SPELLMAN-JOHN

USS Delta (AK-29/AR-9) was the lead ship of her class of repair ships in the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally built as the merchant ship SS Hawaiian Packer before her requisition by the U.S. Navy in 1941. Before conversion to a repair ships, Delta briefly served as a U.S. Navy cargo ship.

World War II[edit]

Delta was built in 1941 as the Hawaiian Packer by Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia, one of four Type C3 ships ordered by the Matson Navigation Company. Launched on 2 April,^[1] she was acquired by the Navy on 4 June 1941; and commissioned as USS Delta (AK-29) on 16 June 1941, Commander C. D. Headee in command.

From 8 July 1941 to May 1942 Delta carried cargo from east coast ports to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Puerto Rico; Bermuda;Argentina; Newfoundland, Halifax, and Nova Scotia, Canada; and Reykjavík, Iceland. On 1 July 1942, Delta was reclassified as AR-9, and was placed in reserve commission for conversion to a fleet repair ship by Cramp Shipyard, Philadelphia.

Delta sailed from Philadelphia on 3 March 1943, and between March and June repaired amphibious ships and craft at Oran, Algeria. She served similarly at Bizerte, Tunisia, from June to March 1944, then at Palermo, Italy, and on 8 July sailed for Pozzuouli, Italy, to prepare landing craft for their return to the United States. Her final Mediterranean duty, from November to April 1945, was to tend destroyers at Oran.

She returned to Norfolk Naval Shipyard for overhaul on 27 April 1945, and on 15 June sailed for Pearl Harbor for a month of repair duty. On 26 August, she arrived at Yokosuka Naval Base for general fleet repair work, including the assignment of preparing Nagato, the former Japanese battleship, for the atomic weapons tests of 1946 at Bikini. Delta served the Fleet atShanghai from March through June 1946, and on 17 July arrived at Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve on 5 March 1947.