USNS ''Taurus'' (T-AK-273) was a

Landing Ship Vehicle USS ''Catskill'' (LSV-1) was a vehicle landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. The lead ship of her class, she was named for the Catskill Mountains in southeastern New York State. Service history Originally designed a ...

built for the United States Navy. The lone ship of her class, she was named for the constellation Taurus, and was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

Construction

''Taurus'' was laid down as the dock landing ship USS ''Fort Snelling'' (LSD-23) on 8 November 1944 at

Chickasaw, Alabama Chickasaw is a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 6,457, up from 6,106 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Mobile metropolitan area. History Company town In the early 20th century bef ...

, by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation. The end of World War II made her services unnecessary, and the Navy cancelled the contract for her acquisition. The unchristened hull changed hands twice before being completed in 1956 as the roll-on/roll-off ship SS ''Carib Queen'' for Trailer Marine Transport, Inc. In 1957, the ship received a Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) charter for transatlantic service. However, problems in her propulsion system caused delays and repairs which prevented her actually serving MSTS. In March, 1958 after Trailer Marine Transport, Inc. had defaulted on her mortgage, the Maritime Administration took over the vessel. She was assigned to MSTS on 15 January 1959, renamed ''Taurus'', and designated ''T-AK-273''.

Service history

In May, 1959 ''Taurus'' made her first cargo run, from New York City to

St. Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. T ...

. Over the next nine years, she continued to carry cargo for MSTS in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. On 1 January 1963 ''Taurus'' was re-designated vehicle landing ship LSV-8. During the mid-1960s she carried cargo to ports in

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

in support of American forces in the Vietnam War. She also was used by NASA, along with

USNS Point Barrow (T-AKD-1) The USNS ''Point Barrow'' (T-AKD-1) was a one-of-a-kind "Cargo Ship Dock." She was the lone ship in her class, named for Point Barrow (the northernmost point in Alaska). ''Point Barrow'' was laid down 18 September 1956 by Maryland Drydock and S ...

, to carry S-IVB and

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stages of the Saturn V moon rocket from their production facilities in California to the Mississippi Test Facility and the Kennedy Space Center during the mid-1960s. Never commissioned, ''Taurus'' went out of service at Yokosuka, Japan, in September 1968. She was transferred back to the Maritime Administration on 25 June 1969, and was sold on the same day to the Union Minerals and Alloy Corporation of New York City. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 22 June 1971. Her final fate is unknown.

References

* * Vehicle landing ships of the United States Navy Ships built in Chickasaw, Alabama 1956 ships Casa Grande-class dock landing ships of the United States Navy {{US-mil-ship-stub