USS Nestor (ARB-6) was one of twelve Aristaeus-class

USS Aristaeus (ARB-1)

USS Aristaeus was one of 12 battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. The lead ship in her class, she was named for Aristaeus , the only U.S...

  battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 during World War II. Named for Nestor

Nestor (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Nestor of Gerenia was the son of Neleus and Chloris and the King of Pylos. He became king after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor's siblings...

 (in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, the son of Neleus

Neleus

Neleus was the son of Poseidon and Tyro and brother of Pelias. Tyro was married to Cretheus but loved Enipeus, a river god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus and from their union was born Pelias and Neleus,...

, the King of Pylos

Pylos

Pylos , historically known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It was the capital of the former...

 and Chloris

Chloris

thumb|250px|right| "As she talks, her lips breathe spring roses:I was Chloris, who am now called Flora." [[Ovid]]There are many stories in Greek mythology about figures named Chloris...

), she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

Originally laid down as USS LST-518 on 13 September 1943 by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company of Seneca, Illinois

Seneca, Illinois

Seneca is a village in LaSalle and Grundy counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 2,371 at the 2010 census.The LaSalle County portion of Seneca is part of the Ottawa–Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area, while the small portion that lies in Grundy County is part of the...

; launched sponsored by Miss Rita Jenkins; converted by Maryland Dry Dock Company of Baltimore, Maryland; and commissioned 24 June 1944 with Commander Frank W. Parsons, USNR, in command.

Service history

Designed to make emergency repairs in forward areas to battle-damaged ships, Nestor left Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

 4 August 1944 for Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...

, 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 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...

, arriving 21 October to take up her primary mission. During the next five and a half months she acted as tender to small craft and repaired all types of naval vessels from battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

s to LCI

Landing Craft Infantry

The Landing craft, Infantry or LCI were several classes of sea-going amphibious assault ships of the Second World War utilized to land large numbers of infantry directly onto beaches. They were developed in response to a British request for a vessel capable of carrying and landing substantially...

s.

Nestor left Ulithi 19 April 1945 for Kerama Retto

Kerama Retto

The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....

, seized in the initial phase of the Okinawa campaign

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...

 to serve as a base for the ships engaged in the main assault. Japanese air attacks, often by suicide plane

Kamikaze

The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....

, inflicted heavy damage on the fleet, and Nestor worked round-the-clock, often under fire her self, to help keep the fighting ships in action. As Okinawa itself became secure, Nestor entered Buckner Bay 10 July and continued her vital services, which here included the tremendous task of building a cofferdam

Cofferdam

A cofferdam is a temporary enclosure built within, or in pairs across, a body of water and constructed to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out, creating a dry work environment for the major work to proceed...

. Nestor was driven aground by wind and heavy seas in the devastating Typhoon "Louise" of 9 October, and had to be abandoned. She decommissioned on 29 November, was stricken on 3 January 1946, and her hulk was sold for scrap on 1 May 1947.

In November, 1945 the CNO

Chief of Naval Operations

The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...

 directed that the hulk be sunk or destroyed, but this was not done and she became one of around 15 Okinawa typhoon wrecks that were finally sold for scrap in two batches in May and November, 1947 by the State Department's

United States Department of State

The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...

 Foreign Liquidations Commission. Nestor along with , , three floating docks, and some smaller craft, were included in the May batch and were purchased by the Oklahoma-Philippines Company in what was referred to as the "Berry sale". The date of her scrapping is not known.

Nestor earned one battle star for World War II service.