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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Arethusa (IX-135)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Juliet - Oscar -Oscar
 NJOO
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2) - World War II Victory Medal
Bottom Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Presidential Unit Citation - Philippine Liberation Medal (1)
Mobile Floating Storage Tanker:
  • Laid down in 1921 as Gargoyle an Emergency Fleet Corp. hull design 1041 tanker at Moore Shipbuilding Co, Oakland, CA.
  • Assigned Registry Number (ID-4689) by the US Navy
  • Operated under charter, 20 April 1942 for the War Shipping Administration by Socony-Vacuum Oil Corp.
  • Transferred for operation under charter, 16 October 1943, for the War Shipping Administration by the War Emergency Tankers Inc.
  • Renamed Arethusa, 3 November 1943
  • Acquired by the US Navy, 23 March 1944
  • Commissioned in the Marshall Islands as USS Arethusa (IX-135), 23 March 1944, LT. Walter J. Tross, in command
  • During World War II USS Arethusa was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Leyte operation
    Leyte landings, 3, 12, 24 and 27 November 1944     		Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 22 to 30 June1945

  • Decommissioned,at Subic Bay, P.I. in May 1946 (DANFS has the ship decommissioned at San Francisco, 16 May 1946)
  • Placed in service and delivered to the Maritime Commission at San Francisco, CA.
  • Laid up, 16 May 1947 in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 5 June 1946
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 8 December 1947, to Kaiser Co., Inc.
  • Arethusa earned two battle stars for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 15,800 t.(fl)
    Length 438' 6"
    Beam 57'
    Draft 26' 8"
    Speed 10.5 kts.
    Complement 72
    Armament
    one 4" gun mount
    eight 20mm guns
    Propulsion
    three Scotch-Marine Boilers (max. operating pressure of 125 psi)
    one Hoover-Owens and Rensler, 3,300 IHP, 78 RPM,triple expansion, double-acting steam engine. Engine third stage had piston assisted D-slide valve
    single 16 foot diameter with 16 foot bite propeller
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Arethusa 140k SS Gargoyle, steaming in convoy, 6 June 1942, off Jacksonville, FL. This ship became USS Arethusa (IX-135) in 1944.
    Photo from Arthur D. Baker III collection, courtesy Shipscribe.com    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Arethusa (IX-135)
    DANFS history at the US Naval History and Heritage Command
    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 Ship (IX) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 6 November 2015