USS Aristaeus
USS Aristaeus was planned as a United States Navy, but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. The lead ship in her class, she was named for Aristaeus, the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
Construction
The ship was laid down as LST-329 on 12 November 1942, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; reclassified ARB-1 on 25 January 1943; launched on 1 February 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Arthur Taylor; converted at Fairfield, Maryland, by the Maryland Drydock Company for service as a battle damage repair ship; and commissioned on 18 May 1943.Service history
On 1 June, the ship got underway for Norfolk, Virginia. During the next six weeks, she conducted shakedown training out of Norfolk and in the Chesapeake Bay. On 23 July, she left the east coast and shaped a course for the Pacific. The vessel transited the Panama Canal and joined the Pacific Fleet on 1 August. She then continued on via Bora Bora, the Society Islands, and Tutuila, American Samoa to Nouméa, New Caledonia.Aristaeus reached Nouméa on 14 September, and operated in its immediate vicinity through the remainder of 1943, and the first six months of 1944. Early in July 1944, she anchored at Sydney, Australia. After upkeep at that port, the repair ship journeyed to New Guinea, in late September, and provided battle damage repairs to vessels in this area into April 1945. On 1 May, she anchored at Kerama Retto in the Ryukyu Islands.
The vessel remained at Kerama Retto during the next two months. As a member of Service Squadron 10, she performed battle damage and voyage repairs to various ships of the fleet. On 2 July, the ship moved her base of operations to Buckner Bay, Okinawa, where she provided routine repair services. On 13 August, she was ordered to assist in repairing the torpedoed battleship. Many of Pennsylvanias compartments were flooded, and she had settled heavily by the stern. Aristaeus repair efforts, however, enabled the battleship to get underway for Pearl Harbor on 24 August, nine days after the Japanese capitulation ended hostilities.