US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Castor (AKS-1) Class

USS Castor (AKS-1) on 1 June 1943
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Class:        CASTOR (AKS-1)
Design:        MC C2-Cargo (Federal) and C2-F
Displacement (tons):        6,365 light, 14,400 lim.
Dimensions (feet):        459.2' oa, 435.0' wl/pp x 63.0' e x 26.4' lim.
Original Armament:        1-5"/51 4-3"/23 (1941: AKS 1-2)
Later armaments:        1-5"/51 4-3"/50 0<8-20mm (1942: AKS 1-2);
1-4"/50 4-3"/50 8>4-20mm (1942-49: AKS-4);
1-5"/38 4-3"/50 8<10-20mm (1943-44: AKS-1); 1-5"/38 4-3"/50 6-20mmT (1949-51: AKS-1);
4-3"/50 6-20mmT (1949-51: AKS-4); 4-3"/50 (1957: both)
Complement:        207 (1944)
Speed (kts.):        16.5
Propulsion (HP):        6,000
Machinery:        G.E. turbine, 1 screw

Construction:

AKS	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
1	CASTOR	23 Oct 40	Federal SB & DD, Kearny	25 Aug 38	20 May 39	12 Mar 41
2	POLLUX (1)	16 Jan 41	Federal SB & DD, Kearny	26 May 39	16 Dec 39	6 May 41
4	POLLUX (2)	23 Mar 42	Federal SB & DD, Kearny	2 Oct 41	5 Feb 42	27 Apr 42

Disposition:

AKS	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
1	CASTOR	31 Oct 68	1 Dec 68	25 Jul 69	MA/S	25 Jul 69
2	POLLUX (1)	--	25 Mar 42	18 Feb 42	Lost	--
4	POLLUX (2)	31 Dec 68	1 Jan 69	25 Jul 69	MA/S	25 Jul 69

Class Notes:
FY 1941 (AKS 1-2), 1942 (AKS-4). AKS 1-2 were called C2-Cargo by the MC and were probably nearly the same as the builder's later C2-F (including AKS-4), the C2-F type being modified slightly for Lykes Lines.

On 3 Oct 35 the Navy's Bureau of Supplies and Accounts recommended that a Stores Issue Ship (for which the designation AKI had been created in the late 1920s) be included in the building program. The Bureau noted that as early as 1924 an investigation by the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet revealed the inherent difficulties in the supply of general stores to ships of the fleet when operating away from a home base. The Fleet Base Force and its attendant train contained the fuel, machine shop, hospital and food elements of an advanced base but not the stores element. Stores issue ships would provide general supplies to ships other than destroyers and submarines (which had tenders for such services) and supplement the supplies ordinarily carried by combatant ships with supplies of a selected character for emergency military use. The mobility of AKIs would render unnecessary the establishment of shore supply depots at the fleet's temporary operating bases. No AKIs were provided for in pre-World War II programs until two conversions were included in a large group of auxiliaries whose construction or acquisition was directed on 5 Aug 40 in the 70% Expansion Program (the second increment of the Two Ocean Navy mobilization effort) along with many combatant ships. The designation AKI was changed to AKS on 16 Oct 40.

MC hull 131 was to have been acquired as AK-54 but this was cancelled on 13 Feb 42 and MC hull 133 (AK-56, later AKA-14) was substituted. Five days later AKS-2 was wrecked on the coast of Newfoundland, and the Navy soon acquired MC hull 131 as a replacement. On 23 Mar 42 the Auxiliary Vessels Board recommended acquisition of the ship and also recommended that only a limited AKS conversion be made at the present time and that it be limited to what could be accomplished during the installation of defense items. During the remainder of World War II both AKS-1 and AKS-4 were fully configured for stores issue purposes and both became mainstays of the fleet in the early postwar period. AKS-4, however, never received a 5"/38 dual purpose gun in place of the 4"/50 low angle weapon fitted by the Maritime Commission for merchant service on 14 Mar 42. This gun was removed when the ship was reactivated in 1950 because by then no other ship in the Navy carried a 4" gun.

Ship Notes:

AKS	Name	MC#	Notes
1	CASTOR	14	Ex merc. CHALLENGE (completed 10 Jul 39). Converted at Brewer Dry Dock Co., Staten Is. In USN reserve 1947-50 (decommissioned 30 Jun 47, recommissioned 25 Nov 50). To buyer at Sasebo, Japan, 2 Sep 69, scrapped by 16 Feb 70.
2	POLLUX (1)	33	Ex merc. COMET (completed 25 Mar 40). Converted at Brewer Dry Dock Co., Staten Is. Wrecked on Lawn Head west of the entrance to Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, in storm.
4	POLLUX (2)	131	Ex merc. NANCY LYKES. Acquisition as AK-54 cancelled 13 Feb 42. Converted by Robins Dry Dock and Repair Co., Brooklyn, N.Y. In USN reserve 1949-50 (decommissioned 3 Apr 50, recommissioned 5 Aug 50). To buyer at Sasebo, Japan, 2 Sep 69, scrapped by 30 Jan 70.