Delta (AR 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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si-ups i-HSTQRY DELTA was built as SS HAWAIIAN PACKER and originally designed for commercial use on the vvpineapple 1-un between San Francisco and Honolulu. Before completion she was ao- quired by the Navy. She was commissioned in June 1941 as a Cargo Ship QAK-293 and during her first year of service, made runs to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Iceland, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. On 1 July, 1942, she was placed in a reserve status for conversion to a Fleet Repair Ship at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In her new capacity she sailed on 3 March, 1943, to join a convoy headed for North Africa. The convoy reached Mers-El-Kebir, Oran, on 19 March and DELTA moored alongside the mole where she immediately set to work repairing amphibious craft. During a short three months there she put in a total of 110,800 man-hours working on 467 ships. With the opening of the Sicilian and Italian campaigns, DELTA moved to Bizerte, Tunisia, late in July, 1943. The following month, despite a series of air attacks by the Luftwaffe, she worked on 248 ships and amphibious craft. The air raids reached their climax on the night of 6 September. One of the planes shot down on that occasion was definitely credited to DELTA and another was recorded as a possible. As the war moved so did DELTA. She set up shop in Palermo, Sicily, in March 1944 and at Pozzuoli, Italy, that July. At Pozzuoli her job was to get ships and landing craft ready for the invasion of Southern France. From there she went to Naples, Italy, in August to repair the damaged amphibs. On the last day of September, 1944, the hard-working AR steamed for Bizerte, via Palermo, to repair landing craft being returned to the United States. She did that until November, when she was detached from the amphibs and returned to Mers-El-Kebir for duty as a destroyer repair ship for Commander Destroyer Squadron Sixteen. In April, 1945, DELTA arrived back in the States-but not for long. After armament modifications and general repairs, she left Norfolk, Virginia, on 15 June, 1945, for Pearl Harbor, via the Panama Canal. She reached Pearl on 6 July, 1945, worked there for a month and then sailed for Eniwetok on 5 August. . The surrender of Japan was V announced while DELTA was at Eniwetok. She was ordered to rendezvous with Commander Task Group 30.8 off the Islands of Japan and on 28 August she entered the Sagami Sea with advance units. Two days later She moored Off Yokosuka Naval Base' Where She Was A aSSi8HGd,'EO general Fleet repair work. One of the jobs she did there was to get the Japanese battleship NAGATO in shape for the 1946 Atomic Bomb tests at Bikini. She saw China Service in the year following the war's end. I I .9 1 Ei' 0 H 37 rf ,gg if V r .f rf' H I E .if gf J if st ,af ggr ,J 'sf I 4 ' . 5,1 vi Lf' if N asf' aff! 45,91 Lf 1:1 SIB? t ,.,' 2551 bn iii! ill sig, Mg in is 5: 515W in U is x in 'I F is fx N N 'f

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5. 'fi ilk 'N 4. , , x'3.f.,l X5 mg. 'Q ,N 'T-I lib- '-s IEE this nik' g .1 ,. ..1 1' :MN .P-1 :riff .gif v 'ff dam' 5. I ' I tag? if 1: ai' l I W ,ig M5 S' I I . if Y SI-IIP'S HISTORY In August, 1946, DELTA was placed out of commission, remaining in that status until the Korean conflict. She was put back into commission on 1 November, 1950, at Philadelphiaj Pennsylvania and, after her shadedown, left the East Coast in February, 1951, for duty in the Pacific Fleet at San Diego under Commander Service Force, U.S, Pacific Fleet. After working out of San Diego for more than a year, DELTA headed overseas in June, 1952, to set up shop at Yokosuka, Japan. There she was part of Service Squadron Three, sup- porting the United Nations Naval Forces in the Far East. In September she was assigned to Task Force Seventy-Seven. In February, 1953, DELTA returned to the West Coast. She operated out of San Diego and Long Beach, California, for the next seven months, then went back to the Far East. This time she saw service at Sasebo and Yokosuka, Japan, and Subic Bay, Philippine Islands. In July, 1954, she returned to San Diego where she joined Service Squadron One. On DELTA's next Far East tour, which began in January, 1955, she spent part of her time as the Flagship of Commander Blockading and Escort Force, Pacific Fleet. She returned to the West Coast that July and the following month was ordered to the yard at Puget Sound, Washington for deactivation. She was decommissioned on 1 December, 1955, and became a unit' of the Bremerton Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. - Cold war was the word of the day for the next few years. World tensions increased and so did the need for more mobile repair facilities around the Pacific Fleet. On 31 October, 1959, the DELTA was recommissioned by the crew of the USS KERMIT ROOSEVEL-T, an internal combustion repair ship, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. She immediately sailed for Long Beach, California, which was assigned as her new homeport. Her stay at home was short lived. On '12 April, 1960, she sailed once again for the Far East. As a unit of the U,S. Seventh Fleet and Service Squadron Three she provided repair service in Sasebo and Iwakuni, Japan and in Subic Bay. On 21 December 1960 she returned to Long Beach for what was expected to be an eighteen month stay. Again the need for a Repair 'Ship in the Far East sent DELTA back to the Western Pacific on short notice. This time she departed CONUS on 2 February, 1962, and provided repair services in Sasebo, Okinawa and Subic Bay. Work was accomplished on Seventh Fleet Ships supporting the U,S, Forces in Thailand and the Taiwan Patrol Forces. DELTA returned from this Far East Cruise on 20 August, 1962. From August, 1962, until Christmas Day, 1963,.DELTA provided repair services to the ships homeported in Long Beach. On the 26th of December DELTA deployed to the Far East again, this time 'providing repair services in Subic Bay, Sasebo, Iwakuni, and Yokosuka.