USS Newcastle Victory (AK-233)

History
United States
Name:	Newcastle Victory
Ordered:	as type (VC2-S-AP2) hull, MCV hull 542
Builder:	Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond, California
Yard number:	Yard No.1
Laid down:	21 August 1944
Launched:	17 October 1944
Commissioned:	23 November 1944
Decommissioned:	21 June 1946
Struck:	3 July 1946
Identification:	Hull symbol:AK-233
Fate:	donated to the US Merchant Marine Academy as a fund raiser, sold via broker in New York for scrapping at Alang, India, 17 January 1992
Status:	delivered to buyer at Newport news, VA.
General characteristics
Class & type:	Boulder Victory-class cargo ship
Displacement:	4,480 long tons (4,550 t) (standard) 15,580 long tons (15,830 t) (full load)
Length:	455 ft (139 m)
Beam:	62 ft (19 m)
Draft:	29 ft 2 in (8.89 m)
Installed power:	6,000 shp (4,500 kW)
Propulsion:	1 × Westinghouse turbine 2 × Foster Wheeler header-type boilers, 525psi 750° double Westinghouse Main Reduction Gears 1 × shaft
Speed:	15.5 kn (17.8 mph; 28.7 km/h)
Complement:	99 officers and enlisted
Armament:	1 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 caliber dual purpose gun 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber dual purpose gun 8 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons anti-aircraft gun mounts

USS Newcastle Victory (AK-233) was a Boulder Victory-class cargo ship acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Pacific Ocean theatre of operations through the end of the war, and then returned to the United States of America for disposal.

Victory built in California

Newcastle Victory, built by Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond, California, was laid down 21 August 1944; launched 17 October; and named 29 October. One of many Victory ships ordered by the U.S. Maritime Commission, she was one of ten taken over by the Navy to carry ammunition; and commissioned 23 November, Lt. Comdr. J. D. Edwards, USNR, in command.

World War II operations

After shakedown off the California coast, she put in at San Francisco, California, 12 December and took on a cargo of ammunition. Upon completion of loading at Port Chicago, California, and at San Pablo, California, she steamed for Pearl Harbor 28 December.

Newcastle Victory departed Pearl Harbor 17 January 1945, arrived Guam 1 February, departed 6 February in a small convoy bound for Ulithi, where she anchored 8–17 February. She then returned to Guam and offloaded ammunition for the newly commissioned ammunition depot there.

She departed 7 March for San Francisco via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor. At Pearl Harbor she received a three-week availability, which brought new ordnance and radar equipment and habitability improvements. She departed Pearl Harbor 17 April, arrived San Francisco 23 April, and then took on a new cargo of ammunition at Port Chicago, California.

She steamed towards Leyte 15 May, via Pearl Harbor, Saipan, and Ulithi. During June she serviced ships in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, in the Philippine Islands; during July she returned to Ulithi and there assumed duties as station issues ship.

Newcastle Victory was directed to proceed to Seattle, Washington, in November 1945, where she was laid up in a reduced manning status until May 1946, when she was directed to report to the 3d Naval District for disposal. She steamed in early May via the Panama Canal and Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, where she offloaded her ammunition.

Post-war decommissioning and career

She reported to Commander, 3d Naval District, New York, 30 May and decommissioned 21 June. She was stricken from the Navy List 3 July 1946. Returned to the U.S. Maritime Commission, she was laid up in the Hudson River, New York. She was reactivated in 1955 and leased to the United Fruit Lines under a general agency agreement.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - AK-233 Newcastle Victory