USS Talamanca (AF-15)

Details

Description<p>A combination luxury liner and fruit cargo carrier built in 1931 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co, Newport News, Va. Length: 136 metres. Speed: 16 knots. Acquired by US Navy on 16 December 1941 from the United Mail Steamship Co and converted to an auxiliary stores ship. TALAMANCA put to sea for the first time as a naval vessel on 13 February. Six days later, laden with cargo, passengers, and mail, she transited the Panama Canal and proceeded via Talara, Peru, across the South Pacific arriving in Wellington on 16 March. On 1 April, following a voyage to Melbourne, Australia, and back to Wellington, she headed once more toward the United States. She made a brief stop in Manzanilla, Mexico and reached San Francisco on 21 April. Between 9 May and 1 June, TALAMANCA made a round-trip voyage from San Francisco to Pearl Harbour. TALAMANCA left San Francisco on 8 July with a Hawaii-bound convoy. She reached Pearl Harbour on the 16th and remained there for five days taking on fuel and stores before heading southwest on the 21st. On 1 August, she parted company with the convoy headed—via the Fiji Islands—for New Zealand, and reached Auckland on the 7th. For the next three years, Auckland served as TALAMANCA'S home port. Between August 1942 and April 1946, the ship plied the waters of the southwestern Pacific supplying American bases in that area. She visited such places as the Fiji Islands. Espiritu Santo, Efate, Manus and Napier, New Zealand. The closest she ever came to the combat zone were stops at Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Florida, and the Russell Islands in the Solomons.</p>

Particulars of Ship

Propulsionnot specified

Connections

CollectionVisiting ShipsFile pathwayNZ Marine History
US Forces 2nd World War
Some of the Ships which visited NZ

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USS Talamanca (AF-15)