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USS Selinur (AKA-41)
Encyclopedia
USS Selinur (AKA-41) was an named after the minor planet 500 Selinur
500 Selinur
500 Selinur is a minor planet orbiting the Sun....
, which in turn was named for a character in Friedrich Theodor Vischer
Friedrich Theodor Vischer
Friedrich Theodor Vischer was a German writer on the philosophy of art.Born at Ludwigsburg as the son of a clergyman, Vischer was educated at Tübinger Stift, and began life in his father's profession...
's 1879 novel Auch Einer. She served as a commissioned ship for 12 months.
Selinur (AKA-41) was laid down on 18 January 1945 under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1902) by the Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc.
Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc.
Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc. was a shipyard in both Cranston and Providence, Rhode Island. It was built during World War II and financed by the Maritime Commission as part of the country's Emergency Shipbuilding Program. It was originally operated by Rheem Manufacturing, a company with no previous...
, Providence, R.I.; launched on 28 March 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Wilton Carter; and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
on 21 April 1945, Lt. Comdr. W.F. Babcock in command.
Service history
After shakedown, Selinur departed Norfolk, Va.Naval Station Norfolk
Naval Station Norfolk, in Norfolk, Virginia, is a base of the United States Navy, supporting naval forces in the United States Fleet Forces Command, those operating in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean...
, on 27 May 1945 with cargo and personnel for Hawaii
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, arriving at Honolulu on 18 June. After making cargo voyages to Midway
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
, Hilo, Majuro
Majuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
, and Kwajalein
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
, Selinur sailed from 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...
on 1 September with occupation
Occupied Japan
At the end of World War II, Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers, led by the United States with contributions also from Australia, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This foreign presence marked the first time in its history that the island nation had been occupied by a foreign power...
troops for Japan and arrived at Sasebo on 22 September. She next sailed for Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, whence she returned to Sasebo and reported for "Magic Carpet"
Operation Magic Carpet (World War II)
Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II effort by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and CBI theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships, and troop transports began repatriating soldiers from...
duty on 20 October. The cargo vessel made two voyages bringing troops home, one from Sasebo and Okinawa
Okinawa Island
Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, and is home to Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture. The island has an area of...
and the other from Tacloban, P.I., before being released from "Magic Carpet" duty at San Francisco on 24 January 1946. She arrived at Philadelphia on 16 April for inactivation.
Decommissioning
Selinur was decommissioned on 30 April, transferred to the Maritime Commission and simultaneously loaned to the Pennsylvania Maritime Academy as Keystone State. She was struck from the Navy list on 8 May 1946. The ship was returned to the Maritime Commission in 1947 and laid up in the James River as a unit of the National Defense Reserve FleetNational Defense Reserve Fleet
The National Defense Reserve Fleet consists of "mothballed" ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States of America during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises.The NDRF is...
. She was sold by the Maritime Administration on 15 July 1968 to the Northern Metals Co., Philadelphia, for scrapping.
Officers
Lt.-Cmdr W. F. Babcock, USN - Commanding OfficerLt. J. F. Giblin, USNR - Executive Officer
Lt. H. L. Lyon, USNR - Gunnery Officer
Lt.(jg) R. A. Clark, USN - First Lieutenant
Lt.(jg) E. A. Parish, USNR - Engineering Officer
Lt.(jg) R. H. Sabin, USNR - Communications Officer
Lt.(jg) R. W. Power, USNR - Navigation Officer
Lt.-Cmdr S. A. Grantham, MC, USN - Medical Officer
Lt.(jg) S. B. Gray, SC, USNR - Supply Officer