Delta (AR 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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CAPTAIN LLOYDS. SMITH USN CQMMANDING OFFICER Captain Lloyd S. SMITH graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in June of 1945. After serving on board USS WICHITA qCA45y and USS W. M. WOOD qDD715J, he attended Submarine School in 1947. Following Sub- marine School, he served on board the sub- marines USS CLAMAGORE- QSS343J , and USS DOGFISH fSS3505. He was the first Execu- tive Officer of USS ALBACORE fAGSS5693 , which established a world speed record for a submerged submarine. In 1955, Captain SMITH reported as Execu- tive Officer of USS CUTLASS CSS4785. After duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations from 1956 to 1958, he served as Commanding Officer of USS IREX fSS4825. Subsequently, he made three Polaris patrols as Executive Officer of USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT QSSBN60OJ , and four as Com- manding Officer of USS DANIEL WEBSTER fSSBN626J . Captain SMITH has served as Commanding Officer, Fleet Balistic Missile Submarine Training Center, Naval Base, Charleston, South Carolina, since November 1966. Captain SMITH is married to the for mer Miss Doris Ann BRAMAN of Norwich, Ver- mont. They have three children, Ann, Daniel and Elizabeth. Ann attends Swarthmore Col- lege, and Daniel attends Carleton College. Elizabeth is attending the Putney School.

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I I 1 'Q 1 is 3 i I I 1 ..-D 11 ,I 1 4 1 I 1 l I I ri il 4 I l I I I I I DEL TA,S Hlsroar DELTA was built as SS HAWAIIAN PACKER and originally designed for o mercial use on the pineapple run between San Francisco and Honolulu. c m . . . Before completion, she was acquired by the Navy. She WGS C0H1ff11SS1011ed U1 June 1941 as a Cargo Ship qAK29J, and during her first year of service, made runs to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Iceland, Newfoundland, and NOVEL 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-Elkebir, Organ 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 Sept- ember. 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 Bi- zerte, via Palermo, to repair landing craft being returned to the United States. She did that until November, when she was detached from the am- phibs and returned to Mers-El-Kebir for duty as a destroyer repair ship for Commander Destroyer Squadron SIXTEEN. In April 1945, DEL TA 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. I The surrender of Japan was announced while DELTA was at Eniwetgky She was ordered to rendezvous with Commander Task Group 30.8 off the island 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 assigned to 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 at Bikini She saw China service in the year following the war's end. i IH AUg11St 1945, DELTA was placed out of commission, remaining in that status until the Korean conflict. She was put back into commission on 1 NO- vember 1950 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and after her shakedown, left the East Coast in February 1951 for duty in the Pacific Fleet at San Die o Cali- fornia under Commander Service Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet g ,