USS Zaniah (AK-120) was a ''Basilan''-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 ...

commissioned by the

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for service in

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. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone. ''SS Anthony F. Lucas''—a

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...

—was laid down under a

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contract (MCE hull 2422) on 29 October 1943 at

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, Texas, by the Todd-Houston Shipbuilding Corp.; acquired by the Navy under a

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on 2 November 1943; renamed ''Zaniah'' and classified as a cargo ship, AK-120, on 13 November; launched on 12 December; sponsored by Mrs. LeRoy Bembry; and accepted by the Navy and commissioned on 22 December 1943, for ferrying to the

Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company The Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company (ADDSCO) located in Mobile, Alabama, was one of the largest marine production facilities in the United States of America during the 20th century. It began operation in 1917, and expanded dramaticall ...

's yard at

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, for conversion.

Conversion to stores-barracks-distilling ship

Arriving at Mobile on the day after

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, ''Zaniah'' soon entered dockyard hands and was decommissioned on 28 December. Meanwhile, during the conversion, the Navy broadened ''Zaniah's'' mission to that of a special stores-barracks-distilling ship and redesignated her AG-70 on 14 March 1944. Before she was completed, a distilling plant capable of producing 80,000 gallons of fresh water was installed in the ship; and she was commissioned on 2 September 1944.

World War II service

''Zaniah'' departed Mobile on 17 September, bound—via

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—for

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. Arriving at Key West on the 20th, the auxiliary vessel joined a coastwise

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—KN-339—passing up the eastern seaboard from the 21st to the 24th, before steaming independently for Hampton Roads. ''Zaniah'' conducted her

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training in the

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before shifting to

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Transfer to the Pacific Fleet

Getting underway again on 23 October, ''Zaniah'' sailed southward, transited the

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on 4 November, and arrived at

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on the 22d. ''Zaniah'' underwent further conversion at the

Pearl Harbor Navy Yard Naval Station Pearl Harbor is a United States naval base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. In 2010, along with the United States Air Force's Hickam Air Force Base, the facility was merged to form Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam. Pearl Harbor is ...

—receiving additional office spaces and living quarters to accommodate the staff of a fleet service division. In addition, the ship's force joined yard workmen in installing a large

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repair and supply department and additional water

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to enable the ship to furnish fresh water to ships in forward areas of the South

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Repairing battle-damaged ships

''Zaniah'', thus outfitted for her special operations-departed

on 10 January 1945 bound for Manus, in the

Admiralties The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-cov ...

. Arriving on the 26th at

Seeadler Harbor Seeadler Harbor, also known as Port Seeadler, is located on Manus Island, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and played an important role in World War II. In German, "Seeadler" means sea eagle, pointing to German colonial activity between 1884 an ...

, she operated for a time with ''Sierra'' (AD-18) in repairing battle-damaged ships which put into Manus. ''Houston'' (CL-81) was among the

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which benefited from her services.

Supporting invasion forces at Philippine Islands

''Zaniah'' soon shifted to the Solomons, providing water and repair services at

Purvis Bay Purvis Bay is located in the Nggela Islands, part of the Solomon Islands. Purvis Bay is the sheltered area to the south of the island Nggela Sule (referred to as Florida Island during World War II), including and trending southeast from the neighbo ...

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, from the day of her arrival,

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1945. She returned to Manus on 19 March before sailing for Hollandia,

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, to join a Philippine-bound convoy, GI-18, on the 29th. ''Zaniah'' arrived at San Pedro Bay, off

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, on 4 April and discharged her much-needed electronics and machinery parts before sailing for the Carolines.

Supporting repair efforts at Okinawa

The auxiliary ship operated at

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest i ...

from 13 to 24 April, providing repair services to ships damaged during the conquest of the

Ryukyus The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

. ''Zaniah'', herself, sailed for

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 ...

on the 24th and arrived on 1 May—one month after the first landings on the embattled island. The first ship of her type in the area, she arrived at a critical time, as her commanding officer wrote: "when damage was at its height and repair facilities and personnel were scarce."

Performing repair work under dangerous conditions

''Zaniah's'' boats soon began a 24-hour schedule of transporting repairmen, in shifts, to damaged vessels. Initially, many men found themselves working 18-hour stints; and, despite daily air attacks and alerts, repair work progressed well. Salvage units from ''Zaniah'' cleared debris and made damaged hulls seaworthy until more permanent repairs could be made; others restored electrical plants and propulsion machinery; still others performed repairs on the vital and delicate radars and electronics installations on ships. ''Zaniah'' bore a charmed life—she was never attacked by Japanese planes during her sojourn off

. On 22 June, two ships were struck nearby ''LST-534'' and ''Ellyson'' (DMS-10) -- the closest that the vital auxiliary came to being attacked.

Rough weather

''Zaniah'' shifted to

Buckner Bay is a bay on the southern coast of Okinawa Island on the Pacific Ocean in Japan. The bay covers and ranges between to deep. The bay is surrounded by the municipalities of Uruma, Kitanakagusuku, Nakagusuku, Nishihara, Yonabaru, Nanjō, all in ...

on 10 July and performed her services as a repair and water-distilling ship through the end of the war with

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 ...

in mid-August. She suffered some damage in a

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which struck the Fleet's anchorage on 16 September, when ''Ocelot'' (IX-110) dragged her anchor in the tempest and brushed heavily against ''Zaniah'', smashing a motor

whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

and demolishing some bulwarks and

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s on board the repair vessel.

End-of-war activity

That autumn, ''Zaniah'' later operated out of

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...

until sailing on 1 December for the

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. Arriving at

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, on

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, 1945, ''Zaniah'' shifted to

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, arriving at

on 11 March 1946. Records are unclear at this point but suggest that the ship may have participated in explosive tests in the

14th Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Command ...

Post-war decommissioning

Decommissioned at

on 29 April 1946, ''Zaniah'' was towed to the west coast; reached

Suisun Bay, California 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 14 May 1947; and was turned over to the

the following day. She 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 ...

on 22 May 1947 and was laid up in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

through the 1960s. In November 1972, ''Zaniah'' was towed to Seattle-Tacoma,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, and broken up for scrap.

Military awards and honors

''Zaniah'' received one

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

for her

service. Her crew was eligible for the following medals: * American Campaign Medal * Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1) * World War II Victory Medal * Navy Occupation Medal (with Asia Clasp)

References

External links

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - AK-120 / AG-70 Zaniah
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaniah (AK-120) Basilan-class auxiliary ships Ships built in Houston 1943 ships World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Liberty ships