USS ''Xanthus'' (AR-19) was a ''Xanthus''-class repair ship acquired by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for the task of providing repairs to the fleet. She was named after Xanthus, a mythical beast of Greek legend. Intended for the Royal Navy as HMS ''Hecla'' (F 175), she was laid down 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 (MCE hull 2664) as ''Hecla'' on 6 June 1944 at

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, by the

Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard The Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard of Baltimore, Maryland, was a shipyard in the United States from 1941 until 1945. Located on the south shore of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River which serves as the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, Ba ...

, Inc.. She was launched on 31 July 1944, sponsored by Mrs. J.W.A. Waller, and delivered to the Navy on a loan basis on 16 August 1944. On 6 December 1944, she was renamed ''Xanthus'' and designated ''AR-19''. She was commissioned on 9 May 1945.

World War II operations

Following training operations and a transit of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

, ''Xanthus'' arrived at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

on 20 July to serve there as a repair ship. On 11 August, she sailed for Adak, Alaska, to join forces massing there for the projected assaults on the

Kurils The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

and northern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The Japanese capitulation, however, obviated such operations. Instead of an invasion there was now an occupation.

End-of-war activity

As part of Task Group (TG) 40.2, ''Xanthus'' proceeded to Japan and arrived at Ominato on 9 September 1945—the same date that Japanese forces there surrendered to Vice Admiral

Frank Jack Fletcher Frank Jack Fletcher (April 29, 1885 – April 25, 1973) was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. Fletcher commanded five different task forces through WWII; he was the operational task force commander at the pivotal battle ...

. The ship remained at Ominato through 21 November, serving as

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

for the commander of TG 56.2, the repair and logistics group. Subsequently reporting for duty with

Service Squadron A Service Squadron (ServRon) was a United States Navy squadron that supported fleet combat ships and US Navy Auxiliary ships. Service Squadrons were used by the US Navy from their inception in 1943 to as late as the early 1980s. At the time of th ...

104, the ship operated out of

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

through late January 1946.

China operations

On 10 February 1946, ''Xanthus'' sailed for

Qingdao, China Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

, and helped to stabilize troubled conditions there in the wake of the Japanese withdrawal. As

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

Chinese jockeyed for position in the volatile situation in their country, ''Xanthus'' supported American naval activities in that port until sailing for home on 8 April 1946.

Return to Stateside

Subsequently arriving at

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, in the spring of that year, the repair ship was laid up at the

facility in the James River, Virginia, in an "on hand" status, through 1961.

Post-war decommissioning

On 1 September 1962, the ship 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 ...

. In 1974, Xanthus was sold for scrapping in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

References

External links

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - AR-19 Xanthus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xanthus World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Xanthus-class repair ships 1944 ships