USS Arenac (APA-128)
Encyclopedia
USS Arenac (APA-128) was a of the US Navy. She was built and used during World War II
. She was of the VC2-S-AP5 Victory ship
design type. Arenac was named for Arenac County, Michigan
.
; launched on 14 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. L.D. Worsham; delivered to the Moore Dry Dock Company
, Oakland, California, on 24 September 1944 for completion; acquired by the U.S. Navy and placed in commission, 8 January 1945, Commander J.H. Carrington in command.
After shakedown and amphibious training exercises off San Diego, California
, Arenac took on a load of cargo and departed for Hawaii
. On 3 February 1945, Arenac was designated the flagship for Combat Transport Division (COMTRANSDIV) 68, under the command of Commodore
Chauncey Crutcher. She arrived at Pearl Harbor
on 17 March 1945 and during the next two months operated out of Pearl Harbor carrying personnel and cargo to Eniwetok and Guam
.
On 12 May, Arenac arrived at Ulithi
, Caroline Islands
, and there embarked troops and took on supplies for support of the invasion of Okinawa
. She got underway for that island on 23 May and anchored in waters off Okinawa on the 27th. While awaiting clearance to proceed to the beaches to unload her cargo Arenac underwent frequent alerts for enemy air attack. She moored off Hagushi
Beach on 3 June, finished unloading her cargo and passengers by the 5th, and then began taking on personnel for evacuation from Okinawa. The transport left the area on 6 June and set a course for Saipan
.
Arenac paused at Saipan on the 12th to discharge a few of her passengers, continued on to Guam on the 13th, and remained in port there for six days before returning to Saipan on 20 June. She then began preparations to return to Okinawa. After a stop at Ulithi en route, the vessel arrived back at Okinawa on 5 July.
Following discharge of her cargo, Arenac got underway on 8 July to return to the West Coast
of the United States
. Port calls at Saipan and Guam preceded the transport's arrival at San Francisco, California
, on 28 July. Three days later, the vessel entered a shipyard at Richmond, California
for an intermediate maintenance availability. She resumed operations on 11 August and made a course for Pearl Harbor. While the ship was en route, she received word of Japan's capitulation
ending World War II. Arenac arrived in Hawaiian waters on the 17th and took on personnel for passage to the western Pacific. She set sail for Eniwetok on the 20th and after a brief pause at that atoll, stood out to sea to rendezvous with a convoy bound for Ulithi.
Arenac reached Ulithi on 31 August. She got underway for the Philippines
four days later and arrived at Manila
on 9 September. She debarked her passengers there before moving on to San Fabian
, Luzon
, on the 18th to take on cargo and embarked troops for transportation to Japan
. The ship set sail on 1 October and arrived at Wakayama, Japan
on the 7 October. However, before her passengers went ashore, she was ordered out of the area because of an approaching typhoon. The ship finally put into port at Nagoya, Japan, on 28 October and proceeded to debark her troops for occupation duty. On that same day, the transport was assigned to Service Force, Pacific Fleet for Operation Magic Carpet
, transporting "high-point" military personnel from Japan and the Philippines to the West Coast of the United States for discharge.
After off-loading passengers and equipment at Nagoya, Arenac set a course for the Philippines on 30 October 1945, and arrived at Guiuan, Samar
on 4 November. "High-point" Navy personnel were loaded for transport to San Francisco for discharge, but while en route, Arenac was diverted to Seattle, Washington
instead, and arrived there on 25 November 1945.
After necessary voyage repairs and a period of liberty for the crew, Arenac resumed operations. On 8 December 1945, she got underway for Nagoya, Japan but was diverted en route to the Naval Base at Sasebo
on the island of Kyushu, Japan
, arriving on 31 December 1945. The ship debarked the Navy replacement passengers ,then four days later departed for Nagoya, arriving on 6 January 1946, embarking veterans for return to stateside and discharge. Arenac made three round-trip Pacific crossings in this service. The Operation Magic Carpet assignment was completed in March 1946, and the ship was ordered to the East Coast of the United States
for deactivation. The transport transited the Panama Canal
and then continued on to Norfolk, Virginia
.
Proceeding to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard
, Portsmouth, Virginia
on 8 April 1946 and then the Naval Mine Depot at Yorktown, Virginia
, Arenac was decommissioned on 10 July 1946. She was transferred to the National Defense Reserve Fleet
, James River Group at Fort Eustis, Virginia.
at the same location. Her name was struck from the Navy List
on 1 October 1958. On 21 August 1974 she was sold to Consolidated Steel Corporation
, for $298,999, to be scrapped. At 1425 EDT, on 25 October 1974 she was withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet and sent to the breaker's yard
.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She was of the VC2-S-AP5 Victory ship
Victory ship
The Victory ship was a type of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace shipping losses caused by German submarines...
design type. Arenac was named for Arenac County, Michigan
Arenac County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 17,269 people, 6,710 households, and 4,717 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 9,563 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile...
.
World War II service
Arenac was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 44) on 9 July 1944 at Wilmington, California, by the California Shipbuilding CorporationCalifornia Shipbuilding Corporation
California Shipbuilding Corporation built 467 Liberty and Victory ships during World War II, including Haskell-class attack transports. California Shipbuilding Corporation was often referred to as Calship...
; launched on 14 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. L.D. Worsham; delivered to the Moore Dry Dock Company
Moore Dry Dock Company
Moore Dry Dock Company was a ship repair and shipbuilding company in Oakland, California. It was started in San Francisco in 1905 as the Moore & Scott Iron Works, but was destroyed by fire in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It reopened soon and in 1909 purchased the Boole Shipyard in Oakland....
, Oakland, California, on 24 September 1944 for completion; acquired by the U.S. Navy and placed in commission, 8 January 1945, Commander J.H. Carrington in command.
After shakedown and amphibious training exercises off San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, Arenac took on a load of cargo and departed for Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. On 3 February 1945, Arenac was designated the flagship for Combat Transport Division (COMTRANSDIV) 68, under the command of Commodore
Commodore (USN)
Commodore was an early title and later a rank in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard and a current honorary title in the U.S. Navy with an intricate history. Because the U.S. Congress was originally unwilling to authorize more than four ranks until 1862, considerable importance...
Chauncey Crutcher. She arrived at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on 17 March 1945 and during the next two months operated out of Pearl Harbor carrying personnel and cargo to Eniwetok and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
.
On 12 May, Arenac arrived at Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
, Caroline Islands
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
, and there embarked troops and took on supplies for support of the invasion of Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
. She got underway for that island on 23 May and anchored in waters off Okinawa on the 27th. While awaiting clearance to proceed to the beaches to unload her cargo Arenac underwent frequent alerts for enemy air attack. She moored off Hagushi
Hagushi
Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American supplies during the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The bay, at the mouth of the Bishi River , was the dividing line between the First and Sixth US Marine divisions, which landed on the Hagushi beaches to the north, and the Seventh...
Beach on 3 June, finished unloading her cargo and passengers by the 5th, and then began taking on personnel for evacuation from Okinawa. The transport left the area on 6 June and set a course for Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
.
Arenac paused at Saipan on the 12th to discharge a few of her passengers, continued on to Guam on the 13th, and remained in port there for six days before returning to Saipan on 20 June. She then began preparations to return to Okinawa. After a stop at Ulithi en route, the vessel arrived back at Okinawa on 5 July.
Following discharge of her cargo, Arenac got underway on 8 July to return to the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Port calls at Saipan and Guam preceded the transport's arrival at San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, on 28 July. Three days later, the vessel entered a shipyard at Richmond, California
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
for an intermediate maintenance availability. She resumed operations on 11 August and made a course for Pearl Harbor. While the ship was en route, she received word of Japan's capitulation
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
ending World War II. Arenac arrived in Hawaiian waters on the 17th and took on personnel for passage to the western Pacific. She set sail for Eniwetok on the 20th and after a brief pause at that atoll, stood out to sea to rendezvous with a convoy bound for Ulithi.
Arenac reached Ulithi on 31 August. She got underway for the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
four days later and arrived at Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
on 9 September. She debarked her passengers there before moving on to San Fabian
San Fabián
San Fabián is one of 21 communes in the Ñuble Province of central Chile's Biobío Region. The capital is the town of San Fabián de Alico. The commune spans an area of .-Administration:...
, Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
, on the 18th to take on cargo and embarked troops for transportation to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The ship set sail on 1 October and arrived at Wakayama, Japan
Wakayama, Wakayama
is the capital city of Wakayama Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan.-Background:Wakayama occupies 4% of the land area and has 40% of Wakayama prefecture's population. The city was founded on April 1, 1889....
on the 7 October. However, before her passengers went ashore, she was ordered out of the area because of an approaching typhoon. The ship finally put into port at Nagoya, Japan, on 28 October and proceeded to debark her troops for occupation duty. On that same day, the transport was assigned to Service Force, Pacific Fleet for Operation Magic Carpet
Operation Magic Carpet (World War II)
Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II effort by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and CBI theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships, and troop transports began repatriating soldiers from...
, transporting "high-point" military personnel from Japan and the Philippines to the West Coast of the United States for discharge.
After off-loading passengers and equipment at Nagoya, Arenac set a course for the Philippines on 30 October 1945, and arrived at Guiuan, Samar
Samar
Samar, formerly and also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland...
on 4 November. "High-point" Navy personnel were loaded for transport to San Francisco for discharge, but while en route, Arenac was diverted to Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
instead, and arrived there on 25 November 1945.
After necessary voyage repairs and a period of liberty for the crew, Arenac resumed operations. On 8 December 1945, she got underway for Nagoya, Japan but was diverted en route to the Naval Base at Sasebo
Sasebo, Nagasaki
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2011, the city has an estimated population of 259,800 and the density of 609 persons per km². The total area is 426.47 km². The locality is famed for its scenic beauty. The city includes a part of Saikai National Park...
on the island of Kyushu, Japan
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, arriving on 31 December 1945. The ship debarked the Navy replacement passengers ,then four days later departed for Nagoya, arriving on 6 January 1946, embarking veterans for return to stateside and discharge. Arenac made three round-trip Pacific crossings in this service. The Operation Magic Carpet assignment was completed in March 1946, and the ship was ordered to the East Coast of the United States
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
for deactivation. The transport transited the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and then continued on to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
.
Proceeding to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling, and repairing the Navy's ships. It's the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U.S. Navy as well as the most...
, Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
on 8 April 1946 and then the Naval Mine Depot at Yorktown, Virginia
Yorktown, Virginia
Yorktown is a census-designated place in York County, Virginia, United States. The population was 220 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1634....
, Arenac was decommissioned on 10 July 1946. She was transferred to the National Defense Reserve Fleet
National Defense Reserve Fleet
The National Defense Reserve Fleet consists of "mothballed" ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States of America during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises.The NDRF is...
, James River Group at Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Fate
On 14 January 1959, the ship was transferred to the Maritime AdministrationMarad
Marad was an ancient Sumerian city. Marad was situated on the west bank of the then western branch of the Upper Euphrates River west of Nippur in modern day Iraq and roughly 50 km southeast of Kish, on the Arahtu River.The city's ziggurat E-igi-kalama was dedicated to Ninurta the god of...
at the same location. Her name was struck from the Navy List
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 1 October 1958. On 21 August 1974 she was sold to Consolidated Steel Corporation
Consolidated Steel Corporation
Consolidated Steel Corporation was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Consolidated built ships during World War II in two locations: Wilmington, California and Orange, Texas...
, for $298,999, to be scrapped. At 1425 EDT, on 25 October 1974 she was withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet and sent to the breaker's yard
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
.