US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Ocelot (IX-110) Class

USS City of Dalhart (IX-156) on 3 June 1944
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class:        OCELOT (IX-110)
Design        EFC Design 1027
Displacement (tons):        5,093 light, 13,021 full load
Dimensions (feet):        416.0' oa, 402.0' wl x 54.0' e x 26.9' full load
Original Armament:        1-4"/50 1-40mmS 8-20mm (1943: IX-110, 156, 157)
Later armaments:        1-4"/50 1-3"/50 8-20mm (1945: IX-216)
Complement        82 (1944)
Speed (kts.):        13
Propulsion (HP):        3,000
Machinery:        1 screw, Busch-Sulzer diesel (IX-110, 156), Worthington diesel, 2,900 hp (IX-157, 216).

Construction:

IX	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
110	OCELOT	2 Oct 43	Oscar Daniels	5 Apr 18	22 Feb 19	15 Jan 44
156	CITY OF DALHART	29 Feb 44	Oscar Daniels	29 Jul 19	1920	2 Jun 44
157	ORVETTA	4 Apr 44	Oscar Daniels	18 May 18	12 Jun 19	5 Jun 44
216	UNICOI	20 Apr 45	Oscar Daniels	16 Dec 18	23 Oct 19	23 Apr 45

Disposition:

IX	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
110	OCELOT	6 Dec 45	3 Jan 46	6 Apr 46	MC	10 Feb 48
156	CITY OF DALHART	26 Jan 46	25 Feb 46	28 Jan 46	MC	19 Dec 46
157	ORVETTA	end 46	10 Jun 47	26 Jan 48	MC	2 Feb 48
216	UNICOI	16 Apr 46	1 May 46	16 Apr 46	MC	10 Jun 47

Class Notes:
FY 1943 (IX-110, 156-157), 1945 (IX-216). Unlike the Liberty ships of the IX-103 group, these freighters did not find their way into the Navy's IX list by virtue of battle damage but instead by virtue of age. All dated from just after World War I, and by late 1943 they could be spared for subsidiary use by the Navy with relatively little impact on cargo lift. All four of these EFC Design 1027 ships were built with vertical triple expansion steam engines but were re-engined with diesels during 1926-1927.

-- IX-110: On 16 Sep 43 CinCPac asked for a barracks ship to accommodate about 50 officers and 800 men for use at an advanced base. On 23 Sep 43 VCNO asked WSA for a ship to be used as a self-propelled barracks ship for housing personnel at a fleet anchorage and temporary floating storage depot to be established about 1 Dec 43. WSA nominated the motor ship YOMACHICHI, then at Baltimore under repair, as the earliest available vessel for this purpose and the least valuable as a cargo carrier. On 30 Sep 43 the Auxiliary Vessels Board recommended that she be acquired and given a limited conversion to a barracks ship during her repairs. Although her conversion was completed on 22 Jan 44, she was not able to report for shakedown until early May because of main engine difficulties. (Her diesel engine had given excellent service in merchant service according to a 27 Sep 43 Navy inspection report.) In September 1944 after arriving in the Pacific she was further converted to a flagship for Commander, Service Squadron 10. During a typhoon at Okinawa on 19 Sep 45 she was blown around the harbor because of her high freeboard and collided with YF-1079, AG-70, LSM-79, and the Victory ship PRATT VICTORY before grounding. She was pulled off, but the typhoon of 9 Oct 45 put her ashore for good with major damage (NESTOR, ARB-6, crashed into her during the height of the storm and totally severed her stern).

-- IX 156-157: On 15 Nov 43 CinCPac requested that two additional vessels be acquired for use as barracks ships and temporary floating storage depots at advanced bases. On 13 Dec 43 VCNO asked WSA for the motor ships CITY OF DALHART and TAMPA for conversion by the Navy to barracks ships along the same lines as the motor ship YOMACHICHI, and WSA approved this request on 20 Dec 43. On 28 Dec 43 the Auxiliary Vessels Board recommended that the two motor ships be acquired and converted. The decommissioning date of IX-157 was not reported; her last existing log entry is for 31 Oct 46 although a decommissioning in November or December is likely.

-- IX-216: On 17 Feb 45 Commander Seventh Fleet indicated that the motor vessel UNICOI, due to its age and condition, was unfit for long voyages, but that it was considered suitable for mobile dry storage in the area and that the local WSA representative had indicated approval for its transfer. On 21 Feb 45 VCNO asked WSA for this ship. On 23 Feb 45 the Auxiliary Vessels Board recommended that she be acquired and placed in commission with a crew of not over 70 men. After receiving WSA approval, CNO on 27 Feb 45 directed Com7thFlt to place her in commission.

Ship Notes:

IX	Name	EFC	Notes
110	OCELOT	739	Ex merc. YOMACHICHI (completed 16 Oct 19). Converted to barracks ship by Maryland DD, Baltimore (completed 22 Jan 44). Wrecked in typhoon at Okinawa 9 Oct 45, stripping and abandonment recommended 29 Oct 45. To MC at Okinawa 1946. To buyer 19 Feb 48, scrapped prior 31 Jan 52.
156	CITY OF DALHART	747	Ex merc. CITY OF DALHART (completed 28 Feb 21). Converted to barracks ship by Moore DD, Oakland, Cal. To buyer 22 Jan 47, scrapped by 16 May 47.
157	ORVETTA	741	Ex merc. TAMPA (ID-4758, completed 3 Feb 20). Converted to barracks ship by Matson Navigation Co., San Francisco. Arrived at Subic Bay under tow from Shanghai 18 May 46, to MC there 1948. To buyer 3 Mar 48, either scrapped in the Far East or sunk 1951 off
216	UNICOI	743	Ex merc. UNICOI, ex EXCELSIOR 1942, ex UNICOI 1940 (ID- 4484, completed May 1920). To Navy "as is" at Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines for use as mobile dry storage ship. To buyer 7 Oct 47, scrapped by 20 Apr 48.