USS Oceanus (ARB-2)

Oceanus (ARB-2) in camouflage paint scheme at anchor, date and place unknown
History
Name:	USS Oceanus
Namesake:	Oceanus
Builder:	Philadelphia Navy Yard
Laid down:	12 November 1942
Launched:	11 February 1943
Commissioned:	22 May 1943
Decommissioned:	15 January 1947
Struck:	1 July 1961
Honors and awards:	1 battle star (World War II)
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 3 May 1962
General characteristics
Class & type:	Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ship
Displacement:	1,781 long tons (1,810 t) light 3,700 long tons (3,759 t) full
Length:	328 ft (100 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Draft:	11 ft 2 in (3.40 m)
Propulsion:	2 × General Motors 12-567 diesel engines, two shafts, twin rudders
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	260 officers and enlisted men
Armament:	2 × 40 mm guns 8 × 20 mm guns

USS Oceanus (ARB-2) was one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Oceanus (believed to be the world-ocean in classical antiquity), she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

The ship was originally laid down as LST–328 on 12 November 1942 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; redesignated USS Oceanus (ARB-2) on 25 January 1943, she was then launched on 11 February 1943 and commissioned on 22 May 1943 with Lieutenant Commander W. B. Studley in command.

Service history

Following shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, Oceanus departed Norfolk, Virginia on 23 July 1943 for the Pacific, arriving at Nouméa, New Caledonia 18 September. She remained there, converting LCIs to shoal-draft gunboats and making emergency repairs to damaged vessels. On 28 October she shifted to Espiritu Santo, thence, in 1944, to Florida Island. On 9 September 1944 she departed the Solomon Islands in TG 31.4 and on the 20th arrived at Kossol Roads, Palaus. There she repaired, often while underway, craft and vessels damaged in the assaults against those islands and against the Philippines. In February 1945 she steamed to Guam to join TG 51.5 for the Iwo Jima invasion, arriving on the 20th and remaining until 17 March.

The Okinawa campaign next took Oceanus to Kerama Retto, where work on ships damaged by kamikazes and bombs kept her on a round-the-clock schedule into mid-May. On 14 May she shifted to the Hagushi anchorage for emergency repairs to the battleship New Mexico (BB-40). Completing the work and returning to Kerama Retto's "Scrap Iron Row" on the 21st, she remained until early June when she steamed to the Philippines. Arriving at Leyte 15 June, she remained in San Pedro Bay until after the end of the War. Post-war duties took her to Okinawa, then to China. At Shanghai from October into December she serviced landing and patrol craft assigned to China Group. On 25 December she headed back to the United States to prepare for inactivation. Decommissioned 15 January 1947 she was berthed at San Diego as a unit of the Pacific Reserve Fleet until struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 July 1961 and sold 3 May 1962 to Zidell Exploration of Portland, Oregon for scrapping.

Oceanus earned one battle star for World War II service.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• "LST-328 / ARB-2 Oceanus". Service Ship Photo Archive. Retrieved 9 April 2007.