USS Malabar (AF-37)
Encyclopedia
USS Malabar (AF-37) was an acquired by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II
. Her task was to carry stores, refrigerated items, and equipment to ships in the fleet, and to remote stations and staging areas.
Malabar was laid down under Maritime Commission contract by the Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc., Beaumont, Texas
, 17 July 1944; launched 17 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. W. R. Brennan; acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission 24 February 1945; converted by Tennessee Coal & Iron Dock, Houston, Texas
, to a refrigeration ship; and commissioned 8 March 1945, Lt. Charles S. Rogers, USNR in command.
in the Gulf of Mexico
, Malabar departed Galveston, Texas
, for Pearl Harbor
28 March with a stopover at Mobile, Alabama
, to embark food supplies for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, arriving Pearl Harbor 1 May. Assigned to Service Squadron 8, Service Force, the storeship, sailed the 11th for the Marianas
, via Eniwetok, Marshalls
, to unload half of her cargo at Saipan
from 27 to 31 May.
1 June, arriving Iwo Jima
3 days later. Her task of issuing provisions to 53 ships was interrupted by a typhoon 6 June. After a day and a half of battling the storm, Malabar finally anchored and discharged the rest of her stores to a U.S. Army installation ashore.
On 12 June Malabar returned to Pearl Harbor, again via Saipan, for 12 days of repairs necessitated by the typhoon. She got underway 30 June for a second trip to Eniwetok and, returning to Pearl Harbor, was 1 day out when the Japanese surrendered 15 August.
17 September. Malabar then supplied a record total of 157 ships in 9 days. After upkeep at Pearl from 13 to 27 October, she returned to the central Pacific, sinking two mines en route. On 16 November she reached the Yangtze River
and reported to CTU
67.2.3 for supply duty out of Shanghai
until 4 December when she got underway for Seattle, Washington
, arriving the 22d.
Malabar departed San Pedro, California, for the Philippines
21 February 1946, anchoring in Manila Bay
22 March for a month's service before steaming from Samar
, 16 April, for the U.S. East Coast, via San Francisco, California
, and the Panama Canal Zone
. She arrived Bayonne, New Jersey
, 1 July to spend the rest of the year cruising along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean
from Argentia, Newfoundland, to Bermuda
.
, French Morocco
, the 14th to unload her cargo. After a stop at Naples, Italy, she returned to the U.S. East Coast later in the month to continue her service force operations between Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Norfolk, Virginia
; and Argentia, interspersed with annual supply trips to Europe through the next 8 years.
1 July 1960. Final disposition: she was disposed of by MARAD
sale, 27 July 1977, her fate unknown.
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...
. Her task was to carry stores, refrigerated items, and equipment to ships in the fleet, and to remote stations and staging areas.
Malabar was laid down under Maritime Commission contract by the Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc., Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
, 17 July 1944; launched 17 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. W. R. Brennan; acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission 24 February 1945; converted by Tennessee Coal & Iron Dock, Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, to a refrigeration ship; and commissioned 8 March 1945, Lt. Charles S. Rogers, USNR in command.
World War II service
Following shakedownShakedown (testing)
A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...
in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
, Malabar departed Galveston, Texas
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, for 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...
28 March with a stopover at Mobile, Alabama
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
, to embark food supplies for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, arriving Pearl Harbor 1 May. Assigned to Service Squadron 8, Service Force, the storeship, sailed the 11th for the Marianas
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
, via Eniwetok, Marshalls
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
, to unload half of her cargo at 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...
from 27 to 31 May.
Supplying Iwo Jima troops
She continued on to the Volcano IslandsVolcano Islands
The Volcano Islands is a group of three Japanese islands south of the Bonin Islands that belong to the municipality of Ogasawara...
1 June, arriving Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
3 days later. Her task of issuing provisions to 53 ships was interrupted by a typhoon 6 June. After a day and a half of battling the storm, Malabar finally anchored and discharged the rest of her stores to a U.S. Army installation ashore.
On 12 June Malabar returned to Pearl Harbor, again via Saipan, for 12 days of repairs necessitated by the typhoon. She got underway 30 June for a second trip to Eniwetok and, returning to Pearl Harbor, was 1 day out when the Japanese surrendered 15 August.
Post-war operations
She departed Pearl Harbor the 27th for Japan, via Eniwetok, arriving Tokyo BayTokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
17 September. Malabar then supplied a record total of 157 ships in 9 days. After upkeep at Pearl from 13 to 27 October, she returned to the central Pacific, sinking two mines en route. On 16 November she reached the Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
and reported to CTU
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
67.2.3 for supply duty out of Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
until 4 December when she got underway for 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...
, arriving the 22d.
Malabar departed San Pedro, California, 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...
21 February 1946, anchoring in Manila Bay
Manila Bay
Manila Bay is a natural harbor which serves the Port of Manila , in the Philippines.The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbors in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world...
22 March for a month's service before steaming from 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...
, 16 April, for the U.S. East Coast, via San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, and the Panama Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
. She arrived Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
, 1 July to spend the rest of the year cruising along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
from Argentia, Newfoundland, to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
.
East Coast operations
On 3 January 1947 Malabar departed Bermuda for Europe, arriving CasablancaCasablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
, French Morocco
French Morocco
French Protectorate of Morocco was a French protectorate in Morocco, established by the Treaty of Fez. French Morocco did not include the north of the country, which was a Spanish protectorate...
, the 14th to unload her cargo. After a stop at Naples, Italy, she returned to the U.S. East Coast later in the month to continue her service force operations between Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; 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....
; and Argentia, interspersed with annual supply trips to Europe through the next 8 years.
Final decommissioning
Malabar was placed in reserve at Galveston, Texas, 20 June 1955 before decommissioning 26 September. She remained berthed there in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until struck from the Navy ListNaval 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...
1 July 1960. Final disposition: she was disposed of by MARAD
Marad
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...
sale, 27 July 1977, her fate unknown.
Military awards and honors
The Navy record does not indicate any battle stars awarded to Malabar. However, her crew was eligible for the following medals:- China Service MedalChina Service MedalThe China Service Medal was a military medal awarded to U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel. The medal was instituted on August 23, 1940 and featured a yellow ribbon with narrow red edge stripes...
(extended) - American Campaign MedalAmerican Campaign MedalThe American Campaign Medal was a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign MedalAsiatic-Pacific Campaign MedalThe Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal is a service decoration of the Second World War which was awarded to any member of the United States military who served in the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945 and was created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was...
- World War II Victory MedalWorld War II Victory MedalThe World War II Victory Medal is a decoration of the United States military which was created by an act of Congress in July 1945. The decoration commemorates military service during World War II and is awarded to any member of the United States military, including members of the armed forces of...
- Navy Occupation Service MedalNavy Occupation Service MedalThe Navy Occupation Service Medal is a decoration of the United States Navy which was issued to Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel who participated in the European and Asian occupation forces following the close of the World War II. The decoration was also bestowed to personnel who...
(with Asia clasp) - National Defense Service MedalNational Defense Service MedalThe National Defense Service Medal is a military service medal of the United States military originally commissioned by President Dwight D. Eisenhower...