USS Mintaka (AK-94) was a commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II, named after Mintaka

Delta Orionis

Delta Orionis , traditionally known as Mintaka , is a star some 900 light years distant in the constellation Orion. Together with Zeta Orionis and Epsilon Orionis , the three stars make up the belt of Orion, known by many names across many ancient cultures...

, the star in constellation Orion

Orion (constellation)

Orion, often referred to as The Hunter, is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous, and most recognizable constellations in the night sky...

. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.

Mintaka was laid down under Maritime Commission contract as SS Ansel Briggs by California Shipbuilding Corp., Wilmington, California, 9 February 1943; launched 10 March 1943; sponsored by Mrs. A. V. Bechtel; renamed SS Mintaka 17 March 1943; delivered to the Navy 26 March 1943; and commissioned at 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...

, 10 May 1943, Lt. Comdr. L. S. Burgess, USCGR, in command.

World War II Pacific Theatre operations

Mintaka steamed to San Francisco late in the month and after loading cargo sailed for the South Pacific Ocean 15 June. Steaming via New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, she reached New Zealand 15 July and discharged cargo at Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 and Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

 before departing for the U.S. West Coast 1 August. She arrived 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...

, the 23d, thence steamed 11 September for Seattle to prepare for supply runs in Alaskan waters. Departing Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

 24 September, she touched at Dutch Harbor 11 October and during the next month she shuttled cargo to American bases in the Aleutians. After returning 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...

, 27 November, she underwent conversion to a troopcarrying cargo ship at Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, early in December.

Transporting troops to the war zone

Mintaka sailed 11 January 1944 for San Francisco whence, after embarking 1,056 troops, she sailed 2 February for the South Pacific. She reached Nouméa

Nouméa

Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...

, New Caledonia, the 23d and began troop and cargo shuttle runs among the islands of the South Pacific. Between 27 February and 10 March she carried 1,800 troops to New Zealand and back: thence, she made a run to the New Hebrides

New Hebrides

New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...

 before arriving Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

 9 April. During the next several months she maintained a busy schedule transporting fighting men and supplies to numerous American bases in Melanesia

Melanesia

Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...

 from the Admiralties

Admiralty Islands

The Admiralty Islands are a group of eighteen islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the south Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-covered islands form part of Manus Province, the smallest and...

 to the Fijis. She carried thousands of troops to and from staging areas; on one run between the Green Islands and Guadalcanal in late May, she carried more than 1,500 soldiers.

Mintaka departed Guadalcanal 26 September; operated out of Manus

Manus Island

Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...

, Admiralties, during much of October; and sailed in convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

 26 October for shuttle duty in the Palau

Palau

Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...

s. Between 31 October and 30 November she operated from Kossol Passage south to Peleliu

Peleliu

Peleliu is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu forms, along with two small islands to its northeast, one of the sixteen states of Palau. It is located northeast of Angaur and southwest of Koror....

 discharging troops and cargo. After embarking 994 veterans of the Palaus' campaign, she returned to Guadalcanal 10 December and resumed shuttle runs among the Solomons and the Bismarck Archipelago

Bismarck Archipelago

The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea.-History:...

. With 968 Seabees embarked, she departed Guadalcanal 26 April 1945 bound for Okinawa.

Delivering troops to Okinawa

Steaming in convoy via Eniwetok 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...

, Mintaka reached Okinawa 21 May and began debarking troops Rule unloading cargo. Despite periodic Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 air attacks, she continued off-loading operations during the next week. On 25 May her gunners splashed an enemy plane during an assault which damaged a nearby merchant ship. Mintaka sailed 31 May, touched at Ulithi 6 June, 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...

 the 23d, and arrived San Francisco 3 July.

End-of-war operations

After voyage repairs, Mintaka embarked 1,035 troop reinforcements and departed Portland, Oregon, 24 July. The cessation of hostilities found her at Eniwetok. On 20 August she reached 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...

, 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...

, and began debarking troops. Subsequent troop and cargo runs during the remainder of the year carried her to 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...

, Okinawa and Ulithi.

Post-war decommissioning

She returned to San Francisco 30 December, decommissioned there 12 February 1946, and was redelivered to WSA

War Shipping Administration

The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....

 the same day. Her name was struck 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...

 26 February 1946.

Military awards and honors

Mintaka received one battle star for World War II service. Her crew were eligible for the following medals:

• Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive)
• American Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1)
• World War II Victory Medal
• Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)