USS Alhena (AK-26)
USS Alhena (AKA-9)
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| Name: | USS Alhena |
| Namesake: | Alhena |
| Builder: | Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, Maryland |
| Laid down: | 19 June 1940 |
| Launched: | 18 January 1941 |
| Acquired: | 31 May 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 15 June 1941 |
| Decommissioned: | 22 May 1946 |
| Reclassified: | AKA-9, 26 November 1942 |
| Struck: | 15 August 1946 |
| Honors and awards: |
6 battle stars (World War II) |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Type C2 ship |
| Displacement: | 15,080 long tons (15,322 t) |
| Length: | 479 ft 8 in (146.20 m) |
| Beam: | 66 ft (20 m) |
| Draft: | 27 ft 1 in (8.26 m) |
| Speed: | 16.6 knots (30.7 km/h; 19.1 mph) |
| Complement: | 446 |
| Armament: | 1 × 5"/38 caliber gun mount |
USS Alhena (AKA-9) was an attack cargo ship named after Alhena, a star in the constellation Gemini. She served as a commissioned ship for 5 years and 4 months.
Laid down as Robin Kettering under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 74) on 19 June 1940 at Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, Maryland, by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation; launched on 18 January 1941; sponsored by Mrs. William Sanford Lewis; purchased by the Navy on 31 May 1941 from the Robin Line of the Seas Shipping Co., Inc., of New York City; commissioned as Alhena (AK-26) at Hoboken, N.J., on 15 June 1941, Comdr. Charles B. Hunt in command.
Following final fitting out and shakedown training, the cargo ship began operating among ports on the East Coast of the United States. The ship arrived at Boston on 13 December to take on cargo for NS Argentia, Newfoundland. She completed her run to that port by the end of December and then proceeded to Brooklyn, N.Y., to refill her holds.
She picked up more cargo at Norfolk, Va., in mid-January 1942 and returned to New York City to embark troops before getting underway on 5 February for Europe. On the next day, the ship was officially assigned to the Naval Transportation Service.
After touching at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Alhena reached Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 27 February and remained there for approximately two weeks discharging her passengers, equipment, and supplies. She made a stop at Clydebank, Scotland, on 14 March and sailed two days later for the United States. The vessel reached New York on the 25th.
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