USS Etamin (AK-93)

USS Etamin (AK-93), broadside view, underway off San Francisco, 25 May 1943.
History
United States
Name:
  • Isaac Babbitt
  • Etamin
Namesake:
Owner:
Operator:
Ordered: as a type (EC2-S-C1) hull, MCE hull 1106, SS Isaac Babbitt
Builder: Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond, California
Cost: $1,728,590[1]
Laid down: 28 March 1943
Launched: 25 April 1943
Acquired: 8 May 1943
Commissioned: 25 May 1943
Decommissioned: 26 June 1944
In service: 12 August 1944
Out of service: 9 July 1946
Reclassified: non-self propelled storage hulk Etamin (IX-173), 12 August 1944
Struck: 31 July 1946
Identification: Hull symbol:AK-93
Fate: sold, 2 February 1948, to Asia Development Corp., Shanghai Republic of China for scrapping, removed 3 March 1948
Notes: U.S. Official Number: 243378[1]
General characteristics
Class and type: Crater-class cargo ship
Tonnage: 7,176 GRT[1]
Displacement: 4,023 t.(lt), 14,550 t.(fl)[2]
Length:
  • 417 ft 9 in (127.33 m)[1]
  • 422 ft 8 in (128.83 m)[3]
  • 441 ft 6 in (134.57 m)[2][note 1]
Beam: 56 ft 11 in (17.35 m)[1][2]
Draft: 28 ft 4 in (8.64 m)[2]
Depth:
  • 37 ft 4 in (11.38 m)[1]
  • 34 ft 8 in (10.57 m)[3]
Propulsion: reciprocating steam engine, single shaft, 1,950shp[2]
Speed: 12.5 kts.[2]
Complement: 198[2]
Armament:

USS Etamin (AK-93) was the Liberty ship (EC2) Isaac Babbitt constructed for the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) in 1943 for World War II service at a cost of $1,728,590.[1] After acquisition by the United States Navy, the ship was named Etamin, after the brightest star in the constellation Draco. As a Crater-class cargo ship, she served the military in the Pacific Ocean by providing food and material until she was torpedoed and put out of service. After repairs, she served as a non-self-propelled floating warehouse for the rest of the war. The ship ended the war in the Philippines and was among fifteen hulls sold for scrap for a lump sum of $271,000.

Service history

Etamin (AK-93), built as Isaac Babbitt, was acquired by the Navy on 8 May 1943, and commissioned with a U.S. Coast Guard crew on 25 May of that year, Lieutenant Commander G. W. Stedman, Jr., USCGR, in command. She was assigned to the Naval Transportation Service, 12th Naval District with operational control given to Commander, 7th Fleet Service Force.[2]

The ship was one of five Navy manned Liberties assigned 8 December 1943 to the Southwest Pacific Area for service to meet Army requirements.[4] She was active in the southwest Pacific Ocean issuing stores to the fleet and making minor repairs.[2]

On 27 April 1944 USS Etamin was disabled by a torpedo hit in Milne Bay and towed to Cairns, Australia, where she decommissioned on 26 June 1944. The ship, no longer self-propelled because of the torpedo damage, was designated as an unclassified miscellaneous auxiliary (IX) and placed in service as Etamin (IX-173) on 12 August 1944 continuing to issue stores to the fleet while under tow.[2][5] She was placed out of service on 9 July 1946 and stricken from the Navy List on 31 July.[2]

Etamin received two battle stars for World War II service.[2]

Sale and scrapping

Returned to the USMC for disposal, the ship was in Subic Bay, Philippines, and was one of fifteen vessels sold for scrap to Asia Development Corporation, Shanghai, for a total of $271,000.[1]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Measurement differences due to differing measurement basis. Navy tends to use length over all, others may be between perpendiculars of water line length.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 MARAD Vessel Status Card: Etamin.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Etamin.
  3. 1 2 Lloyd's Register 1945—46.
  4. ↑ Masterson 1949, pp. 359, 390 (fn 61).
  5. ↑ NHHC: Ship Abbreviations and Symbols.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

Bibliography

  • Lloyds. "Lloyd's Register 1945—46" (PDF). Lloyd's Register (through PlimsollShipData). 
  • Maritime Administration. "Etamin". Ship History Database Vessel Status Card. U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration. Retrieved 13 May 2015. 
  • Masterson, Dr. James R. (1949). U. S. Army Transportation In The Southwest Pacific Area 1941-1947. Washington, D. C.: Transportation Unit, Historical Division, Special Staff, U. S. Army. 
  • Naval History And Heritage Command. "Etamin". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 13 May 2015. 
  • Naval History And Heritage Command. "Ship Abbreviations and Symbols". Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 13 May 2015. 

External links

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