Dixie (AD 14) - Naval Cruise Book

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Battle damage to HMS ULSTER View showing extent of damage to ULSTER ' S hull from aerial bomb Completed repairs to hull by DIXIE Shipfitters and Welders. stayed there until 16 February 1945 she sailed to base her tender duties in San Pedro Bay, Leyte. She remained there until the end of the war. Early in 1945 DIXIE showed off her repair capabilities by refabricating the starboard side of HMS ULSTER which had been hit by a large aerial bomb near the Philippines. This is just one of many similar instances of battle damage repairs skillfully completed by DIXIE during the World War II Era. DIXIE then sailed for Shanghai and arrived there on 22 September 1945. 25

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DIXIE was in Mare Island Navy Yard for overhaul when the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor, but assumed the task of readying ships for the Pacific War on 22 December 1941 in San Francisco Bay. She left that port astern destroyers and other warships which guarded the approaches to the Hawaiian Islands; reinforced the Fiji Islands and Samoan Islands, engaged the enemy in the battle of Midway. She also assisted in preparing the fleet for the invasion of the Soloman Islands and departed Pearl Harbor on 17 November 1942 to tend the fighting ships in the South Pacific Forces engaged in that bitter fight. Basing her tender operations first at Noumea, New Caledonia, and later at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands, she provided tons of provisions besides other issues to the destroyers present. Capable of making almost any repair to a destroyer, castings were made in her foundry, then machined to the finest precision for fitting into place on the various ships when needed. Forgings, weldings and lathe work of every description were accomplished to keep the fighting fleet in trim, and the optical shop took on repairs from the finest watches, chronometers and fire control instruments to the largest range finders. Besides this repair work she supplied ammunition and depth charges as well as issue and maintenance of ready torpedoes for the destroyers. Her engineering department supplied electrical power, fresh water, fire and flushing water, steam and lubricating oil to the destroyers alongside with their own engineering plants closed down for repairs. Shifting her base from Espiritu Santo to Hawthorn Sound New Georgia, Soloman Islands, on 29 March 1944, she stayed there until 2 June. Reaching Ulithi on 30 September 1944 to service the warships preparing for the invasion of the Philippine Islands, having Overhaul being done at Mare Island (1941)

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USS HARMON (DE-678)alongside USS DIXIE at Hawthorn Sound. New Georgia, in May 1944 In addition to administering to the ships of the fleet during the World War II era, the men of the DIXIE, when not working on ships were working on the nearest beach or island building recreation facili- ties for the battle weary men of the fleet. Some of them are-, DesPacCafe, Samar Island, Philippines-, Fleet Officers Club DIXIE Island, Hawthorn Sound, Northern Solomons; Iron Bottom Bay Officers Club, Port Purvis, Solomon Islands, DIXIE War- rant Officers Club, Port Purvis, Solomon Islands; Fleet Recreation Area, Mog Fog Island Ulithi Anchor- age. The famous DesPacCafe under construction.