USS Vulcan (AR-5)
USS Vulcan in June 1992
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | USS Vulcan |
| Namesake: | Vulcan |
| Builder: | New York Shipbuilding Corporation |
| Laid down: | 16 December 1939 |
| Launched: | 14 December 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 14 June 1941 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 September 1991 |
| Struck: | 28 July 1992 |
| Honors and awards: |
1 battle star (World War II) |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping, 2006 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Vulcan-class repair ship |
| Displacement: | 12,911 long tons (13,118 t) |
| Length: | 530 ft (160 m) |
| Beam: | 73 ft 4 in (22.35 m) |
| Draft: | 19 ft (5.8 m) |
| Speed: | 19.2 knots (35.6 km/h; 22.1 mph) |
| Complement: | 1,297 |
| Armament: |
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USS Vulcan (AR-5) was the lead ship of her class of repair ships of the United States Navy. The ship was laid down on 16 December 1939 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation; launched on 14 December 1940; sponsored by Mrs. James Forrestal, wife of the Under Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 14 June 1941, Commander Leon S. Fiske in command.
Following her shakedown cruise to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Guantanamo Bay, Vulcan underwent post-shakedown repairs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in mid-August. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet Train on the 20th, the repair ship departed Philadelphia the following day and proceeded, via Casco Bay, Maine, to Argentia, Newfoundland.
By this time, the Atlantic Fleet was becoming more fully involved in the Battle of the Atlantic. In July 1941, at the request of the Icelandic government, the United States had occupied Iceland – the strategic island which, as the German geopolitician Karl Haushofer wrote, lay pointed "like a pistol ... at the United States" — and had established bases at the barren ports of Reykjavík and Hvalfjörður. Marine wags soon nicknamed these places "Rinky Dink" and "Valley Forge", respectively.
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