USS Zenobia (AKA-52)
 USS Zenobia (AKA-52) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 12 May 1945 |
| Launched: | 6 July 1945 |
| Commissioned: | 6 August 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 May 1946 |
| Struck: | 30 November 1946 |
| Fate: | Believed scrapped about 1974 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Builder: | Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc. |
| Hull type: | S4-SE2-BE1 |
| Displacement: | 4,087 tons light, 7,080 tons loaded |
| Length: | 426 ft (129.8 m) |
| Beam: | 58 ft (17.7 m) |
| Draft: | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam turbo-electric drive; two boilers, two propellers, 6,000 shp (4.5 MW) |
| Speed: | 16.9 knots (31.3 km/h) |
| Complement: | 321 (20 officers, 301 men), plus 255 embarked troops |
| Armament: | 1 × 5"/38 caliber DP gun, 4 × twin 40 mm AA guns, 16 × 20 mm AA guns |
| Boats: | 14 LCVP, 8 LCM |
USS Zenobia (AKA-52) was an Artemis class attack cargo ship named after minor planet 840 Zenobia. Zenobia was also the name of the Queen of Palmyra who reigned from 267 to 272. She served as a commissioned ship for 9 months.
History
Zenobia (AKA-62) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1913) on 12 May 1945 at Providence, R.I., by the Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc.; launched on 6 July 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Lillian V. MacDonald; and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 6 August 1945, LCDR F. C. Rice in command.
Following her shakedown, Zenobia relieved USS Vermilion (AKA-107) as a training ship with the Atlantic Fleet's Operational Training Command on 19 August. She served briefly in that role before she was reassigned to Service Force, Atlantic Fleet (ServLant), on 11 September. She operated with ServLant into 1946.
Although allocated to the Amphibious Force of the Atlantic Fleet on 1 April 1946, Zenobia's days as a United States naval vessel were numbered. She reported to the Commandant, 3d Naval District, on 7 April and was decommissioned exactly one month later, on 7 May, at Brooklyn, N.Y. Struck from the Navy list on 30 November 1946, Zenobia was transferred at Brooklyn to the government of the Republic of Chile on 9 December 1946.
Renamed Presidente Pinto, the former Navy attack cargo ship served the Chilean Navy as a transport through the late 1960's and ended her active career as a training ship for midshipmen. She was transferred to "harbor duties" in 1968—probably serving as a floating barracks or accommodation ship—and was replaced as training ship by the four-masted schooner Esmeralda. Presidente Pinto was probably scrapped in about 1974.
References
- Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (Primary source for this article)