''Europa'' (AK-81)Only USS ''Enceladus'' (AK-80) of the ten ships of the ''Enceladus'' class, composed of Maritime Commission N3-M-A1 type small cargo vessels, saw significant naval service. Of the other nine, excpting USS ''Hydra'' (AK-82), all were transferred within months or days of shipyard delivery to Navy to the Army. ''Hydra'' was transferred to Army shortly after commissioning and trials. The Navy had assumed the administration of contracts for these ships from the Maritime Commission on 1 January 1943 during or before construction and thus most were only administratively Navy, including names and numbers, during construction. was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation. The ship was laid down 2 March 1942 as MV ''William Lester'', a Maritime Commission type (N3-M-A1) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 464), at the Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Company of

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

and launched 7 December 1942. Assigned to the Navy as ''Europa'' (AK-81), named for

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

, the smallest of the Galilean moons of planet

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

, scheduled to become an . She was delivered to the Navy uncompleted 24 November 1943; transferred the next day, 25 November 1943, to the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

; stricken from Navy lists 6 December 1943. The ship, renamed ''Thomas F. Farrell Jr.'', after an engineering officer killed 25 February 1944 at

Anzio Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome. Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a Port, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine I ...

, began conversion in December, 1943 to an Engineer Port Repair ship manned by a military crew under the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

.Thomas F. Farrell Jr. was the son of Major General Thomas Francis Farrell. The ship did not complete conversion until 30 April 1944 and did not sail for Europe until late summer. The ship was one of the port repair ships making it to Europe in time to assist in the restoration of ports. ''Thomas F. Farrell Jr.'' was laid up in the reserve fleet at

Suisun Bay Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the ent ...

on 12 June 1947 and sold to Zidell Explorations, Inc. by

Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issue ...

sale 14 April 1965 for non-transportation use. The ship was scrapped in 1967.

Notes

References

External links

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - AK-81 Europa/USAT Thomas F. Farrell, Jr.

Thomas F. Farrell, Jr. 1942
(West Point Association of Graduates page)
Thomas Francis Farrell , Jr.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Europa (Ak-81) Port repair ships of the United States Army Enceladus-class cargo ships Ships built in Camden, New Jersey 1942 ships Type N3 ships of the United States Army World War II auxiliary ships of the United States