USS Merrick (AKA-97)
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Merrick |
| Namesake: | Merrick County, Nebraska |
| Builder: | Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey |
| Laid down: | 19 October 1944 |
| Launched: | 28 January 1945 |
| Commissioned: | 31 March 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 26 June 1946 |
| Recommissioned: | 19 January 1952 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 September 1969 |
| Reclassified: | LKA–97, 1 January 1969 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1980 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Andromeda-class attack cargo ship |
| Type: | Type C2-S-B1 |
| Displacement: | 6,761 long tons (6,869 t) |
| Length: | 459 ft 2 in (139.95 m) |
| Beam: | 63 ft (19 m) |
| Draft: | 26 ft 4 in (8.03 m) |
| Speed: | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) |
| Complement: | 247 |
| Armament: |
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USS Merrick (AKA-97/LKA-97) was an Andromeda-class attack cargo ship named after Merrick County, Nebraska.
Merrick (AKA–97) was laid down as Maritime Commission hull 219, on 19 October 1944 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey, launched on 28 January 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Francis N. Van Riper, acquired on 30 March and commissioned on 31 March 1945, Lt. Comdr. Walter E. Reed, USNR, in command.
Merrick cleared Norfolk on 15 May 1945 for training at Pearl Harbor and duty transporting cargo, landing craft, and troops among the Marshalls and New Hebrides until the close of World War II. She then carried occupation troops from Hawaii and the Philippines to Japan and brought veterans, including Marine war dogs, back to Norfolk, arriving on 3 December.
After nine months of east coast operations, Merrick sailed in October 1946 with TG 68.1 for Port Hueneme, California, to load cargo for "Operation Highjump", the largest (to 1968) American Antarctic expedition. She set course south on 5 December, and entered the Ross Sea on 31 December. The group reached the Bay of Whales on 15 January 1947 and there established Little America IV, the base for the expedition's significant scientific achievements.
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