_underway_during_the_1960s_(NH_107753).jpg) USSDelta in the 1960s | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSDelta |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding |
| Launched | 2 April 1941 |
| Acquired | 4 June 1941 |
| Commissioned | 16 June 1941 |
| Decommissioned | 5 March 1947 |
| Recommissioned | 1 November 1950 |
| Decommissioned | 1 December 1955 |
| Recommissioned | 31 October 1959 |
| Decommissioned | 20 June 1970 |
| Stricken | 1 October 1970 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping 1983 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 8,975 long tons light |
| Length | 490 ft 6 in (149.50 m) |
| Beam | 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) |
| Draught | 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) |
| Speed | 18knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Armament |
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USSDelta (AK-29/AR-9) was thelead ship ofher class ofrepair ships in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II. She was originally built as the merchant shipSSHawaiian Packer before her requisition by the U.S. Navy in 1941. Before conversion to a repair ships,Delta briefly served as a U.S. Navycargo ship.
Delta was built in 1941 as theHawaiian Packer byNewport News Shipbuilding,Newport News, Virginia, one of fourType C3 ships ordered by theMatson Navigation Company. Launched on 2 April,[1] she was acquired by the Navy on 4 June 1941; and commissioned as USSDelta (AK-29) on 16 June 1941.
From 8 July 1941 to May 1942Delta carried cargo from east coast ports toGuantanamo Bay, Cuba;Puerto Rico;Bermuda;Argentina;Newfoundland,Halifax, andNova Scotia, Canada; andReykjavík, Iceland. On 1 July 1942,Delta was reclassified asAR-9, and was placed in reserve commission for conversion to a fleet repair ship byCramp Shipyard,Philadelphia.
Delta sailed from Philadelphia on 3 March 1943, and between March and June repaired amphibious ships and craft atOran, Algeria. She served similarly atBizerte, Tunisia, from June to March 1944, then atPalermo, Italy, and on 8 July sailed for Pozzuouli, Italy, to preparelanding craft for their return to the United States. Her finalMediterranean duty, from November to April 1945, was totend destroyers at Oran.
She returned toNorfolk Naval Shipyard for overhaul on 27 April 1945, and on 15 June sailed forPearl Harbor for a month of repair duty. On 26 August, she arrived atYokosuka Naval Base for general fleet repair work, including the assignment of preparingNagato, the formerJapanesebattleship, for theatomic weapons tests of 1946 atBikini.Delta served the Fleet atShanghai from March through June 1946, and on 17 July arrived at Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve on 5 March 1947.
Recommissioned 1 November 1950,Delta arrived at San Diego on 8 March 1951 to provide repair services to ships of thePacific Fleet there and atLong Beach, California as well as on periodic deployments to the Far East. Her first such, during theKorean War, was from 25 June 1952 until 14 February 1953. On her second, in 1953 and 1954, she joined inOperation "Passage to Freedom", the evacuation of Vietnamese toSouth Vietnam upon the partition ofIndochina. During her last Far Eastern service, in 1955, she served asflagship for the Blockading and Escort Force offKorea. She returned from this cruise toTacoma, Washington, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 1 December 1955.
On 31 October 1959,Delta was recommissioned in a dual ceremony atBremerton Naval Shipyard, asUSS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) was decommissioned and her crew simultaneously recommissionedDelta. She served for another eleven years until being decommissioned on 20 June 1970 at Bremerton Naval Shipyard.Delta was stricken from the Naval Register on 1 October 1977 and transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. MARAD finally soldDelta on 19 July 1983, probably for scrapping.
Delta served as a floating machine shop atMare Island Naval Shipyard under MARAD in 1980 and was located there until detached from MARAD in 1983.
Delta received twobattle stars for World War II service, one battle star for Korean War service and onecampaign star for Vietnam War service.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.