USS Aeolus (ARC-3) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

USS Aeolus (ARC-3) began service as , an built by the Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc.

Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc.

Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc. was a shipyard in both Cranston and Providence, Rhode Island. It was built during World War II and financed by the Maritime Commission as part of the country's Emergency Shipbuilding Program. It was originally operated by Rheem Manufacturing, a company with no previous...

of Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

. In the mid-1950s, she was converted into a cable repair ship to support the SOSUS

SOSUS

SOSUS, an acronym for Sound Surveillance System, is a chain of underwater listening posts across the northern Atlantic Ocean near Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom — the GIUK gap. It was originally operated by the United States Navy for tracking Soviet submarines, which had to pass...

program, as the lead ship

Lead ship

The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...

of the , and she performed cable duties for nearly thirty years.

Function

The Aeolus has principally been used to transport, deploy, retrieve and repair submarine cables

Submarine communications cable

A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....

, and to conduct acoustic, hydrographic, and bathymetric surveys.

Career

USS Turandot was decommissioned on 21 March 1946, struck from the Navy list on 17 April 1947, and placed in the reserve fleet

Reserve fleet

A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....

.

In 1954, the former attack cargo ship was converted to be a cable repair ship, redesignated ARC-3, and renamed Aeolus. The conversion was performed at the Key Highway yard of the Bethlehem Steel Co.

Bethlehem Shipbuilding

Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard was founded in 1887 as Maryland Steel in Sparrows Point, Maryland. It was acquired by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in 1916 and renamed Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard. The shipyard was sold in 1997 to Baltimore Marine Industries Inc....

in Baltimore, Maryland. The ship was re-commissioned as ARC-3 on 14 May 1955.

Aeolus worked in the Atlantic and Caribbean during 1955–56; in the Pacific during 1956–59; and returned to the Atlantic and Caribbean during 1959–62. During 1962–73 she worked principally in the Atlantic, with occasional temporary assignments to the Pacific.

In 1973, Aeolus was transferred to the Military Sealift Command

Military Sealift Command

The Military Sealift Command is a United States Navy organization that controls most of the replenishment and military transport ships of the Navy. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's...

(MSC), designated T-ARC-3, and operated thereafter by a mostly civilian crew.

During her career, Aeolus received three Meritorious Unit Commendation

Meritorious Unit Commendation

The Meritorious Unit Commendation is a mid-level unit award of the United States military which is awarded to any military command which displays exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service, heroic deeds, or valorous actions....

s (in 1970, 1971, and 1973). Aeolus continued performing cable installations and repairs until 1985, when she was decommissioned and placed in the James River reserve fleet

Reserve fleet

near Ft. Eustis, VA. In 1987 she was transferred to the State of North Carolina, and in 1988 was sunk to form an artificial reef

Artificial reef

An artificial reef is a human-made underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, control erosion, block ship passage, or improve surfing....

. The ex-Aeolus, located about 22 miles from Beaufort Inlet in 110 foot of water, is often visited by divers.

External links

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