USS Delta (AR-9)
USS Delta (AR-9) servicing Fletcher-class destroyers in 1967
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Delta |
| 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 |
| Struck: | 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: | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Armament: |
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USS Delta (AK-29/AR-9) was the lead ship of her class of repair ships in the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally built as the merchant ship SS Hawaiian Packer before her requisition by the U.S. Navy in 1941. Before conversion to a repair ships, Delta briefly served as a U.S. Navy cargo ship.
Delta was built in 1941 as the Hawaiian Packer by Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia, one of four Type C3 ships ordered by the Matson Navigation Company. Launched on 2 April, she was acquired by the Navy on 4 June 1941; and commissioned as USS Delta (AK-29) on 16 June 1941, Commander C. D. Headee in command.
From 8 July 1941 to May 1942 Delta carried cargo from east coast ports to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Puerto Rico; Bermuda; Argentina; Newfoundland, Halifax, and Nova Scotia, Canada; and Reykjavík, Iceland. On 1 July 1942, Delta was reclassified as AR-9, and was placed in reserve commission for conversion to a fleet repair ship by Cramp Shipyard, Philadelphia.
Delta sailed from Philadelphia on 3 March 1943, and between March and June repaired amphibious ships and craft at Oran, Algeria. She served similarly at Bizerte, Tunisia, from June to March 1944, then at Palermo, Italy, and on 8 July sailed for Pozzuouli, Italy, to prepare landing craft for their return to the United States. Her final Mediterranean duty, from November to April 1945, was to tend destroyers at Oran.
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Wikipedia