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Achelous (ARL-1) Class: Photographs


These photographs were selected to show the original configuration of this class and major subsequent modifications. For more views see the former NHHC (now Hyperwar) Online Library of Selected Images and the NavSource Photo Archive.

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

USS Amycus (ARL-2)

In San Francisco Bay on 10 August 1943, soon after commissioning.
The bow doors on all the U.S. ships of this class were welded shut.

Photo No. 19-N-51874
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM


 
USS Amycus (ARL-2)

In San Francisco Bay on 10 August 1943, soon after commissioning.
Note the 3"/50 gun on the main deck at the extreme stern with the 40mm quadruple mount just forward of and above it. This arrangement displaced the usual LST stern anchor.

Photo No. 19-N-51875
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM


 
HMS LSE-1 (ex USS ARL-5)

Near Baltimore, Md., on 25 September 1943 after completion of conversion.
Note the British 12-pounder (3-inch) gun on a raised platform at the stern. The British ships lacked the "A" frame hoist fitted to the U. S. ships, but this photograph suggests and others confirm that the bow doors were operational, rather than being welded shut as in the U.S. units of this class.

Photo No. 19-N-57196
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM


 
HMS LSE-2 (ex USS ARL-6)

Near Baltimore, Md., on 25 September 1943 after completion of conversion.
Note the British 12-pounder (3-inch) gun on a raised platform at the stern over the stern anchor and the absence of 40mm quadruple mounts on this ship. Like the U.S. ships, they also originally had 8-20mm mounts.

Photo No. 19-N-57203
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM


 
USS Egeria (ARL-8)

Near Baltimore, Md., circa April 1944 after completion of conversion.
Note the two short kingposts forward widely separated by empty deck space.

Photo No. 19-N-63509
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM


 
USS Adonis (ARL-4)

Near the Norfolk Navy Yard on 24 June 1945.
Her 3"/50 gun aft has been removed, the after 40mm quadruple mount has been moved to the stern on a high platform, and the usual LST stern anchor has been restored. Similar modifications were made to the other U.S. ships of this class, but in at least one, Achelous (ARL-1), the 3" gun was removed but the 40mm mount was not moved.

Photo No. 19-N-85764
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM


 
"A" Frame Hoist on USS Agenor (ARL-3)

Photographed on 8 August 1943 at her conversion yard, the Matson Navigation Co. of San Francisco, shortly before commissioning.
The "A" frame hoist could lift a 50-ton weight by means of a multiple past purchase whose line was connected to the drum of a 50 horsepower winch. It was a general purpose hoist, capable of supporting a motor torpedo boat on its cradle when in stripped condition, or a section of the 105-foot Landing Craft Tank, Mark V. "A" frame hoists were fitted to the converted LSTs of the AGP-4, ARB-1, ARL-1, and ARL-10 classes.

Photo No. 19-N-87305
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM