- USS Valeria (AKA-48)
USS "Valeria" (AKA-48) was an "Artemis" class
attack cargo ship named after the minor planet "611 Valeria ", discovered in 1906 byJoel Hastings Metcalf , an amateur astronomer who made the initial identification of 41 minor planets. The meaning of the name is unknown. [http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/aa/enha/enha09.txt] "Valeria" served as a commissioned ship for 8 months."Valeria" (AKA-48) was laid down under a
Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1909) on8 April 1945 atProvidence, R.I. , by theWalsh-Kaiser Co., Inc. ; launched on29 May 1945 ; sponsored by Mrs. A. D. Hunter; and transferred to the Navy on28 June 1945 and commissioned the same day, Lt. Comdr. Robert Smith Trower III in command.The new attack cargo ship departed
Boston on9 July ; conducted shakedown training in theChesapeake Bay ; and got underway on29 July , bound for the Canal Zone. She transited thePanama Canal on5 August and steamed westward, conducting gunnery exercises en route. During her passage toOahu , hostlities ended in the Pacific. On the 18th, "Valeria" moored atPearl Harbor .On
7 September , she got underway forNoumea . Ten days later, the ship reachedEspiritu Santo where she took on troops from "Achernar" (AKA-53) and "Turandot" (AKA-47). On the 19th, "Valeria" proceeded to Noumea where she disembarked her passengers. Underway again the next day, she returned to Espiritu Santo on on the 22d. There, on the 25th, the attack cargo ship loaded elements of the 85th Construction Battalion and departed theNew Hebrides the following day. She steamed viaEniwetok and delivered her cargo and passengers atWake Island early in October.She completed discharging her cargo there on the 12th and reported for "Magic Carpet" duties—transporting returning servicemen from the Pacific islands to the United States mainland. Before the end of the year, she made two round trips carrying returning Army veterans from Eniwetok and
Saipan to West Coast ports.Assigned to the 5th Naval District on
5 January 1946 , "Valeria" departedLos Angeles , Calif., on the llth, steamed via the Panama Canal to the Atlantic coast, and arrived at Norfolk on1 February . She was decommissioned on18 March , and her name was struck from the Navy list on17 April . Valeria was delivered to theWar Shipping Administration at Lee Hall, Va., on26 June 1946 .References
External links
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/v1/valeria.htm Naval Historical Center: USS "Valeria"]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/02048.htm NavSource Online: AKA-48 "Valeria"]
* [http://ussrankin.org/id352.htm 51 Years of AKAs]
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