ALCOA PARTNER

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

ALCOA PARTNER

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:20 pm

Built as a C1-B type cargo vessel, yard No 493 by the Consolidated Steel Corp. at Wilmington, Calif., for the United States Maritime Commission.
09 June 1942 keel laid down.
07 Sept. 1942 launched under the name ALCOA PARTNER, christened by Mrs. Dorothea Rasmussen Kunkel, for the Alcoa Steamship Co. at New York.
Tonnage 6.750 gross, 4.800 net, 7.815 dwt., dim. 417.9 x 60 x 37.6ft, length between pp. 395ft., draught loaded 27.6ft.
Powered by two Westinghouse steam turbines geared to one shaft, 4.400 shp., speed 14 knots.
16 March 1943 acquired by the US Navy, converted for naval service as a cargo ship by the Matson Navigation Co.
29 March 1943 renamed AURIGA (AK-98), she was named after a constellation located between sister constellations Perseus and Gemini.
Armament 1 – 15 inch, 1 – 13 inch and 8 – 20mm AA guns.
Displacement 12.875 tons.
01 April 1943 commissioned at San Francisco, Calf. Under command of Lt. Comdr. John G. Hart.
Crew 258.

Upon her commissioning, was she assigned to the Naval Transportation Service. When the conversion work had been completed she got underway on 6 June for Port Hueneme, Calif. To load cargo and she departed from the West Coast on 14 April, bound for the Fiji Islands. The AURIGA arrived at Viti Levu, Fiji Islands on 3 May and commenced discharging; her discharging was completed on 28 May, after which she returned in ballast back to the U.S. West Coast. After arrival in San Francisco she entered a ship yard for repair work which was completed by early July.
She sailed then to Alameda Calif. To load equipment and supplies for transportation to New Caledonia.
19 July departed from Alameda, and arrived at Noumea on 7 August were she unloaded part of her cargo. Unloading was completed on 21 August, she sailed then for the Fiji Islands again were she discharged the remaining cargo.
27 August sailed out again in ballast for San Francisco were she arrived on 13 September.

She loaded again and sailed on 1 October bound for the Ellice Islands. She arrived at Funafuti the 16 October, but the next day she got orders to proceed to Wallis Island, Samoa, where she remained till 12 November. Then she returned to Funafuti, where she commenced discharging until January 1944.
On the 17th she got underway for Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, and spent the next week unloading cargo despite frequent enemy bombing attacks.
24 January sailed from the Gilbert Islands bound for Hawaii.
01 February berthed at Pearl Harbor where she unloaded all her cargo before entering the navy yard there for repairs and alternations.
22 February she shifted to Honolulu for commencing loading, and she sailed on the 29th for Eniwetok, where she arrived on 11 March.
She was given fresh water, equipment and stores to various small craft. Then she took on army equipment for the Kwajalein, sailed for that destination on 08 April where she arrived the 10th, anchored off Kwajalein and two days later she sailed for Hawaii.

After returning to Hawaii she was designated to take part in the invasion of Saipan in the Marianas. She commenced loading army combat vehicles, ammunition, heavy artillery, and other supplies and embarked troops. On the morning of 1 June, the ship sortied with Task Group (TG) 51.18.
After a stop at Kwajalein for refueling, TG 58.18 arrived off Saipan on the 16th; and the AURIGA began debarking her troops, and unloading her equipment.
The next day she retired from Saipan and during the next eight days, steamed with various task groups while awaiting orders to return to waters off that embattled island.

On 25 June AURIGA was off Saipan again and commenced her discharging operations. Despite enemy air harassment, she completed the process on the 28th. June, she left that area and anchored at Eniwetok roads the 28th, and remained there nearly one month. The ship weighed anchor on the 27th and set course for Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on 3 August, the ship entered the navy yard for repair and alternations.

On the 31st August AURIGA sailed for Hilo, Hawaii, where she embarked marines, combat equipment and ammunition. The ship headed back toward Pearl Harbor on 6 September and got underway again on the 15th, bound for Eniwetok. After briefly touching there, the cargo ship was routed on to Manus Island, Admiralties Group, a staging point for the invasion of the Philippines Islands. She left Manus on 14 October and six day later, anchored in Leyte Gulf and commenced discharging cargo ashore.

Still off the beachhead on 25 October, AURIGA underwent a Japanese air attack during which her commanding officer and four other crew members were wounded. The next day, she set a course for Peleliu in the Palaus. After a one-day stop there, the vessel proceeded to Hollandia, New Guinea.

Following a brief period in port, AURIGA was assigned to a reinforcement group bound for BIAK, Schouten Islands. Upon her arrival there, she began loading a cargo of vehicles and Army Air Corps equipment. She got underway on 14 November to return to Leyte. The vessels arrived in Leyte Gulf four days later and began sending her cargo ashore. In spite of heavy enemy air activity. AURIGA completed her task on the 19th and left that evening to return to Hollandia.

The AURIGA remained there for a week before being ordered to Aitape, New Guinea, to take on equipment, ammunition and Army troops. She got underway on 28 December and set a course for the Philippine Islands and the invasion of Luzon. AURIGA was assigned to TG 78.5 whose ships reached Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945 and began unloading operations shortly after their arrival. Three days later, her holds were empty, and she sailed for Leyte.

While at Leyte, the cargo vessel was ordered to begin preparation for another assault on Luzon in the San Felipe-San Narcisco area. AURIGA got underway for this operation on 26 January and arrived off the west coast of Luzon on the 29th. The unopposed landing was completed on the 31st, and the ship returned to Leyte where she remained in upkeep into March.

On 13 March, AURIGA began taking cargo and she got underway on the 27th. She entered Ulithi Lagoon three days later awaited further orders, and set sail on 7 April for Okinawa. The vessel anchored off Hagushi beach on the 11th and immediately encountered stiff enemy air opposition, but managed to discharge all of her passengers and cargo by the morning of the 17th. Two days later she left Okinawa and returned to Ulithi.

The ship stayed there to refuel and to embark passengers for transportation to the United States. She got underway for home on 25 April, sailed into San Francisco Bay on 12 May, and shortly thereafter entered a shipyard for alternations and repairs. Her repairs and shakedown were completed on 26 June, and she resumed cargo operations. The ship got underway on 8 July shaped a course for the Marshall Islands, and during the next month delivered cargo to both Eniwetok and Kawajalein. AURIGA was then routed to Espiritu Santo to pick up more cargo.

Upon reaching Espiritu Santo on 15 August, the ship received word of the Japanese capitulation. She loaded supplies and equipment, got underway for Guam on the 23d, and entered Apra Harbor on 1 September. There she took cargo to support occupation forces in Japan. After a brief stop at Iwo Jima, AURIGA sailed on to Japan.

The vessel reached Yokosuka on 12 October and began discharging supplies ashore. She later embarked Army and Navy personnel for transportation back to the United States. The AURIGA sailed from Japan on 27 November and proceeded to Pearl Harbor. She then sailed on to the Panama Canal Zone, transited the canal on 27 November, and continued on to the east coast of the United States.
AURIGA arrived at New York City on 3 January 1946; discharging her passengers, car cargo, and ammunition; and began preparations for deactivation. She was decommissioned at the New York Naval Shipyard on 22 January 1946 and was returned to Maritime Commission for disposal.
Her name was struck from the Navy list on 7 February 1946.
During the war the AURIGA earned five battle stars for her World War II service.

Sold later that year back to the ALCOA Steamship Co., and she got her old name back ALCOA PARTNER.

1963 returned to the Maritime Commission (MARAD) and laid up a reserve ship in the USA.
July 1970 scrapped at Valencia, Spain.

St Kitts 1990 50c sg317, scott299.

Source: Mostly copied from http://www.multied.com/navy/Transport/Auriga.html
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