This coming Sunday, September 26, a rather unique anniversary will occur. It will be the 77th anniversary of the launch of the U.S. Navy cargo ship USS Beltrami, reports FreightWaves.
The USS Beltrami
Construction on the ship began on July 18, 1944.
The Beltrami was launched on September 26, 1944, about two and a half months after D-Day, the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.
The Allies were on the offensive, but there was still plenty of fighting to come in Europe and the Pacific.
It was built at the Richmond, California shipyards of the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company.
The ship was named after a county in northwestern Minnesota.
A tribute to Dollie Thrash
The USS Beltrami was launched at Kaiser’s Richmond Shipyard Number 4.
As part of the ceremony, Dollie Thrash christened the Beltrami.
Thrash was the ship’s sponsor, as well as a 40-year-old grandmother and former schoolteacher.
In 1942 Dollie Thrash became the first certified female ship fitter in the United States.
Service in World War II
The USS Beltrami was commissioned as a U.S. Navy ship on January 4, 1945 (AK-162).Her first commander was Lieutenant Gerald W. Rahill, USNR.
Beltrami sailed back to the Philippines in late August 1945, providing passenger and cargo service to the U.S. forces ashore.
About two months after the Japanese surrender, the Beltrami was ordered to sail from San Pedro Bay (the body of water where the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are located) to support the American occupation forces in China.
The Beltrami arrived in Shanghai on November 16, 1945.
Post-war service
After the end of World War II, the USS Beltrami continued its service for almost another 10 years.
The USS Beltrami sailed from Norfolk in April 1946, stopping at the ports of Baltimore and Philadelphia to take on cold-weather gear and to receive “equipment modifications for extended sub-zero operations.”
Following these stops the ship sailed to New York, taking on landing craft and picket boats in early May. It then moved up the coast to Boston, where a detachment of U.S. Marines came aboard.
Beltrami sailed northward from there on July 15, 1946.
The ships entered Dundas Harbor at Devon Island, to disembark the Marines, who went ashore and established a temporary camp at the base of a glacier.
U.S. East Coast cargo operations
During 1947-48, the Beltrami sailed in the Atlantic coastal waters of North America.
It delivered general cargo from Bayonne, New Jersey, and Norfolk to U.S. naval stations as far south as the Panama Canal Zone and as far north as Argentia, Newfoundland.
Sixth Fleet Service
The U.S. Navy’s Sixth Fleet was established in 1948.
She called at naval installations in Casablanca, Morocco; Athens, Greece; and Haifa, Israel; returning to Norfolk in mid-April.
The ship and its crew made return voyages to the Mediterranean between October 8 and December 2, 1949, and between mid-June and early August 1951.
Final operations
For the remainder of her U.S. Navy service, the Beltrami operated out of Earle, New Jersey, and Norfolk.
She primarily serviced Navy ports and installations in the West Indies.
Moreover, the advent of intermodal containers was just beginning, and hundreds of ships that carried breakbulk cargo would be refitted or retired over the next decade.
Placed in reserve on August 1, 1955, the ship was towed to Savannah on August 28 and was decommissioned on November 10, 1955.
She is remembered, however, more for her construction and christening, which made history and honored the women who served our nation during World War II.
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Source: FreightWaves
