Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 97856:  USS Libra underway in Hampton Roads, Virginia, 11 August 1952

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Libra (AK-53, later AKA-12), 1942-1964

USS Libra, a 10,713-ton Arcturus class cargo ship, was built as the merchant ship Jean Lykes at Kearny, New Jersey. She was acquired by the Navy in late December 1941, while still fitting out, and was placed in commission in mid-May 1942. Libra soon sailed for the south Pacific, where she participated in the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in early August. During the next three months, she transported equipment and supplies among the bases supporting the campaign to hold Guadalcanal. In November, she helped to fight off Japanese air attacks on shipping off Guadalcanal, and made several more voyages into the battle area during the rest of 1942 and in the early part of 1943.

Reclassified as an attack cargo ship in February 1943, with the new hull number AKA-12, Libra continued to support operations in the Solomon Islands for the rest of that year, including participation in the Rendova landings in late June and the Bougainville invasion in November. In 1944 and 1945, she carried cargo throughout the southern and western Pacific, and was part of the amphibious forces that assaulted Guam in July 1944, Lingayen Gulf in January 1945 and Iwo Jima a month later. After the fighting ended in August 1945 Libra took part in the occupation of Japan.

Libra kept busy with Pacific Fleet logistics duties until late 1947, when she was sent to Boston, Massachusetts, for inactivation. Decommissioned in April 1948, she was in "mothballs" for somewhat more that two years. The Korean War crisis produced a recall to active duty, and Libra was recommissioned in August 1950. For the first half of the decade, she served with the Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force, deploying to the Mediterranean Sea in 1954 and frequently operating in the Caribbean. USS Libra was laid up for the last time in October 1955. She was transferred to the Maritime Administration in July 1964, and remained in the National Defense Reserve Fleet for many years after that.

This page features the only views we have related to USS Libra (AK-53, later AKA-12).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 97856

USS Libra (AKA-12)


Underway in Hampton Roads, Virginia, 11 August 1952.
Photographed by PH3 W.T. Sanders, of Fleet Camera Party 11.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 475 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-32367

Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 12-15 November 1942


Smoke rises from two enemy planes shot down during a Japanese air attack on U.S. ships off Guadalcanal, 12 November 1942. Photographed from USS President Adams (AP-38).
Ship at right is USS Betelgeuse (AK-28). That at left, barely visible beyond President Adams' structure, is USS Libra (AK-53). Smoke in the center distance appears to be a smoke screen.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold at least one other view of USS Libra (AK-53). The following list features this image:

The image listed below is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."



  • Photo #: 80-G-266841
    USS Libra (AK-53) underway in harbor, 25 October 1942. Taken by a photographer from USS Tangier (AV-8).
    Starboard side surface view, somewhat toward the stern, showing the ship in pattern camouflage (probably Measure 12, Modified).

    Reproductions of this image should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The image listed in this box is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


  • If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 10 February 2002