US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Sangay (AE-10)

USS Sangay (AE-10) on 10 November 1943
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Class:        SANGAY (AE-10)
Design:        MC C1-A
Displacement (tons):        6,246 light, 11,050 max
Dimensions (feet):        412.25' oa, 390.0' pp x 60.0' e x 23.6' max
Original Armament:        1-5"/38 4-3"/50 12-20mm
Later armaments:        1-5"/38 3-40mmT 12-20mm (1945)
Complement:        297 (1944)
Speed (kts):        14.8
Propulsion (HP):        4,150
Machinery:        Nordberg diesel (TSM219), 1 screw

Construction:

AE	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
10	SANGAY	25 Nov 42	Pennsylvania SY	30 Oct 41	5 Apr 42	20 Jan 43

Disposition:

AE	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
10	SANGAY	20 Jul 47	1 Jul 60	30 Jun 60	MA/T	19 Nov 80

Class Notes:
FY 1943. The Navy's war plans called for wartime requirements for auxiliaries to be handled by conversions of merchant ships rather than by new construction, and in the mid-1930s the Navy began to prepare plans for the conversion of ships to various auxiliary types in the event of national emergency. On 2 Apr 36 the Bureau of Construction and Repair distributed to the Naval Districts plans for the conversion of Hog Island A type (EFC Design 1022) freighters to Mine Assembly Ships (sometimes called Mine Depot ships), XAE(m). These plans were updated during 1939. On 19 Nov 40 the Bureau of Ships directed the Philadelphia Navy Yard (which at that time did most of the Bureau's conversion design work) to prepare plans for converting the new Maritime Commission C1-B freighters under construction at Federal, Kearny, to mine assembly ships using the Hog Island conversion plans for guidance. These plans seem not to have been completed.

On 28 Aug 42 CominCh urgently requested the acquisition of a cargo ship for use in the Pacific, practically without conversion, as a mine ammunition ship, AE(m). It should be of at least 5,000 gross tons, would use 'tween deck spaces for crew berthing and mine workshops, and should have cargo booms capable of delivering assembled mines to shallow draft minelayers alongside for planting in restricted waters. The Vice Chief of Naval Operations suggested to the Auxiliary Vessels Board on 31 Aug 42 that the Maritime Commission's standard C1 design, with a sustained speed of 14 knots at full load and a potential capacity of over 1,000 mines, would be suitable and added that a request for a C2 or C3 would probably be rejected due to their larger cargo capacity. On 31 Aug 42 the Auxiliary Vessels Board identified two candidate C1s, and the MC representative to the Board stated that one of these, the CAPE SABLE, a diesel-propelled C1-A scheduled for completion in mid-September 1942, was available. The Navy took over the ship after one mercantile voyage and fitted her for the transportation of mines, with extra mine decks being added in her cargo holds and mine cargo rails being fitted on the main deck and on large platforms above it.

Although used extensively as a specialized mine carrier, SANGAY could also serve as a normal AE and did so during most of 1944. This ship is fully documented and illustrated in an article in the journal Warship International, No. 4, 1980.

Ship Notes:

AE	Name	MC#	Notes
10	SANGAY	225	Ex merc. CAPE SABLE (completed 9 Sep 42). Converted by Maryland DD, Baltimore, Md. In USN reserve 1946-60. To NDRF 18 Mar 60, to buyer 8 Jan 81, scrapped by 21 May 81.