ARL Flotilla Two - Naval Cruise Book

USS GORDIUS THE USS GORDIUS (ARL 36) has been designated a repair ship for landing craft, although in a more general sense she stands ready to give service to all components of the fleet. She was built by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works, Shipbuilding Division, Seneca, Illinois, and on 18 May 1945, was commissioned as LST 1145. The conversion to an ARL was completed 14 September 1945, making her displacement 4000 tons, her length 328 feet. During her first year, the GORDIUS operated for several months in the Guantanamo Bay area and then to the Amphibious Bases at Little Creek and Annapolis-Baltimore area. Upon each successive year the GORDIUS took her part in the operations in the Caribbean, followed by repair assignments at Little Creek. From June through August of 1952, the GORDIUS, as part of operation Sunac, made the hazardous voyage to Thule, Greenland, within 900 miles of the North Pole. Floating ice took its toll and the crew of the GORDIUS was called upon to perform extensive underwater hull repairs in the icy water off Greenland. Whi le at Thule, the GORDIUS baseball team won the ' Top of The World Series " tournament and the mounted Narwahl tusk as a trophy of victory. More recently the GORDIUS has returned from the Caribbean to resume her repair schedule at Little Creek. At present the GORDIUS, as senior tender among the ARL ' s at Little Creek, performs all those services and repairs to landing craft which can feasibly be done without the facilities of a shipyard. r