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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Vandalia (IX-191)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - Juliet - Romeo
 NAJR
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Mobile Floating Storage Tanker:
  • Built in 1921 as SS Walter Jennings, a steel-hulled twin screw tanker, at Federal Shipbuilding, Newark, N.J. for Standard Oil of New Jersey
  • Assigned Registry Number (ID-4724) by US Navy
  • Placed under War Shipping Administration contract, Standard Oil of New Jersey, agent, at Boston, MA, 19 March 1944
  • Acquired by the Navy, 23 December 1944
  • Commissioned USS Vandalia (IX-191), 23 December 1944
  • Lost due to weather, ran aground during a typhoon at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, 9 October 1945
  • Declared a constructive total loss for all purposes, 9 October 1945
  • Decommissioned, 20 November 1945
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 5 December 1945
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 19 February 1948, to China Merchants and Engineers Inc.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 22,491 t.
    Length 516' 6"
    Beam 68' 1"
    Draft 28' 8"
    Speed 10 kts.
    Complement 105
    Armament
    one 4" gun mount
    one 3"/50 gun mount
    Propulsion
    steam turbine
    single propeller
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Merchant Service
    Vandalia 71k SS Walter Jennings under way between the World Wars, location unknown.
    US Navy photo courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    Vandalia 83k SS Walter Jennings under way between the World Wars, location unknown.
    The Steamship Historical Society of America. Photo No. 221083, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Vandalia (IX-191)
    Vandalia 38k USS Vandalia (IX-191) anchored, date and location unknown.  
    Vandalia 60k Vandalia (IX-191) after running aground on 9 October 1945 and sinking at Okinawa during typhoon "Louise". Submitted by Hugh L. Hudson, Jr., RM/2c, LSM-467, LSM-49
    Photo by Rev. Gordon D. Dorian, RM2/c, LSM-377
    Vandalia 64k USS Vandalia (IX-191) after running aground and sinking at Okinawa during the typhoon of 9 October 1945 USS Granville (APA-171) cruise book
    Vandalia 172k USS Vandalia (IX-191) after running aground and sinking at Okinawa during the typhoon of 9 October 1945 Donald Wilt for his grandfather Leo McCollam MoMM3/c USS Vandalia
    USS Vandalia (IX-191)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    MARAD Vessel History Database
    Back To the Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back to The Section ID Number Photo Index Back To The Miscellaneous Unclassified Ship (IX) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 16 March 2018