Nashira (AK-85)

Career
Name:	USS Nashira
Ordered:	as SS Josiah Paul
Builder:	Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey
Laid down:	1 November 1943
Launched:	23 April 1944
Commissioned:	Never commissioned
Renamed:	Nashira, 30 October 1943, Richard R. Arnold by Army
Struck:	9 June 1944
Fate:	sold as to Kelbar, Inc. in the late 1960s
General characteristics
Class and type:	Navy: Enceladus-class cargo ship
Type:	N3–M–A1 cargo ship
Displacement:	1,677 long tons (1,704 t) light 5,202 long tons (5,285 t) full
Length:	269 ft 10 in (82.25 m)
Beam:	42 ft 6 in (12.95 m)
Draft:	20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Propulsion:	Diesel, single shaft, 1,300 shp (969 kW)
Speed:	10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Notes:	The ship was Navy only during construction, transferred to Army upon delivery to Navy and underwent extensive modifications for operation by the Corps of Engineers as a port repair ship.

Nashira (AK-85) was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation^[1] and had no significant naval service.

Nashira (AK-85), named after Nashira, the third brightest star in the constellation Capricorn, was a Maritime Commission type N3-M-A1 cargo vessel originally assigned the name SS Josiah Paul. The ship was transferred from the control of the Maritime Commission to the U.S. Navy 1 January 1943, prior to the start of construction.

Renamed Nashira 30 October 1943, she was laid down by Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, New Jersey, 1 November 1943; launched 23 April 1944; sponsored by Miss Patricia Palmer; delivered to the Navy 25 April 1944; and transferred to the U.S. Army the same day for use as a U.S. Army Port Repair ship. Nashira was struck from the Navy List 9 June 1944.

The Army renamed the ship Richard R. Arnold after an Engineer officer, Colonel Richard R. Arnold, on General Eisenhower's personal staff killed by a mine 6 June 1943 in North Africa while commanding the 20th Engineer Regiment.^[2] The ship was converted too late to play a significant role in port work, was relegated to the reserve fleet and eventually sold to Kelbar, Inc. in the late 1960s as a repair ship possibly until 1984.^[3]

References

1. ^ http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq63-1.htm | Navy History & Heritage Command - Ship Naming in the United States Navy
2. ^ http://www.20thengineers.com/ww2.html | World War II - 20th Engineers
3. ^ Grover, David (1987). U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II. Naval Institute Press. pp. 133–137. ISBN 0-87021-766-6. )

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• NavSource Online: AK-85 Nashira