_at_anchor_on_6_May_1924_(80-G-466223).jpg) Arctic on 6 May 1924 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSArctic |
| Laid down | as SSYamhill |
| Launched | 4 July 1918 |
| Acquired | 4 November 1921 |
| Commissioned | USSArctic (AF-7), 7 November 1921 |
| Decommissioned | 3 April 1946 |
| Stricken | 1 May 1946 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 19 August 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Stores ship |
| Tonnage | |
| Displacement | 6,100 long tons (6,198 t) (light), 12,600 long tons (12,802 t) (full load) |
| Length | 415 ft 6 in (126.64 m) |
| Beam | 53 ft (16 m) |
| Draft | 26 ft 5 in (8.05 m) |
| Installed power | 2,800 shp (2,100 kW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 11 kn (13 mph; 20 km/h) |
| Complement | 211 |
| Armament | |
USSArctic (AF-7) was anArctic-classstores ship acquired by theUnited States Navy shortly afterWorld War I, which saw extensive service inWorld War II. She served in thePacific Ocean, delivering food and household items to ships and bases.
Yamhill – a steel-hulled, single-screw freighter completed in 1919 atOakland, California, by theMoore Shipbuilding Co. under aUnited States Shipping Board contract – was acquired by the navy from the Shipping Board on 4 November 1921 for use as a store ship. RenamedArctic (AF-7) on 2 November 1921, she was commissioned at theNew York Navy Yard on 7 November 1921.
Assigned to the Base Force,Pacific Fleet,Arctic arrived atSan Diego, California on 24 July 1922. For almost 20 years, she served chiefly in the Pacific, operating with the fleet's train. During the second of her two voyages toHawaiian waters in 1925, she accompanied the fleet on itsAustralasian cruise toNew Zealand andSamoa. Assigned to Train Squadron 2 (TrainRon 2), her yearly operations varied little, with the ship issuing provisions to the Battle Fleet wherever it was operating. Her cruises along the western seaboard of theUnited States took her to San Diego,San Pedro andSan Francisco, California,Portland, Oregon, andSeattle, Washington.
During the winter of 1936/1937,Arctic found herself busier than ever. A maritime strike, which paralyzed American flag merchant shipping during this period, meant a revision in the storeship's operating schedule. As Commander, Base Force, reported after the end of the fiscal year, the shipping strike emphasized the limitations of the train, sinceArctic had to be withdrawn from servicing the fleet to provision the far-flung naval stations atPearl Harbor andSamoa. Since the fleet operated in Hawaiian waters with increasing frequency, starting with the Hawaiian Detachment in the fall of 1939 and continuing through the assignment of the Fleet there in the spring of 1940,Arctic's schedule was altered to include five or six round trips a year between San Francisco and Pearl Harbor. The outbreak of hostilities withJapan on 7 December 1941 foundArctic one day out of Hawaiian waters,en route to San Francisco.
For the first five months of 1942, a time punctuated with yard periods at theMare Island Navy Yard,Arctic operated between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco. She then deployed briefly toAlaskan waters, to supply the ships ofTask Force 8 (TF 8) and shore facilities atKodiak from 3–13 July. Returning thence to the west coast, she arrived at San Francisco on 24 July and soon thereafter sailed for the South Pacific. After touchingen route at Pearl Harbor and atTongatapu,Arctic commenced a routine of supplying ships and shore stations atNew Caledonia and in theNew Hebrides. Before 1942 was over, the storeship visitedNouméa twice andEspiritu Santo once. During the following year, 1943, she voyaged twice to Nouméa, thrice to Espiritu Santo, and once toEfate, usually stopping at Samoaen route from theHawaiian Islands. An overhaul atAlameda, California and at Oakland from 4 July-27 September broke this period of operations. Following her third call at Espiritu Santo from 23 October-5 November,Arctic returned again to theU.S. West Coast for engine repairs, reaching San Francisco on 29 November and remaining there into the following year.
Departing the west coast on 29 January 1944, the storeship arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 February. Assigned thence to Service Squadron 8 (ServRon 8) over the next six months,Arctic made five round-trip voyages to theMarshall Islands, provisioning ships atMajuro,Kwajalein, andEniwetok. Shifting toSeeadler Harbor – atManus – on 20 September, the auxiliary ship spent the next month issuing supplies to various units afloat before she proceeded toUlithi on 24 October.
Remaining at Ulithi, temporarily attached to ServRon 10, until a week beforeChristmas, 1944,Arctic provided working parties for various merchant ships and took on board supplies for issue to the fleet until she commenced a series of round-trip voyages from Ulithi to thePalau Islands; she conducted four such voyages from 18 December 1944 – 1 April 1945 to provision ships and shore installations atKossol Roads,Peleliu, andAngaur. Touching atSaipan on 5 April,Arctic proceeded toIwo Jima, where – from 9–12 April – she provisioned island forces, various units of the Pacific Fleet, and small craft.
Returning toGuam on 15 April, the "beef boat" then sailed for the United States. A severetropical storm enlivened her passage home before she arrived at San Francisco on 12 May. Sailing for the west again on 2 July,Arctic arrived at Ulithi on the 26th before she proceeded, inconvoy UOK-43, forOkinawa, where – from 5–21 August – she issued fresh, frozen and dry provisions to fleet units. After Japan capitulated, she returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 September for repairs and reloading, before sailing for Japanese waters on 24 October. Whileen route toTokyo, she sank a mine with gunfire on 12 November.
From 21 November-13 December,Arctic provisioned fleet units offYokosuka before she returned to Hawaiian waters – again sinking a mineen route – on 20 December. She departed Pearl Harbor on 2 January 1946 and arrived at San Diego on the 16th, where she remained for a little over a month. She left the west coast of the United States for the last time on 18 February, bound for theGulf of Mexico. Material defects having rendered continued operation of the venerableArctic "impracticable," the veteran "beef boat" was on her last voyage. Transiting thePanama Canal on 7 March,Arctic arrived atNew Orleans, Louisiana on the 15th. There, atPendleton Shipyards, she was decommissioned on 3 April. Her name was struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 1 May. Transferred to theMaritime Commission for disposition on 3 July, the ship was then sold on 19 August 1947 to the Southern Shipwrecking Corp. and met her end under the scrapper's torch.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.