USS Euryale (AS-22)

Quick Links Menu.

USS Euryale (AS-22) on 26 September 1945
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class:        EURYALE (AS-22)
Design:        Matson C3 Cargo
Displacement (tons):        8,282 light, 15,400 lim.
Dimensions (feet):        492.5' oa x 69.5' e x 25.5' lim.
Original Armament:        1-5"/38 4-3"/50 2-40mmT 22-20mm (1943)
Later armaments:        --
Complement:        --
Speed (kts.):        16.5
Propulsion (HP):        8,500
Machinery:        De Laval turbine, 1 screw

Construction:

AS	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
22	EURYALE	15 Apr 43	Federal SB & DD, Kearny	--	12 Apr 41	2 Dec 43

Disposition:

AS	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
22	EURYALE	7 Oct 46	1 Dec 71	9 Aug 72	MA	9 Aug 72

Class Notes:
FY 1942. In 1939 or 1940 the Matson Navigation Co. ordered four large freighters from two shipyards. These ships closely resembled the Maritime Commission's C3 types but were built privately outside the MC program. Newport News built HAWAIIAN PLANTER and HAWAIIAN PACKER while Federal, Kearny, built HAWIIAN MERCHANT and HAWAIIAN SHIPPER. These ships, which featured the flush deck without forecastle favored by Matson, were delivered between April and June 1941. HAWAIIAN SHIPPER remained in merchant service throughout the war while the two Newport News ships became the DELTA (AR-9, q.v.) class.

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. Of the portion of this program to be provided in 1943, the Maritime Commission had estimated that it could build all but one submarine tender and one repair ship, both C3 type ships. To meet this deficiency the Board recommended that the Navy purchase two C3 type vessels through WSA, one as AR-12 and one as AS-22. The Board noted that it had been informed that HAWAIIAN PLANTER and HAWAIIAN MERCHANT might be immediately available for this purpose. On 19 Jun 42 the War Shipping Administration allocated the use of these two vessels with their civilian crews to the Naval Transportation Service until the Navy was ready to convert them. On 29 Oct 42 VCNO designated HAWAIIAN MERCHANT for conversion to a submarine tender and HAWAIIAN PLANTER for use as a repair ship. HAWAIIAN MERCHANT continued to sail to the Southwest Pacific as a civilian cargo carrier under charter to the Naval Transportation Service until the plans, materials, and facilities for her conversion were ready. Her armament at this time was 1-5"/51 aft, 1-3"/50 forward, and 6-20mm guns.

The design agent for the conversion, Gibbs & Cox, discovered in November 1942 that the contract plans for AS-22 that BuShips had forwarded did not agree as to bulkhead locations with plans of HAWAIIAN MERCHANT as secured from her builder, Federal, the reason being that the Bureau's plans were derived from plans developed by Newport News for its two Matson C3's which differed from the Federal pair. BuShips replied on 26 Nov 42 that it had recently forwarded to Gibbs & Cox plans based on the MC's C3-S-A1 (itself a Gibbs & Cox design) for a Navy-built C3, AS-23 (q.v.), that it had recently ordered at Seattle-Tacoma. BuShips believed this vessel to be similar in all details, except forecastle, to HAWAIIAN MERCHANT, and suggested that if this were the case it would be preferable to use the AS-23 plans instead of fixing the AS-22 plans. If Gibbs & Cox opted to use the AS-23 plans BuShips would forward additional information in regard to a revised arrangement of the forecastle deck. Gibbs & Cox soon replied that the AS-23 plans would serve, the only structural difference being in the forecastle around the chain locker. The Bureau intended not to fit a forecastle to the ship but acquiesced on 28 Apr 43 when it discovered that Gibbs & Cox had included one. HAWAIIAN MERCHANT was converted to EURYALE (AS-22) between 13 Apr 43 and 2 Dec 43 using this design. AS-23 ended up being acquired instead of built, but her plans appear to have been used for the Navy-built C3s of the AD-26, AR-13, AS-27, and AV-14 classes which EURYALE closely resembled as well as in the conversion of AS 23-26 from Maritime Commission hulls.

Ship Notes:

AS	Name	Notes
22	EURYALE	Ex merc. HAWAIIAN MERCHANT (completed Apr 41). Converted by Todd Shipyards (Erie Basin), Brooklyn, N.Y. In USN reserve 1946-71 (in service in reserve as a reserve fleet accomodation ship at Bremerton from December 1959 to 1970). To buyer 30 Aug 72.