USS Ancon (AGC-4)
Ancon in 1945
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Ancon (AGC-4) |
| Builder: | Fore River Shipyard |
| Launched: | 24 September 1938 |
| Acquired: | 7 August 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 12 August 1942 |
| Decommissioned: | 25 February 1946 |
| Struck: | 17 April 1946 |
| Honours and awards: |
five battle stars for World War II service |
| Fate: | scrapped in 1973 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 14,150 tons |
| Length: | 493 ft (150 m) |
| Beam: | 64 ft (20 m) |
| Draft: | 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m) |
| Propulsion: | two steam turbine engines, 9,166 shp |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 707 |
| Armament: | two 5"/38 caliber gun mounts, four twin 40mm gun mounts, fourteen single 20mm gun mounts |
USS Ancon (AGC-4) was an ocean liner acquired by the United States Navy during World War II and converted to a combined headquarters and communications command ship.
Ancon was launched on 24 September 1938 at Fore River Shipyard (Bethlehem Steel Company), Quincy, Massachusetts, sponsored by Mrs. Harry Woodring, wife of the Secretary of War. The ship was owned and operated by the Panama Railroad Company, and on 22 June 1939 she began cargo and passenger service between New York City, New York and Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone.
The ship was taken over by the Army Transport Service on 11 January 1942 as USAT Ancon. She made two voyages to Australia carrying Army Air Corps units and elements of the 32nd Infantry Division to bolster that continent's defenses; the first voyage left on 31 January 1942 headed for Brisbane, Australia from San Francisco, the second left San Francisco on 23 April 1942 bound for Adelaide and Sydney. She returned to San Francisco 18 June 1942 and was acquired by the Navy on 7 August 1942 and placed in commission at the Boston Navy Yard as Ancon (AP-66) on 12 August 1942, Lt. Comdr. D. H. Swinson in command.
According to the diary of Edgar Roy Cochrun, Chaplain, United States Army, who had boarded the ship on 20 April, the Ancon departed San Francisco on its second voyage to Australia at 5:55 p.m. on Wednesday, 22 April 1942, and not on 23 April.
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