US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Remus (ARL-40) Class

USS LST-455 on 7 March 1943
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Images of LST-453 and LST-455 as ARL-40 and ARL-41 are wanted.

Class:        REMUS (ARL-40)
Design:        Navy LST
Displacement (tons):        2,115 light, 4,100 lim.
Dimensions (feet):        328.0' oa, 316.0' pp x 50.0' e x 11.2' lim
Original Armament:        1-3"/50 1-40mm 6-20mm (1944: ARL-40)
Later armaments:        1-3"/50 1-40mm 11<15-20mm (1944-46: ARL-41);
1-3"/50 6-20mm (1945-46: ARL-40)
Complement:        --
Speed (kts.):        11.6
Propulsion (HP):        1,800
Machinery:        G.M. diesels, 2 screws

Construction:

ARL	Name	Reclas.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
40	REMUS	15 Aug 44	Kaiser, Vancouver	28 Jul 42	10 Oct 42	--
41	ACHILLES	21 Aug 44	Kaiser, Vancouver	3 Aug 42	17 Oct 42	--

Disposition:

ARL	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
40	REMUS	15 Jul 46	15 Aug 46	16 Dec 47	MC	4 Nov 47
41	ACHILLES	19 Jul 46	28 Aug 46	8 Sep 47	Trf.	--

Class Notes:
Reclassified to ARL's after service as LST's. After arriving at Brisbane, Australia, on 8 May 43 and before seeing any duty as an LST, LST-453 (the future ARL-40), according to the history written by her crew, was given a three-day availability for a conversion that was of necessity very meager and which consisted of loading but not installing a few pieces of essential equipment. A land base repair unit was ordered aboard to comprise the repair department. Unofficially designated as a repair ship and tender for amphibious craft, LST-453 departed Brisbane on 6 Jun 43 for New Guinea where she tended and repaired LCT's and other small craft. LST-455 (the future ARL-41) was also converted in May 1943 in Australia shortly after arriving there and was further converted by her own crew in New Guinea in June-August 1943. In January 1944 LST-453 was assigned a 400-ton pontoon dry dock, which she towed along every time she changed station.

LST-453 was administratively transferred from the amphibious to the service force on 1 Jul 44. At about this time CominCh formally approved the conversion by forces in the operating area of the two LST's to ARL's, and on 1 Aug 44 CNO designated them ARL 40-41. (In compensation, ARL-25 and ARL-34 were deleted from the stateside conversion program and completed as LST's.) After her reclassification, ARL-40 was further converted by her crew at Woendi Is. between Sep 44 and Jan 45. At Leyte beginning in January 1945 ARL-40 operated two floating drydocks, one 250-ton pontoon dock for LCT's and one 400-ton dock for LCI's and LCS's. When inspected for inactivation the ship, which had not seen a shipyard since March 1943, was described as damaged and worn beyond economical repair. ARL-41 was also described as beyond economical repair in her initial pre-disposal inspection, but she was later considered worth retaining in the reserve fleet and was soon accepted by China under Lend Lease. See PONTUS (AGP-20) for another improvised LST conversion with a somewhat similar history.

Ship Notes:

ARL	Name	Notes
40	REMUS	Ex LST-453 15 Aug 44. Commissioned as LST 21 Jan 43. To buyer 16 Dec 47.
41	ACHILLES	Ex LST-455 21 Aug 44. Commissioned as LST 30 Jan 43. Trf. under Lend Lease to Republic of China as HSING AN (commissioned 5 Nov 47). Sunk by Chinese Communist gunfire in the Yangtse River 24 Apr 49, to PRC as TAKU SHAN.