Ship Descriptions - Auxiliary |
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Auxiliaries
President Madison was chartered by USN to bring the 2nd battalion, 4th regiment of "China Marines" from Shanghai to the Philippines during November 1941. She was acquired four months after Pearl Harbor for the USN and was converted in another four 4 months to a troopship, USS Kenmore (AP-62), where she continued to serve in the Pacific. She was converted in 1944 into a hospital ship, USS Refuge (AH-11), serving first in the Atlantic and then the Pacific.
Specifications: [picture]
![[picture]](http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/img/AH/AH-11_Refuge.gif){kind=link}
Displacement: 10,911 tons; 13,900 (full load) ; Length : 523' ; Beam : 62' ; Draft : 27'
Twin screws ; 7,000 hp ; Speed : 11.5 knots (max), 10 knots (cruise)
Armament : NONE ; Complement: 626 patients
Refuge decommissioned in 1946. One battle star.
U.S. freighter Sea Arrow acquired by the Navy on 8 July 1940 and converted to the seaplane tender Tangier (AV-8). She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 3 November and spent a month tending flying boats. She loaded with supplies, ammunition, and equipment for Wake Island and when that relief effort failed, disembarked the men and equipment of Marine fighter squadron on Midway Island. Tangier followed the action through the Pacific: arrived in Noumea, New Caledonia as tender for six flying boats Feb 1942; Espiritu Santo in 1943; New Guinea, 1944; and Philippines, 1945.
German screw steamer launched 1907 for transatlantic passenger trade as KONIG WILHELM II. Seized 1917 during WWI, she made ten troop runs to Europe as Madawaska. Evacuated Czech Legion at Vladivostok, 1920, in the Russian Civil War. Served next two decades in Pacific as U.S.Grant for Army Transport Service. Reacquired by the Navy in 1940, refitted and armed with seven 3-inch guns (she had been unarmed while serving as an Army transport), she commissioned June 1941 as U.S. Grant (AP-29).
U S. Grant carried passengers and cargo to Alaskan ports as the U.S. built up its defenses through the outbreak of war. In February and March 1942, she conducted voyages to the Hawaiian Islands. The first trip she returned some 1,000 enemy aliens (mostly Japanese with a sprinkling of Germans) for placement in internment camps in the southwestern United States. Among these passengers was prisoner of war number one, Lt. Sakamaki, whose midget submarine had run aground off Barber's Point, Oahu, on 7Dec41. U. S. Grant resumed trips from west coast to Alaska, participated in the landings at Massacre Bay and Kiska, and, later, Hawaii. In 1945 she shifted operations to the Caribbean.
Fleet Oilers
Commissioned 25 October 1920 ; 5,720 tons ; 475 ft ; 14 knot.; 144 men ; 2- 5" and 2- 3" guns.
The oiler was underway from San Diego to Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked; arrived 10 December, rapidly off-loaded and hurriedly returned to San Diego in order to take on more fuel oil for Pearl Harbor.
Neches steamed from Pearl Harbor late in the afternoon of 22 Jan42, headed for the western Pacific. Shortly after midnight, the watch discerned a possible submarine at a range of about 1,000 yards and immediately took evasive action. Two torpedoes fired by I-72 struck the oiler. Both 5-inch guns took the submarine under fire until the list to starboard made it impossible to depress the guns sufficiently. Neches slowly settled forward and sank with a loss of fifty-seven men. Her loss forced cancellation of TF 11's projected raid on Wake Island.
Conversion completed 7 July 1941, Neosho began the vital task of ferrying aviation fuel from west coast ports to Pearl Harbor. She arrived in Pearl Harbor 6 December, discharged a full cargo to the Naval Air Station on Ford Island. Next morning, the Japanese surprise attack found Neosho alert to danger; she got her underway and her guns fired throughout the attack, splashing one enemy plane.
For the next five months, Neosho sailed with the carriers or independently, since escort ships could not always be spared to guard even so precious a ship and cargo. Late in April, Neosho joined TF 17. In the opening maneuvers of the Battle of the Coral Sea on 6 May, Neosho fueled Yorktown (CV-5) and Astoria (CA-34), then retired from the carrier force, escorted by Sims. (DD-409). Next day, Japanese aircraft spotted the two ships, and believing them to be a carrier and her escort, launched the first of two attacks which sank Sims and left Neosho ablaze. She had shot down at least 3 of the attackers.
Superb seamanship and skilled damage control work kept Neosho afloat for the next four days. The stricken ship was located by aircraft, then 11 May, Henley (DD-391) arrived to rescue the 123 survivors and to sink by gunfire, the ship they had so valiantly kept alive.
USS Cimmeron (AO-22) 1939 Displacement 7256 . Midway, Solomons to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Cimarron received 10 battle stars for World War II service, seven for the Korean War, and 4 campaign stars for her Vietnam War service. Decommissioned Oct 1968.
USS Platte (AO-24) 1939, Displacement 7256 tons . Midway. Platte received 11 battle stars for World War II service, 6 battle stars for Korean War service, and 8 campaign stars for Vietnam War service. Decommissioned 1970.
USS Kaskaskia (AO-27), 1940, Displacement 7256 . Guadalcanal. Kaskaskia received nine battle stars for World War II and seven stars for Korean service. Decommissioned December 1969
Training Carriers .
USS Wolverine (IX-64) commissioned 12 Aug 1942. Length 500; Beam 98 ft; 7,200 tons. Former Lake Erie passenger ship SeeandBee.
USS Sable (IX-81) commissioned May 1943. Length 535 feet; Beam 58 feet; 6,584 tons. Former Great Lakes passenger ship Greater Buffalo.
Wolverine and Stable were fresh water excursion ships, side wheel, coal fired, converted for aviation training. Sailing Lake Michigan, they provided flight decks on which 17,820 student aviators qualified for carrier take-offs and landings and many flight deck crews received their first practical experience in handling aircraft aboard ship. Wolverine , Stable
Aircraft Transports .
USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1 / AKV-1) . 6,860 tons (14,000 full); 478 feet ; 17 knots ; 1- 5" , 4- 3" ; Built in 1932 ; acquired by the Navy 25 June 1941; converted to an aircraft transport and commissioned 26 November 1941. Departed New York 16 December 1941, for Hawaii and delivered men, munitions and aircraft to Pearl Harbor, Midway (week before battle), and the New Hebrides for Guadalcanal - all by August 1942. She was reclassified AKV-1 on 15 Sept 1943 and followed the combat need for aircraft throughout the war.
USS Hammondsport (APV-2 / AKV-2). Sister ship to Kittyhawk, both departed for the Pacific in Dec 1941. Hammondsport delivered 120 P-40 fighters to Brisbane 5Feb42 and delivered cargo and aircraft throughout the Pacific during the war.
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About this page: ships4.html Ships, page 4, Auxiliaries. Reference to auxiliary ships mentioned on this website.
Last updated: December 19, 2001.
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