USS Aegir (AS-23) Class

Quick Links Menu.

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, 2 ammunition ships, and 14 oilers to be built in 1943-45. These included nine tenders (AD 22-25, AV 14-17, and AS-23) to be converted in 1943 from C3 hulls. (A second C3-type submarine tender scheduled in this program for procurement in 1943, AS-22 (q.v.), was acquired.) The Maritime Commission initially estimated that it could build and convert the 4 AD and 4 AV at Western Pipe, San Francisco, and the AS at Seattle-Tacoma, Tacoma, but the Tacoma yard was soon shifted from Maritime Commission to Navy control for construction of escort carriers (AVG). By June 1942 the MC was no longer willing to divert nine C3s from its merchant ship program, and on 20 Jul 42 it suggested the Navy built the tenders at Tacoma following the 1943 ACV (ex AVG) program. On 6 Aug 42 VCNO ordered the construction of the nine tenders at Tacoma, where they were to replace 9 of the 24 ACV's in the 1944 program. On 27 Aug 42 BuShips informed VCNO that to expedite the tender programs it had instead arranged to build the four AD's at Western Pipe's San Pedro yard. On 9 Sep 42 the Navy ordered the five Tacoma tenders, AV 14-17 and AS-23, with AS-23 to be the last one built. All five were to be built between the 1943 escort carriers (ACV 31-54) and the 1944 installment (ACV 105-119).

On 6 Feb 43 BuShips reported to VCNO that further analysis showed that interposing one AS in the ACV production run would materially delay the CVE program, and that due to the urgent need for additional ACVs this delay was unacceptable. The Bureau recommended instead acquiring and converting HAWAIIAN SHIPPER, whose sister ship was then being converted to AS-22. VCNO replied on 13 Feb 43 that HAWAIIAN SHIPPER was not available, that the Maximum War Effort program called for two more C3 type submarine tenders in 1944, and that a fourth ship would also be needed 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. VCNO concluded that the best solution was to cancel the single AS at Tacoma and instead acquire from the Maritime Commission four C3-S-A2 hulls then on order at Ingalls. On 16 Feb 43 the Auxiliary Vessels Board recommended adopting this plan. After resisting for two months the Maritime Commission agreed in May 1943 to the transfer of the four Ingalls hulls, provided the Navy convert them elsewhere. MC hulls 429-431 and 856 were initially requested but hulls 856, 858, 860 and 861 were soon substituted. The contract at Tacoma for AS-23 was cancelled on 31 Jul 43.

On 12 Apr 43 the Navy's Supervisor of Shipbuilding at New York notified Gibbs and Cox, Inc., the design agent for the AS-22 conversion, that detail working plans for the conversion of AS 23-26 needed to be prepared in the shortest possible time. He acknowledged that the hulls of the Ingalls vessels were slightly different from the hull of AS-22 but felt that they were sufficiently alike to permit the use of the majority of the AS-22 conversion plans for AS 23-26. He added that arrangements were being made with the Philadelphia Navy Yard to develop the detail working plans for AS 23-26 and asked Gibbs and Cox to forward to Philadelphia immediately after the approval of each AS-22 plan a copy for use in AS 23-26. Copies of AS-22 plans that had already been approved were to be forwarded as soon as possible. In August 1943 BuShips decided to provide additional crew berthing space by extending the forecastle deckhouse aft. The four Ingalls hulls were delivered incomplete to the Navy between November 1943 and February 1944 and ferried to repair yards in the New York area for conversion.

Note on AS 27-30: 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 adjustments to the tender building program in the latter part of the war and ultimately became AD-33, 32, 30, and 31 respectively (see the AD-26 class).

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.