USS Vermilion (AKA-107)

	Vermilion, circa in the 1950s
History
United States
Name	USS Vermilion
Namesake	Vermilion County, Illinois; Vermilion Parish, Louisiana;
Builder	North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina
Laid down	17 October 1944
Launched	12 December 1944
Commissioned	23 June 1945
Decommissioned	26 August 1949
Recommissioned	16 October 1950
Decommissioned	13 April 1971
Stricken	1 January 1977
Motto	Vincit Robor; (Latin: "Strength to Conquer");
Fate	Sunk as artificial reef 24 August 1988
General characteristics
Class and type	attack cargo ship
Displacement	13,910 long tons (14,133 t) full
Length	489 ft 2 in (149.10 m)
Beam	63 ft (19 m)
Draft	26 ft 4 in (8.03 m)
Propulsion	GE geared turbine drive, 1 propeller, 6,000 shp (4,474 kW)
Speed	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Complement	425
Armament	1 × 5"/38 caliber gun; 4 × twin 40 mm guns; 16 × single 20 mm guns;

USS Vermilion (AKA-107/LKA-107), was a

attack cargo ship of the United States Navy, named after a parish in southern Louisiana and a county in eastern Illinois

. She served as a commissioned ship for 25 years and 9 months.

Tolland was laid down as a

hull code

AKA-107, Captain F. B. Eggers commanding.

Atlantic Fleet and spent over a year in shakedown and refresher training. In November 1946, she cruised to South American waters before assuming duty upon her return to Norfolk. For the next three years she took on standard Atlantic fleet operations, including midshipman training cruises, amphibious exercises, type training and reserve training cruises. She was then decommissioned on 26 August 1949 and berthed with the Reserve Fleet Group at Orange, Texas

.

1950–1959

The outbreak of the Korean War in the summer of 1950 meant the Vermilion was recommissioned at Orange on 16 October 1950. However, though the war had prompted her return to active duty, she never saw service in the Far East. Instead, she was used to replace other Atlantic Fleet ships released for duty.

In the summer of 1951 the Vermilion took part in

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

before returning to Little Creek and Atlantic Fleet duty on 2 February 1953.

For the next five years, Vermilion participated in Atlantic Fleet amphibious exercises at Onslow Beach, North Carolina and in the Caribbean. She also conducted independent ship's exercises and made cruises the length of the Atlantic seaboard. She spent the second half of 1958 deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, returning to Little Creek and Atlantic Fleet duties in December.

1960–1971

Her routine of amphibious exercises and independent ship's exercises continued until the fall of 1962 when she was deployed to the West Indies to support the American quarantine of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. She then returned to Little Creek and her routine operations before deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean beginning May 1963.

Vermilion returned to Little Creek on 17 October and began another four-year stint of operations along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean. In January 1968 she departed

Buckner Bay, Okinawa on 22 February 1968 and departed three days later with Marine Air Control Squadron 8 embarked. The air squadron disembarked at Morehead City on 30 March before the Vermilion reached Norfolk the following day. Following a six-month overhaul at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard

– during which she was redesignated LKA-107 – Vermilion resumed Atlantic Fleet operations in November, continuing to operate out of Norfolk for over three years.

Decommissioning

She was once again decommissioned on 13 April 1971 and then transferred to the

James River, Virginia. Her name was struck from the Navy List

on 1 January 1977.

On 19 February 1988 Vermilion was transferred to the

recreational dive site.^[1] Bottom depth is 130 to 140 feet (40 to 43 m).^[2]

References

^ navsource.org USS Vermilion (LKA-107) ex SS Vermilion (AKA-107) (1944 - 1969)
^ "USS Vermillion". www.divebuddy.com. Retrieved 26 August 2021.

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 Vermilion at NavSource Naval History
Military.com: USS Vermilion
51 Years of AKAs

[1] vsource.org USS Vermilion (LKA-107) ex SS Vermilion (AKA-107) (1944 - 1969)

[2] "USS Vermillion". www.divebuddy.com. Retrieved 26 August 2021.

[1]

[2]

v t e Tolland-class attack cargo ships
Tolland Shoshone Southampton Starr Stokes Suffolk Tate Todd Caswell New Hanover Lenoir Alamance Torrance Towner Trego Trousdale Tyrrell Valencia Venango Vinton Waukesha Wheatland Woodford Duplin Ottawa Prentiss Rankin Seminole Skagit Union Vermilion Washburn San Joaquin^X
Preceded by: Artemis class Followed by: USS Tulare
X Cancelled
List of United States Navy amphibious warfare ships

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1988
Shipwrecks	16 Feb: Sol Phryne 19 Apr: Sahand 26 Apr: Reijin 14 May: Seawise Giant 20 May: Korean Star 16 Jun: Swiftsure 4 Jul: Singa Sea 23 Jul: USS Jonas Ingram 24 Jul: USS Rankin 29 Jul: USNS Aeolus 6 Aug: Manihari Ghat ferry disaster 24 Aug: USS Vermilion 26 Aug: BAP Pacocha 8 Oct: HMAS Buccaneer 21 Oct: Jupiter 24 Oct: Doña Marilyn November (unknown date): ARA Piedrabuena 26 Dec: Baden Unknown date: USCGC Unimak
Other incidents	12 Feb: Bezzavetny, USS Caron, USS Yorktown 31 Mar: Haven 14 Apr: USS Samuel B. Roberts 24 Apr: USS Bonefish 29 Apr: USS Sam Houston 6 Jul: Piper Alpha 11 Jul: City of Poros 23 Jul: JDS Nadashio 2 Sep: ROCS Huei Yang 22 Sep: Ocean Odyssey Unknown date: NOAAS Miller Freeman
1987 1989