USS ''Sheliak'' (AKA-62) was an in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. In 1948, she was sold into commercial service and was scrapped in 1969.

History

''Sheliak'' (AKA-62) was named after

Beta Lyrae Beta Lyrae (β Lyrae, abbreviated Beta Lyr, β Lyr) officially named Sheliak (Arabic: الشلياق, Romanization: ash-Shiliyāq) ( IPA: ), the traditional name of the system, is a multiple star system in the constellation of Lyra. Ba ...

, a binary star system in the constellation

Lyra Lyra (; Latin for lyre, from Greek ''λύρα'') is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra wa ...

. She was laid down on 19 June 1944 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 214) by the

Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Go ...

, Kearny, N.J.; launched on 17 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Nellie Blanch Regan; and commissioned on 1 December 1944. She was one of a handful of AKA's manned by a

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

crew.

Pacific War

''Sheliak'' arrived in Hampton Roads on 14 December 1944 and underwent shakedown training there from 15 to 21 December. After repairs at Norfolk, Virginia, she arrived at Bayonne, New Jersey, on 28 December to load cargo for the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. Departing Bayonne on 4 January 1945, ''Sheliak'' delivered her cargo to

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 R ...

on 25 January. From 2 to 5 February, she underwent training at Pearl Harbor; and, from 5 to 13 February, she received 1,827 tons of Tenth Army equipment, plus other cargo and 201 troops. Departing Pearl Harbor on 15 February, ''Sheliak'' arrived at

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1 ...

on 25 February and underwent pre-invasion training there. Departing Tulagi on 15 March, she arrived 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 larges ...

on the 21st and sailed from there for the Okinawa invasion on 27 March. ''Sheliak'' arrived off the beach at

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 1 April; and, for the first seven days, provided cargo on call to troops ashore. After general unloading was ordered, she put the Tenth Army cargo ashore between 8 and 17 April. During these operations, she shot down one Japanese aircraft on 15 April. ''Sheliak'' departed Okinawa on 19 April; and, sailing via Ulithi and Pearl Harbor, arrived at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

on 14 May. There, her crew altered her cargo spaces to carry ammunition; and, between 28 May and 5 July, she made two round-trips carrying ammunition from

Port Chicago, California Port Chicago was a town on the southern banks of Suisun Bay, in Contra Costa County, California. It was located east-northeast of Martinez, at an elevation of 13 feet (4 m). It is best known as the site of a devastating explosion at its Naval M ...

to Pearl Harbor. She was unloading her third cargo of ammunition at Pearl Harbor when the Pacific War ended, and she returned the ammunition still on board to San Francisco. On 1 October, the cargo ship delivered 18 landing craft to Monterey, California; and, on 15 October, she sailed from San Francisco with general cargo and passengers for various Pacific bases. She called at Pearl Harbor, Manus,

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Sub ...

, and

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

before returning to San Francisco on 22 February 1946. On 15 March, she sailed from San Francisco and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 3 April for deactivation.

Decommissioning and fate

''Sheliak'' was decommissioned on 10 May 1946, transferred to the

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

the following day, and 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 autho ...

on 21 May. Sold into mercantile service as SS ''Pioneer Isle'' in 1948, she was renamed ''Australian Isle'' in 1965 and ''Transluna'' in 1969 before being scrapped later that year.

Awards

''Sheliak'' 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

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

service.

References

External links

*
51 Years of AKAs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheliak (AKA-62) Andromeda-class attack cargo ships Ships built in Kearny, New Jersey 1944 ships World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States