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

Photo # NH 58160:  USS Capella pierside between 1922-24

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

USS Capella (AK-13), 1921-1946

USS Capella was one of 110 "Hog Island Standard Fabricated Type A" freighters mass produced to the Emergency Fleet Corporation's Design 1022 by the American International Shipbuilding Co, Hog Island, Pa. The 77th in the series, she was named Comerant by her owner, the U. S. Shipping Board, given the ID number 4253-W, and completed in April 1920. In October 1921 the President signed an executive order directing the Shipping Board to transfer 15 new cargo ships and 12 tankers to replace obsolete ships then serving as navy fleet auxiliaries. The inactive Comerant was taken over in November 1921, renamed Capella, and commissioned in December 1921 as a replacement for Gulfport (AK-5).

Capella completed fitting out as a unit of the Naval Transportation Service in February 1922. In March she commenced her first voyage, which took her from New York to Bremerton, Washington, and back, with multiple stops enroute to deliver and pick up cargo. Her second supply run began in September and was highlighted by the delivery of two Army 16-inch guns to Pearl Harbor. Subsequent supply voyages took Capella as far as Yokohama, Japan, where she delivered relief supplies and water in November 1923 following the Japanese earthquake. A victim of force downsizing, she was decommissioned in September 1924 and placed in reserve, first at the Norfolk Navy Yard and then in the James River.

The cargo ship was recommissioned in November 1938. Initially assigned to the Atlantic Squadron, she transported marines from Quantico, Va., to Culebra, Puerto Rico, where she took part in landing force exercises. Reverting to the Naval Transportation Service in March 1939, Capella began a busy career of supplying military units and bases which extended through World War II. After operating with the Marines again in early 1940 and a final voyage to the Pacific in mid-1940, she served exclusively as a supply ship in the Atlantic and Caribbean. In April 1942 the motor torpedo boat PT-59, on a practice run in upper Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, accidentally torpedoed Capella; tugs came to the scene immediately and helped the damaged ship anchor in shoal water. Between June and October 1944 she acted as a temporary stores issue ship (AKS) during voyages from Norfolk to Scotland and North Africa. Capella was decommissioned in November 1945, transferred to the War Shipping Administration in July 1946, and sold by WSA for scrap in September 1947.

This page features, or provides links to, all the views we have related to USS Capella (AK-13).

For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Capella (AK-13) -- Transporting Army 16-inch guns, 1922.


    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 55049

    USS Capella (AK-13)


    Photographed pierside, probably between 1922 and 1924.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 58160

    USS Capella (AK-13)


    Transiting the Panama Canal, probably between 1938 and 1940.
    The ship was unarmed until she received two 5"/51 and four 3"/50 guns at the end of 1940.

    Courtesy of FADM C. W. Nimitz, USN.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 44KB; 740 x 460 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98063

    USS Capella (AK-13)


    Photographed in 1942 or 1943, after she received 8-20mm guns and before her two 5"/51 guns were replaced by one 5"/38 gun. She also carried four 3"/50 guns amidships.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 36KB; 740 x 500 pixels

     


    In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Capella (AK-13). The following list features one of these images:

    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-76595
    Starboard broadside aerial oblique view of USS Capella (AK-13) in the Atlantic east of Norfolk, Va., (37 05'N x 74 49'W) on 14 July 1943. Photographed from a squadron ZP-14 blimp based at Naval Air Station, Weeksville, N.C.

    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".

  • For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Capella (AK-13) -- Transporting Army 16-inch guns, 1922.


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


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    Page made 19 February 2003