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| Waterman Steamship Company Flag |
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| Cross Section of a typical Victory Ship |
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| Transferred to the Navy on 7 July 1951, a little over a year
after Communist forces invaded the Republic of Korea, the ship as renamed Altair on
26 July, classified as a cargo ship and designated AK-257; and, commissioned at Baltimore,
MD on 31 January 1952, Comdr. George J. Largess in command.
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| Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet Service Force, Altair
was initially based at Norfolk, and visited Annapolis (20 to 31 March) and Guantanamo Bay
(26 May to 2 June) during the course of her shakedown. Soon thereafter, she
commenced her first deployment to the Mediterranean to support the 6th Fleet, arriving at
Gibraltar on 29 June 1952. Altair departed that port the following day, and
sailed to Golfo Juan, France, arriving on 2 July. She remained there until 12 July,
when she sailed for Naples, Italy; she steamed thence to Casablanca, French Morocco.
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| Altair cleared Casablanca for the east
coast of the United States on 26 July, 1952, and reached Norfolk on 4 August.
Anticipating conversion to a stores issue ship, the vessel was redesignated AKS-32
on 12 August, 1952. Altair was decommissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard
on 5 January 1953 and taken to Baltimore where she underwent conversion at the Maryland
Drydock Co. to prepare her for her new role.
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| Recommissioned at Norfolk on 15
December 1953, the ship rejoined the Atlantic Fleet and, following her shakedown, reported
for duty on 20 March 1954. A little over two month later, on 24 May, Altair
sailed for the Mediterranean and reached the Hyeres(?) Islands, on the southeast coast of
France, on 10 June for a weeks stay. She steamed thence to Naples and Cagliari, Italy,
and thence to Golfo Juan, before paying a return call at Naples. She then visited
Palma de Majorca before reaching Gibralter on 11 August en route back to the United States.
During her second Mediterranean deployment, the ship also conducted two underway
replenishments, with Task Force (TF) 63, from 29 June to 2 July, and on 2 August 1954.
Arriving back in Norfolk on 23 August, Altair operated between that port and New York
and Baltimore through the autumn, ultimately sailing from Norfolk on 15 November for Gibraltar
and her third deployment with the 6th Fleet. Over the next few months, Altair
called at Gibraltar, Naples (thrice), Barcelona, Spain, Genoa, Italy, Cartegena,
Spain, Mers-el-Kebir, and Algiers, before she closed out that deployment at Gibraltar on 24
February 1955 and sailed for Norfolk.
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| In May 1955, her homeport was changed
to Barcelona, and she cleared Norfolk for her permanent station in the Mediterranean. She
returned to her 'home away from home' Barcelona, and supported the Sixth Fleet. In
November 1955, returned to Norfolk with a stop in Gibraltar and then Brooklyn, NY in January,
1956 for a two month overhaul. The entire forward section of the ship flooded while
in drydock. A fire main which had been tagged closed somehow was opened. A brief
trip to Guantanamo Bay for Refresher Training and then Bermuda where she ran aground in April
1956. On 26 May 1956 she was bound for Gibraltar. During 1955-1956 the Altair
visited Cannes, Mallorca, Naples, Athens and Rhodes several times. In August 1962, her
homeport was shifted to Naples. From time to time, she returned to the United States for
overhaul and modification. In 1959 she received a helicopter-landing platform to enable
her to carry out early vertical replenishment operations. She also received a complete
material handling system, which included new elevators, forklifts, trucks, conveyor belts, and
the first electronic accounting system to be placed aboard ship. This greatly facilitated
her task of keeping track of the more than 25,000 items in her general stores inventory.
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| Altair's helicopter rescued an Air Force fighter pilot
on 8 September 1961 after he had to bail our off the coast of Spain. On 17 March 1962,
Altair sent a rescue and sustenance detail to aid the distressed Italian passenger ship
Venezuela off Cannes, France. While a damage control party operated portable
pumps to contain flooding, Altair's corpsmen helped over 800 passengers to leave the
liner. A few weeks later, she provided emergency medical assistance to a critically ill
Greek National on the island of Koao in the southern Aegean Sea; her helicopter flew the
patient to Athens for further treatment. On 17 August 1962, the ship took part in relief
operations for homeless repatriates in Algeria by taking 1,000 tents to Bono.
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| Altair returned to the United States in October 1962 for
overhaul but was abruptly ordered to the Caribbean to replenish American warships enforcing
the quarantine of Cuba. For her service during the Cuban quarantine, October 11-28,
1962, the U.S.S. Altair was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for
participating in the designated expeditions after July 1, 1958.
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| The Altair was also awarded theNational Defense Service Medal for
her duty in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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| After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Altair proceeded
to Boston for an overhaul, which lasted into the spring of 1963. The stores issuing ship
departed Norfolk on 18 May and reached Rota, Spain on the 30th. On 13 June, she assisted
in the rescue of an Italian man who had fallen from the seawall while fishing in Naples.
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| In June 1965, Altair's home port was changed to Norfolk,
and she operated from that base until reporting to the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in
Portsmouth, VA on 31 December 1968. She was decommissioned on 2 May 1969 and transferred
to the Maritime Administration (MarAd) on 1 May, 1973.
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| Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 June
1973, and the former stores issue ship was laid up in the James River berthing area of the
NDRF. She was transferred permanently to MarAd on 1 September 1971; and, on 31 January
1975, she was sold for scrapping to Luria Brothers & Company.
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| This additional information about the Altair was kindly supplied by Bill Kelleher. |
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| "The Altair, a general stores ship carries spare parts
for machinery and electronic equipment, consumable items such as paint, tools, buckets and
brooms and items sold in ship's stores such as cigarettes, writing paper and toilet articles.
Altair has 5 holds in which her stores are carried with bin storage provided for all
small items and most spare parts. Mostly in the Mediterranean, the Altair received from
other transport ships bulk stocks of materials from the United States, breaking down the
supplies of bulk material down into retail packages and issued them to all ships of the Sixth
Fleet.
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| The Altair utilized two methods of transferring stores to
other ships. In the alongside method the ships maintain station alongside each other
and stores are transferred using long high lines and various wire rigs. In vertical
replenishment specially equipped helicopters pick up individual net loads from the Altair's
flight deck and deliver them to the other ships decks.
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| While monthly issues are being made, customer ships' orders are
received in the form of accounting machine cards. Records of stock on hand are also
kept on these cards and the ship is equipped with electronic business machines which are used
to process all issues, to maintain stock records and to process receipts and re-supply orders.
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| In 1965, the Altair was relieved by the U.S.S. Sylvania AFS-2 and
returned to Norfolk after a ten year period in the Mediterranean. The Altair is proud
of the skilled ship handling and deck seamanship of her crew. The Altair extends her
appreciation to the Helo crew who were assigned her and who became a vital part of an
integrated team which enabled her to accomplish her mission during the periods of deployment.
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