''Vela'' (AK-89)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. The ship was transferred to the Army to become the Engineer Port Repair Ship ''Joe C. Specker'' shortly after launching. She was one of two such repair ships transferred to Navy in 1952 and served as the civilian crewed, unarmed USNS ''Vela'' (T-AK-89).

Construction

The ship was a

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 ...

type N3-M-A1 cargo vessel hull (MC hull 652) and was assigned the name MV ''Charles A. Ranlett''. Her construction was transferred to Navy supervision on 1 January 1943 and she was subsequently laid down as ''Vela'' (AK-89) on 5 June 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 Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Corp. of Camden, New Jersey was a shipyard opened in March 1940 to build ships for World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. The shipyard was on Cooper Point at north end of North 5th Street at . After b ...

Corporation.http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwtwo/pennjersey.htm , Shipbuilding History: Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden NJ The ship was launched on 15 January 1945 sponsored by Mrs. Elbert Bradford Ferguson.

Transfer to Army

Two days after launch, on 17 January 1945, the ship was transferred to the U.S. Army for conversion into the Engineer Port Repair Ship ''Joe C. Specker'' for operation by the

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

rehabilitating war damaged ports. 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 ...

on 8 February 1945. The Army named her for

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

recipient

Joe C. Specker Joe C. Specker (January 10, 1921 – January 7, 1944) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II. Specker joined the Army from his ...

of the 48th Engineer Combat Battalion. Unlike most port repair ships the ''Joe C. Specker'', among the last two ships (See: ''Marvin Lyle Thomas'') converted and seeing no actual war service as a port repair ship, spent seven postwar years in Army service before transfer Navy.)

Transfer To Navy

On 11 June 1952, ''Vela'' was transferred to the MSTS and placed in service 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 ...

the following day and was reinstated on the

on 22 August. She operated out of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

through 1958, ranging from

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

coastal waters to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

on supply missions. Later transferred to the Maritime Administration and placed 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 ...

, she was berthed in the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

until she was sold on 23 November 1970 to Hierros Ardes, S.A.,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and scrapped.

Notes

References

External links

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - T-AK-89 Vela - USAT Joe C. Specker

United States Army in World War II - The Corps of Engineers: Troops and Equipment - Chapter XVII - Preparing to Reconstruct Ports

* ttps://books.google.com/books?id=PyEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22port+repair+ship%22&pg=PA132 Popular Science, October 1944: How Seagoing Shops Clear Captured Ports (illustrations) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vela (AK-89) Port repair ships of the United States Army Enceladus-class cargo ships Ships built in Camden, New Jersey 1945 ships Type N3 ships of the United States Army World War II auxiliary ships of the United States