Delta (AR 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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CDR FOX DENTAL OFFICER LTJG SONNLEITNER DENTAL DEPARTMENT LTJG BERGER ENGINEERING OFFICER LTJG SCOTT ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT LTJG DEFUSCO ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT CHMACH KAUPER ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT LTJG COLGAN DENTAL DEPARTMENT • ' — - } ■ ij mi

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HISTORY OF THE DELTA IS A LONG AND HONORABLE ONE Originally built for the Matson Line and used for transporting sugar between Frisco and Honolulu, the USS DELTA was acquired by the United States Navy a year before World War II. The ship was formerly called the HAWAIIAN PACKER. The Navy employed the DELTA (AK-29) in its first year of service as a cargo ship, running Navy cargo from points on the Atlantic Coast. When the urgent call was piped for more repair ships, the DELTA answered. By the morning of 5 March 1943 she (AR-9) had joined a convoy out of New York which was destined for North Africa. North Africa was not the least of her ventures, however. With the advent of the Sicilian and Italian operations, USS DELTA was moved to Bizerte Lake late in July 1943. It was there that a record number of man hours of work for a month was established. In August of 1943 she worked on 248 vessels for a total of 85,000 man hours. During August, the 490-foot vessel witnessed the culmination of a series of all- out air attacks by the Luftwaffe. These raids reached their climax early in September, when on the night of the 6th, the enemy made a last desperate bid. Of the raiders shot down that night, the USS DELTA splashed one, and possibly another. Next she saw action in Palermo, Sicily, then Possouli, Italy and Naples. By September 1944, the Bronze Star Medal, for the excellent work the ship performed during the invasion of Southern France, was listed among her honors. More duty in various European ports, and then the DELTA started her voyage home, arriving in Norfolk on 27 April 1945. A little dressing-up, and she was underway enroute to the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor, her early stamping grounds. Next Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands saluted her presence,- a few days after her arrival there, the announcement was made of Japan ' s surrender. This current visit to Japan is not her first. On 30 August 1945 she steamed in Tokyo Bay, mooring off the Yokosuka Naval Base. Since that time, the DELTA ' S peacetime activities have been just as significant and just as varied. A DELTA job well done is a meaningful phrase, one which still rings clearly in the ears of numerous ex-Navymen ashore, and numerous ex- DELTA men throughout the fleet.

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LTJG SCHNEIDER MEDICAL OFFICER LCDR ZICKEFOOSE SUPPLY OFFICER LT KAMMERER SUPPLY OFFICER LTJG RITTEN SUPPLY DEPARTMENT ENS CHESTNUT SUPPLY DEPARTMENT CHPCLK VANKIRK SUPPLY DEPARTMENT CHPCLK BAKER SUPPLY DEPARTMENT