''Tucana'' (AK-88)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. 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. She was transferred upon launching on 13 September 1944 to the

U.S. 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, cl ...

as the

U.S. Army Engineer Port Repair ship The U.S. Army acquired ten ships during World War II as Engineer Port Repair Ships, also sometimes known as Port Rehabilitation ships, for use by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clear war damaged harbors. The need was anticipated by 1942 for t ...

''Arthur C. Ely''.

Service career

''AK-88'' was originally authorized under

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

contract (MC hull 651) and assigned the name ''MV Symmes Potter''. The name ''Tucana'' was assigned to her by the Navy on 30 October 1942; and, on 1 January 1943, her contract was transferred from the

to the supervision of the Navy; ''AK-88'' to become an ''Enceladus''-class

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

. The ship was laid down on 24 April 1944 at

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 ...

, by the Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 13 September 1944; and sponsored by Mrs. Patrick J. Cushing. On that same day, she was reassigned and delivered to the Army, and her name was struck from the

Navy list A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...

. She was converted by the U.S. Army to serve as the U.S. Army Engineer Port Repair ship ''Arthur C. Ely''. The ship was not among the converted vessels first deployed overseas in the last half of 1944.

Footnotes

References

External links

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - AK-88 Tucana - Arthur C. Ely

United States Army in World War II - The Corps of Engineers: Troops and Equipment - Chapter XVII - Preparing to Reconstruct Ports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucana (AK-88) Port repair ships of the United States Army Enceladus-class cargo ships Ships built in Camden, New Jersey 1944 ships Type N3 ships of the United States Army World War II auxiliary ships of the United States