Atlas departing theSan Francisco Bay Area, after a yard availability, February 1953.
History
United States
Name	USSAtlas
Builder	Chicago Bridge & Iron Company,Seneca, Illinois
Laid down	3 June 1943, asLST-231
Launched	19 October 1943
Commissioned	15 November 1943
Decommissioned	13 September 1946
Reclassified	ARL-7, 3 November 1943
Recommissioned	1 June 1951
Decommissioned	13 April 1956
Stricken	1 June 1972
Fate	Sold for scrapping, 18 September 1973
General characteristics
Class & type	Achelous classrepair ship
Displacement	1,781 long tons (1,810 t) light, 3,960 long tons (4,024 t) full
Length	328 ft (100 m)
Beam	50 ft (15 m)
Draft	11 ft 2 in (3.40 m)
Propulsion	2 ×General Motors12-567diesel engines, two shafts, twin rudders
Speed	12knots (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Complement	255 officers and enlisted men
Armament	12 ×Bofors 40 mm guns (2x4, 2x2), 12 ×Oerlikon 20 mm cannons (6x2)
Service record
Operations:	World War II,Invasion of Normandy,Korean War
Awards:	1Battle star (WWII)

USSAtlas (ARL-7) was one of 39Achelous-classlanding craft repair ships built for theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II. Named forAtlas (inGreek mythology, the son of theTitanIapetus andClymene and the brother ofPrometheus), she was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

Originally laid down asLST-231 on 3 June 1943 atSeneca, Illinois by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company; launched on 19 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Nettie Singer; namedAtlas and redesignated a landing craft repair shipARL-7 on 3 November 1943; and commissioned on 15 November 1943 for the voyage to the conversion yard. She arrived inBaltimore, Maryland on 14 December 1943; entered the Bethlehem Steel Key Highway Shipyard; and was placed out of commission for her conversion to a landing craft repair ship. Her modifications completed early in February, 1944Atlas was recommissioned at Baltimore on 8 February 1944.

After shakedown training along theAtlantic coast,Atlas departedBoston, Massachusetts at the end of the second week in March and steamed viaHalifax,Nova Scotia to theBritish Isles. She arrived inMilford Haven, Wales on 29 March and remained there for two days before moving toFalmouth, England where she arrived on 1 April. She remained at Falmouth until the end of May when she proceeded toPlymouth to prepare for theinvasion of Europe. Though not present for the actual assault,Atlas arrived on the scene on 8 June, two days after "D-Day," and immediately began repairing damaged landing craft. Her crew worked about 14 hours a day returning their charges to active service while frequently fighting to fend off enemy air attacks. She served at various locations on both sides of theEnglish Channel almost until theend of hostilities in Europe. On 16 April 1945 the ship left Plymouth to return to theUnited States. She entered Norfolk on 5 May to begin seven weeks of repairs in preparation for duty in thePacific.

Underway again on 22 June, the vessel transited thePanama Canal between 8–10 July and arrived inSan Diego, California on the 25th. She remained there until 15 August, the day afterJapan capitulated, before departing that port and heading for the Central Pacific. After stops atPearl Harbor andEniwetok,Atlas arrived atGuam in theMariana Islands late in September and performed her repair duties there until late November. On the 27th, she shaped a course back toward Eniwetok and entered the lagoon at that atoll on 4 December 1945 for a five-month tour of repair work. At the end of April 1946, she stood out of the Eniwetok anchorage to begin the voyage back to the United States. She made a stop at Pearl Harbor en route before arriving inAstoria, Oregon on 24 May. There, she joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet though she was not officially decommissioned until 13 September 1946.

Atlas remained inactive until midway through 1951 when the Fleet was expanding to meet the demand for warships caused by fighting inKorea. She was recommissioned at Astoria on 1 June 1951 and operated along the west coast until early November. On the 12th, the landing craft repair ship got underway for theFar East and made a stop at Pearl Harbor from 24 November to 1 December before continuing on toJapan. She arrived atYokosuka on 21 December and, for the next nine months, repaired amphibious warfare ships and craft damaged in theKorean War. She operated primarily at Yokosuka andSasebo but also saw service atOkinawa. On 25 September 1952, she left Yokosuka and shaped a course back to the United States. The ship stopped off at Pearl Harbor before continuing on to San Diego where she arrived on 24 October.

Atlas operated along theCalifornia coast until March 1954. She stood out of San Diego on the 16th of that month for another tour of duty in the Far East, reentered Yokosuka on 15 April, and resumed repair work on American amphibious warfare ships and craft operating in theOrient. On 15 August, the vessel departed Yokosuka on her way toIndochina where theViet Minh had recently won independence fromFrance. With the certainty that acommunist regime was to be established in the north, the United States assisted those who wished to leave the north before the communist regime took complete control.Atlas arrived inHaiphong on 28 August to provide repair services while anchored inHenrietta Pass. She also provided station ship, mail exchange and communication relay services. She got underway again on 24 September shaping a course back towardJapan. She arrived in Yokosuka on 7 October but remained there only three days before beginning her homeward voyage. Following the customary port call at Pearl Harbor, she continued on to the California coast and reached San Diego on 7 November. Operations in and out of her home port filled her time until 16 March 1955. On that day,Atlas pointed her bow westward from San Diego for the final deployment of her career. After a stop at Pearl Harbor, the landing craft repair ship entered Yokosuka on 17 April. In addition to her repair work there, she put to sea for two special operations of unspecified nature in the Okinawa area. She also made liberty calls atBeppu andKobe in Japan as well as atHong Kong. On 21 September,Atlas weighed anchor at Yokosuka and shaped a course via Pearl Harbor for home and arrived at San Diego on 19 October.

On 7 November, the ship headed north, reached Astoria on 14 November, and began preparations for inactivation. She was decommissioned on 13 April 1956 and was berthed with the Astoria Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. She remained in reserve until her name was struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 1 June 1972. She was sold to the Marine Power & Equipment Company ofSeattle, Washington on 18 September 1973 for scrapping.

Atlas earned onebattle star during World War II.

•  This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
• "LST-231 / ARL-7Atlas".NavSource. Retrieved23 April 2007.

• Achelous-class repair ships
• Achelous-class repair ships converted from LST-1-class ships
• Ships built in Seneca, Illinois
• 1943 ships
• World War II auxiliary ships of the United States

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2021
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships