USS Sterope (AK-96)

USS Sterope (AK-96) unloading cargo onto pontoons at Guadalcanal, 1943
History
United States
Name:	James Wilson Sterope
Namesake:	Asterope (star)
Owner:
Operator:
Ordered:	as a type (EC2-S-C1) hull, MCE hull 183, SS James Wilson
Builder:	Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, Oregon
Laid down:	9 December 1941
Launched:	22 February 1942
Sponsored by:	Mrs. John Spady
Acquired:	27 March 1943
Commissioned:	14 May 1943
Decommissioned:	16 May 1946
Refit:	converted for Naval service by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.
Struck:	19 November 1947
Identification:	Hull symbol:AK-96
Fate:	sold for scrapping, 16 August 1963, to The Learner Corp./Union Minerals & Alloys Corp., Oakland, CA.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Crater-class cargo ship
Displacement:	4,023 long tons (4,088 t) (standard) 14,550 long tons (14,780 t) (full load)
Length:	441 ft 6 in (134.57 m)
Beam:	56 ft 11 in (17.35 m)
Draft:	28 ft 4 in (8.64 m)
Installed power:	2 × Combustion Engineering header-type boilers, 220psi 450° 2,500 shp (1,900 kW)
Propulsion:	1 × General Machine Corp. vertical triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine 1 × shaft
Speed:	12.5 kn (14.4 mph; 23.2 km/h)
Complement:	207
Armament:	1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 caliber dual purpose (DP) gun 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber DP gun 2 × 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft (AA) gun mounts 6 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannon AA gun mounts

USS Sterope (AK-96) was an Crater-class cargo ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.

Sterope (AK-96), ex-SS James Wilson (MC hull 183), was laid down on 9 December 1941 by the Oregon Shipbuilding Co., Portland, Oregon; launched on 22 February 1942; sponsored by Mrs. John Spady; acquired by the Navy on 27 March 1943; and commissioned on 14 May 1943, Lt. Comdr. Leo P. Toolin, USCG, in command.

Sterope was converted to Navy specifications by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., and completed her shakedown cruise on 10 June. The ship --- assigned to the Naval Transportation Service ---proceeded to San Francisco, California, loaded, and sailed on 24 June for New Caledonia. Sterope arrived at Noumea on 16 July 1943 and, for the next two years, shuttled supplies to advanced bases as a part of the Service Force, Pacific Fleet.

Highlights of her service came in July 1944 when she delivered supplies to American forces engaged in recapturing Guam and in May 1945 when she took supplies to troops fighting for Okinawa.

Late in July 1945, Sterope headed for Pearl Harbor and the U.S. west coast. She reached San Francisco on 6 August and was undergoing overhaul there when the war ended. On 9 October 1945, the ship sailed for Guam and moved varied cargo among the islands of the Central Pacific for the next six months.