USS Polaris (AF-11)

USS Polaris (AF-11) was a Type C2 "Liberty fleet" standard freighter and an Aldebaran-class stores ship acquired from the United States Maritime Commission by the US Navy for World War II and the Korean War. She was built in 1938 at Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania.[2]

USS Polaris operating off Korea, 1953
History
United States
Name: SS Donald McKay
Namesake: Donald McKay
Laid down: 23 July 1938[1]
Launched: 1938
Acquired:
  • WWII: 27 January 1941
  • Korea: 6 October 1948
Commissioned: WWII:4 April 1941
Recommissioned: Korea: 1 July 1949
Decommissioned:
  • WWII: 18 January 1946
  • Korea: 12 January 1957
In service: 1 July 1948
Out of service: 12 January 1957
Stricken:
  • WWII: 7 February 1946
  • Korea: 10 October 1957
Reinstated: 1 July 1949
Honors and
awards:
  • WWII: one battle star
  • Korea: six battle stars:
  • 1st UN Counter Offensive: 12 February-22 March 1951
  • Communist China Spring Offensive: 30 April-6 May 1951
  • UN Summer-Fall Offensive:
    • 9-10, 24–25 July 1951
    • 8-12, 20–23 September 1951
    • 10-15, 24–27 October 1951
  • Second Korean Winter:
    • 3-6, 11-12, 20-21, 29–31 December 1951
    • 3-6, 13–14 January 1952
    • 24–30 March 1952
  • Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952 - 2 to 3 June 1962
  • Korea, Summer-Fall 1953 - 24 to 26 May 1953; 3 to 6 June 1953
Fate: not recorded
General characteristics
Class and type: Aldebaran-class Type C2 ship (MARCOM)
Tonnage: 5,443 DWT
Displacement: 13,910 tons
Length: 459 ft 3 in (139.98 m)
Beam: 63 ft 0 in (19.20 m)
Draft: 25 ft 10 in (7.87 m) (limiting)
Installed power: 6,000 shp (4,500 kW)
Propulsion: single propeller, one 2-stroke, 4-cylinder single-acting Doxford diesel engine[1]
Speed: 16.4 knots (30.4 km/h; 18.9 mph)
Complement: 287
Armament:

Service history

World War II and postwar

Polaris made five round trips from the U.S. East Coast to Reykjavík, Iceland from June 1942 to February 1943. She then made five voyages from the U.S. East Coast to Port of Spain, Trinidad, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, March to July 1943. From October 1943 to February 1944 she made four more voyages to the Caribbean, touching at Port of Spain, Trinidad; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Hamilton, Bermuda; the Virgin Islands; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

From March through September 1944 Polaris made three round-trip voyages in convoy from the east coast to Oran, Algeria, and other Mediterranean ports. In October she made another voyage to the Caribbean.

On 10 November 1944 she departed New York for the Panama Canal Zone escorted by USS Leland E. Thomas and arrived at Cristóbal, Colón on 16 November 1944 for transit to the Pacific Ocean.[3] Polaris then sailed to Enewetak, Saipan, Tinian, and Apra before returning to Seattle, Washington on 9 January 1945.

She was underway on 16 January to Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, and Ulithi. She returned to Los Angeles, California on 31 March and was underway again 13 April on a replenishment cruise to the Carolines and the Ryukyus, firing on Tokashiki Island in the Ryukyus on 9 July, and returning to San Francisco on 30 August.

After serving in Japanese waters and on the China coast, Polaris was decommissioned on 18 January 1946. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 7 February 1946 and transferred to the Maritime Commission on 30 June 1946.

Korean War and fate

Polaris served in the Korean War with Service Squadron 1 and made six cruises to Korean waters between 29 January 1951 and 23 July 1954. Aldebaran-class provisions store ship set a record for her class in number of tons of provisions transferred per hour while on underway replenishment, delivering 116.10 tons per hour to the aircraft carrier USS Midway on 29 April 1955.

She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 10 October 1957, and transferred to the Maritime Administration. Into 1970 she was in the National Defense Reserve Fleet berthed in Suisun Bay, California.

References and notes

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

  1. "AF-11 Polaris". NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  2. "USS Polaris (AF-11)". www.navsource.org. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  3. "Leland E. Thomas". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval Historical Center. Retrieved 2008-08-06.


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