acquired	2 December 1921
Commissioned	21 December 1921
Decommissioned	15 January 1946
Stricken	12 March 1946
Honors and awards	4 battle stars (World War II)
Fate	Sold by the Maritime Commission, 6 August 1946, for scrapping to National Metals and Steel Corp.
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Sirius-class cargo ship
Type	Design 1022 ship
Displacement	4,037 t (3,973 long tons) (standard) 11,360 t (11,180 long tons) (full load)
Length	401 ft (122 m)
Beam	54 ft 2 in (16.51 m)
Draft	24 ft 5 in (7.44 m)
Installed power	2,500 shp (1,900 kW)
Propulsion	1 × General Electric-Curtis steam turbines 2 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers header-type boilers, 215psi Sat 1 × shaft
Speed	11.1 kn (12.8 mph; 20.6 km/h)
Capacity	5,100 DWT
Complement	36 officers 413 enlisted
Armament	2 × dual purpose guns 4 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber dual purpose guns 8 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons anti-aircraft gun mounts

USS Vega (AK-17), was a

on 21 December 1921.

Service history

Naval Transportation Service, 1921–1924

Assigned to the Naval Transportation Service, Vega served the Navy from Atlantic to Pacific on cargo runs which included calls at both east- and west-coast ports, as well as visits to the Far East and the Caribbean. During the first three years of her naval service, Vega completed six round-trip voyages from San Francisco to Asiatic waters before returning home in October 1924.

1925–1940

In successive summers from 1925 to 1928, the cargo vessel operated between

and other Alaskan islands. She returned with seal skins garnered during supervised killings.

Vega operated in unglamorous, but vital logistical duties into the 1930s as the tide of war crept closer toward the United States.

Attack on Pearl Harbor, 1941

On 6 December 1941, Vega arrived at

" and her vital cargo emerged from the attack unscathed.

Hawaii, 1942

Vega remained in the Hawaiian Islands until 3 January 1942, when she got underway with a cargo of civilian automobiles and pineapples. She arrived at San Francisco 10 days later and soon entered Mare Island Navy Yard for refit. She returned to Hawaiian waters on 10 March. After detaching her tow, Progress (AMc-98), and unloading construction gear, the cargo vessel loaded another cargo of pineapples and civilian dependents' gear and got underway for the west coast on 20 March.

Aleutian Islands, 1942–1944

Transferred to the operational control of Commandant,

strike force in early June 1942.

Supporting Pacific operations, 1944–1945

The ship returned to San Francisco early in 1944 and was soon assigned to Service Squadron (

.

On 23 October 1944, Vega commenced loading empty brass powder cans at

on 13 June, Vega began assembling pontoon barges; and, three days later, during a Japanese air raid on her anchorage, the cargo vessel shot down a twin-engined bomber before its pilot could drop his bombs.

Departing Okinawa on 6 July, the cargo vessel sailed, via Pearl Harbor, for the west coast and arrived at

soon thereafter. Offloading empty brass picked up at Pearl Harbor, Vega transported a cargo of dry stores to San Francisco.

Decommissioning and sale

Proceeding on to

Corp. for scrapping.

Awards

Vega received four battle stars for her World War II service, and the Combat Action Ribbon for Pearl Harbor.

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 Vega at NavSource Naval History
• USS Vega after action reports from Pearl Harbor, December 1941