USS Betelgeuse (AK-28)
Betelgeuse alongside the pier at Tongatapu, Tonga Islands, 8 June 1942
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Betelgeuse |
| Namesake: | Betelgeuse |
| Builder: | Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania |
| Laid down: | 9 March 1939 |
| Launched: | 18 September 1939, as Mormaclark |
| Acquired: | 29 May 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 14 June 1941, as Betelgeuse (AK-28) |
| Decommissioned: | 15 March 1946 |
| Reclassified: | AKA-11 (attack cargo ship), 1 February 1943 |
| Struck: | 28 March 1946 |
| Honours and awards: |
6 battle stars (World War II) |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Arcturus-class attack cargo ship |
| Type: | Type C2 ship |
| Displacement: | 5,500 long tons (5,588 t) light |
| Length: | 459 ft 1 in (139.93 m) |
| Beam: | 63 ft (19 m) |
| Draft: | 25 ft 10 in (7.87 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2-stroke, 4-cylinder single-acting Doxford diesel engine, 1 shaft, 6,000 shp (4.5 MW) |
| Speed: | 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) |
| Complement: | 267 |
| Armament: |
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USS Betelgeuse (AK-28/AKA-11) was an Arcturus-class attack cargo ship, the first United States Navy ship named for Betelgeuse, a star in the constellation Orion. She served as a commissioned ship for 4 years and 9 months.
Betelgeuse was laid down as a C-2D on 9 March 1939 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Hull 180 under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 31); launched as Mormaclark on 18 September 1939; sponsored by Miss Anne Perry Woodward; delivered to the Moore McCormack Lines, Inc., on 29 November 1939; acquired by the Navy on 29 May 1941; renamed Betelgeuse on 3 June 1941; converted for naval service by the Brewer Dry Dock Company, Staten Island, N.Y.; and commissioned as AK-28 on 14 June, Commander Harry D. Power in command.
From her commissioning nearly through the fall of 1941, the cargo ship operated in the Atlantic conducting amphibious maneuvers off North Carolina in June and July, performing similar evolutions off Virginia in September, and carrying cargo to Bermuda and various ports in the West Indies during October. She then entered the Charleston Navy Yard for an overhaul and was there when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December.
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