Ajax (AR 6) - Naval Cruise Book

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This, our fourth and present Ajax was commissioned on 30 October 1943. On her first deployment in Pearl Harbor on December 16, 1943. Onboard were 18 officers, 700 men in repair, and an estimated crew of 2,500 (so those of you who thought it was crowded this West Pac ... ). On 26 January, Ajax departed Pearl Harbor, her assignments there completed, enroute for Funafuti, Ellice Islands. She crossed the equator for the first time on 29 January and the International date line on 31 January, with the traditional ceremonies on both occasions. Ajax ' s next mission was in Eniwetok. There she worked on battleships, auxiliary ships and cruisers all through August 1944. While there, Ajax tended a cruiser which had a disease called bacillary dysentery aboard. A number of Ajax crewmembers picked up the disease. The following is a quote from a crewmember who was aboard Ajax at the time, At one time we had several men on sick list . . . the crew was given their sulfaquanadyne pills in the cafeteria line. At first you could find lots of pills on the deck where men had ditched them. Then a man died, and the boys started using their pills. A second man died and they started stealing them from one another ... we were out of action as a repair ship for about six weeks. While in Leyte Gulf, May of 1945, the Ajax along with the Jason repaired typhoon damage to the USS BENNINGTON, the entire collapsed section of the Bennington ' s flight deck was cut away and replaced. At the end of WWII, Ajax returned to Pearl Harbor. An Ajax officer who was sent ahead to Pearl to arrange leave parties for Ajax crewmembers, quoted: When I presented my orders and list, a Lieutenant at the desk said ' I ' m sorry but there are 65,000 men on ships in the bay awaiting land transportation and your men will just have to wait. I can only regard Ajax as just another ship. ' A jCaptain sitting a couple of desks away heard him and asked him to repeat the name of the ship. f cgn he Lieutenant said Ajax, the Captain said Tor two years that ship has been doing things for other pedf le and now someone is going to do something for them. ' The Ajax was taken care of, even the men with the longest distance to travel got home for Christmas 1945. jax ' s homeport became San Diego after WWII. Between 1950 and 1958, she made five tours of duty to the orient. During her sixth tour Ajax received orders to be homeported in Sasebo, Japan, hrough the ne: j0n yea jax provided support to the Seventh Fleet. In February 1970 Ajax ice ived W O! WmTlaf rWfcprt would be changed to San Diego, CA. On the morning of August 6. -J79 . A jgy edjrnoW roiego harbor. Since that time, she has made many more deployments to th© WesternPacific and teji ded.a countless. number of ships here at home. ilAiax haltagain CLrov) (h vaiqe to th w has logged fhe hours of hard work any years of service. tfU-S. N| v- | || ' »i ' j l ia .b 1986 West Pac. piMI thej toretain the reputation which the Ajax has built over I

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J Qreek hero ' s name she bears Proud and strong for all to share Jour decades gone and she ' s still here Mer mission and her quest. . . Kepair JifliljjBjiljirlllHIlBIMnBiaipitfll !9 ■■L. ■ USS Ajax is a name that has been in American Naval history for over 100 years. The name itself comes from the famous Chieftain of Homer ' s liliad. In Greek legend, the Ajax was a key figure and hero of the Trojan War. Since 1869 there ha§ been four ships to proudly bear the legend andTranre of Ajax. S -, ,1 USS AJAX - Monitor (1869-1898) -The first Ajax was built during the Civil War and was an Ironclad Steamer of the Monitor class. She served with the North Atlantic Squadron from the time she was commis- sioned in 1869 until 1878. She then served on the James River as gun patrol. She was ■ in her country ' s service for thirty-four years. j m m USS AJAX AC-14 (1901-1925) The second Ajax served as a fleet collier on the Asiatic Station from the time of commission in 1901 until the end of WWI. In 1908 she was a part of the Around The World Cruise of Theodore Roosevelt ' s Great White Fleet. After the First World War. she .served as an Aircraft Squadron Tender until decommissioning in 1925. S AJAX Feb. 16. 1918 - Feb. 20. 1918 On Feb. 16, 1918 a ship was commissioned named USS AJAX. Four days later on Feb. 20 her name was changed to the USS Rockport. ■.» JK

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