USS Sarpedon (ARB-7)

The USS "Sarpedon" (ARB-7) was one of 12 "Aristaeus"-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Sarpedon (in Greek mythology, a Lycian King, and a son of Zeus and Laodamia), and also she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

Originally laid down as "LST-956" on 11 July 1944 by the Bethlehem Steel Company in Hingham, Massachusetts; reclassified as a battle damage repair ship on 14 August 1944; launched on 21 August 1944; commissioned on 16 November 1944 with Lieutenant (j.g.) J. B. Shaum in command, for transit to the conversion yard; decommissioned on 29 November 1944 for conversion by the Maryland Drydock Company of Baltimore, Maryland; and recommissioned on 19 March 1945 with Lieutenant W. H. Farrar in command. After shakedown, "Sarpedon" sailed from Norfolk, Virginia for the Pacific. Following brief stops at the Panama Canal Zone, San Pedro, California, Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, and Guam, "Sarpedon" arrived at Saipan on 2 July 1945. While awaiting further routing there, she began functioning as a repair ship, doing numerous jobs on equipment brought to her shops from other ships. She sailed for Okinawa on 1 August and, upon arrival on 7 August, began work repairing the damage caused to ships there by heavy enemy air attacks and long continuous operations. The Japanese surrendered on 15 August, but "Sarpedon" (plagued by a new enemy, the weather) continued to work in support of occupation forces. After riding out one typhoon at anchor on 16 September, she went to sea to avoid the storm of 29 September, but was ordered to remain in port when a third typhoon struck on 8 and 9 October. Many craft were wrecked in the harbor, but "Sarpedon's" anchor held despite collisions with two barges and a PC which broke their moorings and crashed alongside. Later moving to Shanghai, China, "Sarpedon" continued to provide repair support to ships engaged in occupation duties until sailing from Shanghai on 20 March 1946 for Bikini. However, her participation in the atomic bomb tests there was cancelled. After remaining at Kwajalein from 5 April to 8 May, she arrived at San Pedro, California on 28 May 1946 for inactivation. "Sarpedon" was decommissioned on 29 January 1947 and placed in reserve at San Diego.

Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group, she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 15 April 1976; sold for scrapping 1 January 1977 by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS); and acquired by Phaethon Shipping & Trading Corporation S.A., Panama and renamed SS "Petrola 133". The ship was broken up for scrap 30 May 1989.

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