USS Mauna Loa (AE-8)

USS Mauna Loa (AE-8)
History
United States
Name:	USS Mauna Loa (AE-8)
Namesake:	Mauna Loa
Laid down:	10 December 1942
Launched:	14 April 1943
Commissioned:	27 October 1943 31 January 1955 27 November 1961
Decommissioned:	2 June 1947 16 January 1958 26 February 1971
Struck:	1 October 1976
Fate:	unknown
General characteristics
Class and type:	Lassen-class ammunition ship
Displacement:	Light: 6,350 tons Full load:13,855 tons
Length:	459 ft (140 m)
Beam:	63 ft (19.2 m)
Draft:	25 ft 11 in (7.9 m)
Propulsion:	2 x 9 cyl. Nordberg diesel engines each with 3155 brake horsepower at 225 rpm geared to 1 shaft
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h)
Capacity:	5,000 deadweight tons
Complement:	280 officers and enlisted
Armament:	1 × single 5 in (127 mm) 38 caliber gun 4 × single 3 in (76 mm) 50 caliber guns 2 × twin 40 mm guns 8 × twin 20 mm guns

USS Mauna Loa (AE-8) was laid down by Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Tampa, Fla., 10 December 1942; launched 14 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Robert E. Friend; and commissioned 27 October 1943, Comdr. George D. Martin in command. She is named after Mauna Loa, a large shield volcano on the Island of Hawaii.

After shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay, Mauna Loa loaded on 5,600 tons of ammunition at Norfolk and departed Hampton Roads, Va., 19 December with a stopover at San Francisco for 2 days, arriving Pearl Harbor 17 January 1944. Assigned to the service force, on 1 February she continued on to the Marshalls escorted by USS Manlove (DE‑36), reaching Majuro 7 days later to begin rearming the fleet.

On 9 February a near-disaster occurred while Mauna Loa was supplying USS Pennsylvania (BB‑38) with gunpowder. With the men on Mauna Loa moving the powder containers over faster than they could be removed to the magazines of the battleship, the cans gradually piled up to more than a hundred on Pennsylvania’s forward deck. At 16:35 a flash of flame leaped out across her deck, accompanied by a dull boom — one of the cans had exploded!

Grains of burning powder were hurled about, many of them streaking down Mauna Loa’s open hold. Without a moment’s hesitation, Boatswain F. B. Wilson seized a hose and turned it on the burning can. This stream of water checked the fire until Pennsylvania’s men could get the can over the side before it ignited the others. Two of Pennsylvania’s men suffered broken legs and the man handling the powder can was blinded. Courageous performance of their duties under such hazardous conditions had become mere routine to the officers and men of the ammunition ship.

On 2 March Mauna Loa sailed for the west coast, via Pearl Harbor, arriving San Francisco the 21st to replenish her cargo of ammunition. She got underway 10 April again for the South Pacific, her destination being the New Hebrides. She reached Espiritu Santo 28 April for a month of operations, then proceeded to Eniwetok, Marshalls, where from 13 June to 23 July she supported the Marianas operation.