USS Medusa (AR-1)

USS Medusa at Pearl Harbor in February 1942, surrounded by floats supporting anti-torpedo netting
History
United States
Name:	USS Medusa
Namesake:	USS Medusa, a monitor launched in 1869
Builder:	Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington
Laid down:	2 January 1920
Launched:	16 April 1923
Commissioned:	18 September 1924
Decommissioned:	18 November 1946
Struck:	10 June 1947
Honors and awards:	One battle star for World War II service
Fate:	Sold for scrapping 24 August 1950
Notes:	Designated AR-1 on 17 July 1920
General characteristics
Type:	repair ship
Displacement:	10,620 tons (8,125 tons standard)
Length:	483 ft 10 in (147.47 m)
Beam:	70 ft 3 in (21.41 m)
Draft:	19 ft 11 in (6.07 m)
Installed power:	7,000 shp
Propulsion:	steam turbines
Speed:	16 kn (30 km/h)
Complement:	499
Armament:	4 × 5 in (127 mm) /51 cal guns 2 × 3 in (76.2 mm) /50 cal guns
Armor:	none
Notes:	The U.S. Navy's first purpose-built repair ship

USS Medusa (AR-1) was the United States Navy's first purpose-built repair ship. She served in the U.S. Navy from 1924 to 1946.

Authorized as part of the naval programs of 1916 and 1918, Medusa was laid down at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, on 2 January 1920. She was launched on 16 April 1923, sponsored by Mrs. Burns Poe, and commissioned on 18 September 1924, Captain R. T. Menner in command.

Medusa was the first U.S. Navy ship designed as a fleet repair ship for major repairs beyond the fighting ship’s own capabilities but which must be accomplished without the benefit of visiting a shipyard. Prior to the commissioning of Medusa, U.S. Navy repair ships had been converted for that purpose. As the U.S. Navy began to grow in size during the World War I years, it was felt that such conversions would prove inadequate for the Navy's needs.

The Department of the Navy designed Medusa with an eye toward at least equalling the repair facilities of the repair ship Vestal, which had been converted from a collier. Medusa was conceived as primarily a tender for battleship divisions, and so was given a speed and range that would allow her to work with the U.S. Navy's newest dreadnought battleships. Originally designated "Repair Ship No. 1", she was redesignated AR-1 when the Navy assigned alphanumeric hull numbers to all of its ships on 17 July 1920.

Medusa commissioned as a very modern repair ship by the standards of 1924, capable of blacksmith work, boiler repairs, carpentry, coppersmithing, electrical work, foundry work, pipe work, plating, sheet-metal work, welding, and repairs of optical and mechanical equipment. Her machinery shop's equipment included lathes, radial drills, milling machines, slotting machines, boring machines, optical repair equipment, armature bake ovens, and coil winding machines. To meet additional demands from the fleet, she had a motion picture shop, large laundry and bakery facilities, and large refrigeration units. She also embarked two officers and 20 enlisted men from aviation Observation Squadron 2 (VO-2) to repair floatplanes based on battleships and cruisers.