US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Aegir (AS-23) Class

USS Anthedon (AS-24) on 24 September 1944
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class:        AEGIR (AS-23)
Design:        MC C3-S-A2
Displacement (tons):        7,728 light, 16,500 lim.
Dimensions (feet):        492.0' oa x 69.5' e x 27.0' lim.
Original Armament:        1-5"/38 4-3"/50 2-40mmT 20-20mm (1944: all)
Later armaments:        --
Complement:        --
Speed (kts.):        18.4
Propulsion (HP):        8,500
Machinery:        Westinghouse turbine, 1 screw

Construction:

AS	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
23	AEGIR	20 Nov 43	Ingalls SB, Pascagoula	31 Mar 43	15 Sep 43	8 Sep 44
24	ANTHEDON	17 Dec 43	Ingalls SB, Pascagoula	6 May 43	15 Oct 43	15 Sep 44
25	APOLLO	31 Dec 43	Ingalls SB, Pascagoula	24 Jun 43	6 Nov 43	29 Sep 44
26	CLYTIE	26 Feb 44	Ingalls SB, Pascagoula	5 Jul 43	26 Nov 43	18 Jan 45

Disposition:

AS	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
23	AEGIR	18 Oct 46	1 Jun 71	16 May 72	MA	16 May 72
24	ANTHEDON	21 Sep 46	1 Sep 61	7 Feb 69	Trf.	--
25	APOLLO	12 Feb 47	1 Jul 63	1 Jul 63	MA	5 Apr 74
26	CLYTIE	5 Oct 46	1 Sep 61	1 Sep 62	MA	26 Oct 70

Class Notes:
FY 1943. On 9 May 42 the Auxiliary Vessels Board noted that the Maximum War Effort Program included 13 tenders (4 AD, 1 AR, 4 AS, and 4 AV), 2 ammunition ships, and 14 oilers to be converted from C3, C2, and T3 type hulls in 1943-45, and the Board recommended that steps be taken to build or acquire the ships. Two of the C3 type submarine tenders were to be provided during 1943, and the Maritime Commission estimated that it could build one of them at the Seattle-Tacoma yard at Tacoma. (The other was acquired as AS-22, q.v.) This yard was subsequently transferred to Navy control, and on 9 Sep 42 the Navy ordered AS-23 there along with four seaplane tenders (AV 14-17). AS-23 was to follow AV 14-17 and all five were to be built between the 1943 installment of the CVE building program at Tacoma (CVE 31-54) and the 1944 installment (CVE 105-119). The 1944 CVE program had been reduced from 24 to 15 ships to allow the construction of the five tenders at Tacoma and four others, AD 22-25, at Los Angeles.

On 16 Feb 43 the Auxiliary Vessels Board reported that further analysis showed that interposing one AS in the CVE production run would materially delay the CVE program, and that due to the urgent need for additional CVEs this delay was unacceptable. In addition, the Maximum War Effort program called for two more C3 type submarine tenders in 1944, and the the Board concluded that a fourth ship was also necessary to service the 188 submarines expected to be in service by the end of 1944 on the basis of one tender for every 12 submarines. It therefore recommended cancelling the single AS at Tacoma and instead acquiring from the Maritime Commission four C3 hulls then on order at Ingalls. The Maritime Commission agreed in May 1943, although with reluctance, to the transfer of four Ingalls hulls, provided the Navy convert them elsewhere, and the contract at Tacoma for AS-23 was cancelled on 31 Jul 43.

On 11 Jun 43 the Auxiliary Vessels Board surveyed the Navy's needs for auxiliaries following the approval of a large combatant ship building program in May. After studying the construction facilities available to the Navy for large auxiliaries, it concluded that the Navy could build 15 additional tenders (4 AD, 4 AR, 4 AS, and 3 AV) to support the new combatants and recommended that their construction be proceeded with. All but the seaplane tenders were to be built with C3-type hulls. The four submarine tenders, AS 27-30, were caught up in the numerous adujstments to the tender building program in the latter part of the war and ultimately became AD-33, 32, 30, and 31 respectively (q.v.).

Ship Notes:

AS	Name	MC#	Notes
23	AEGIR	856	Delivered 91.1% complete. Ferry comm. 20 Nov-2 Dec 43. Converted by Todd Shipyards (Erie Basin), Brooklyn, N.Y. In USN reserve 1946-1971. To buyer 2 Jun 72.
24	ANTHEDON	858	Delivered incomplete. Ferry comm. 17-30 Dec 43. Converted by Todd Shipyards (ex Tietjen & Lang), Hoboken, N.J. In USN reserve 1946-60. To NDRF 31 Aug 60, to MA 1 Sep 62, from MA 7 Feb 69. Trf. to Turkey as DONATIN. Stk. by Turkey 1985.
25	APOLLO	860	Delivered incomplete. Ferry comm. 31 Dec 43 to 14 Jan 44. Converted by Atlantic Basin Iron Works, Brooklyn, N.Y. In USN reserve 1946-62 (in service in reserve 12 Feb 47 as reserve fleet accomodation ship at New London, replaced in June 1947 by PROTEUS, AS-19). To NDRF 23 May 62, to buyer 25 Apr 74.
26	CLYTIE	861	Delivered incomplete. Ferry comm. 26 Feb-10 Mar 44. Converted by Bethlehem Steel Co. (Fletcher Division), Hoboken, N.J. In USN reserve 1946-60. To NDRF 8 Sep 60, to buyer 21 Nov 70.