USS Mizar (AF-12)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Mizar.
History
Name
  • Quirigua (1932–41, 1946–58)
  • Mizar (1941–46)
  • Samala (1958–64)
OwnerUnited Fruit CompanyUnited Fruit Company
Operator
  • United Mail Steamship Company (1932–41, 1946–58)
  • US Navy (1941–46)
  • Elders and Fyffes (1958–64)
Port of registryNew York US and UK
RouteNew York to Caribbean and Central America
OrderedAugust 1930
BuilderBethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation
Yard number1445
Laid down1931
Launched6 February 1932
CompletedDelivered 4 June 1932
Maiden voyage8 June 1932
Identification
  • U.S. Official Number: 231645
  • Signal: KDCR
FateScrapped 1964
NotesShip acquired by WSA for U.S. Navy by bareboat charter, 2 June 1941, commissioned USS Mizar 14 June 1941. Decommissioned and returned to WSA 1 April 1946, restored for former use, returned to owners 15 February 1947.
General characteristics [1]
Class and type
TypeCivilian: passenger, fruit and mail liner
Tonnage6,982 GRT, 3,178 NRT, 2,615 long tons deadweight (DWT)
Displacement10,940[2]
Length
  • 447 ft 10 in (136.50 m) (overall)
  • 415.7 ft (126.7 m) (registry)
Beam60.3 ft (18.4 m)
Draft
  • 24 ft 9 in (7.5 m) (molded)[note 1]
  • 25 ft 2 in (7.67 m) (Navy)
Depth of hold24.1 ft (7.3 m)
Installed power4 oil fired Babcock & Wilcox header-type boilers, 350 psi 230° superheat driving GE generator sets for main propulsion and auxiliary power[3][4]
Propulsion2 GE 4,200 kw, 5,500 hp at 125 rpm, twin 15 ft 6 in (4.7 m), 3 blade screws[3][4]
Speed17.5 kn (20.1 mph; 32.4 km/h) (Contract service speed)
Capacity
  • Commercial:
  • Passengers: design 113, postwar 95
  • Cargo:
  • 240,070 cu ft (6,798.0 m3) refrigerated
  • 5,370 cu ft (152.1 m3) baggage, mail & other
Troopsmore than 100
ComplementNavy: 238
CrewCommercial: 112
Armamentone single 5"/38 caliber gun, four 3"/50 caliber guns AA and anti submarine and up to eight Oerlikon 20 mm cannon anti-aircraft guns

USS Mizar (AF-12) was the United Fruit Company fruit, mail and passenger liner Quirigua that served as a United States Navy Mizar-class stores ship in World War II.

Quirigua was one of six fast turbo-electric transmission driven ships built for United Fruit's subsidiary United Mail Steamship Company, the first of its ships built in the U.S., to take advantage of subsidies and mail contracts. The ships were refrigerated fruit carriers with substantial passenger capacity and, as a result of the mail contract connection, termed "Mail class" by the line. Three were built by Newport News Shipbuilding and three by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation of Quincy, Massachusetts. Quirigua was the second of the group built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding. Three ships served the Pacific routes and three the Atlantic routes with Quirigua operating out of New York.

During the build up of United States defenses and potential war state the ship was acquired for use by the Navy under a bareboat charter as refrigerated stores ships on 2 June 1941 that was administered by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on creation of that organization in early 1942. The ship was commissioned USS Mizar and served in the Atlantic and Pacific. Mizar decommissioned and returned to WSA at Baltimore 1 April 1946 then, with United Fruit operating the vessel under a General Agency Agreement with WSA, the ship arrived in August 1946 at Bethlehem Steel's Staten Island Shipyard for re-conversion to former use. The conversion complete, the ship was returned to its owner 15 February 1947 as Quirigua.

United Fruit transferred the ship to its British subsidiary Elders and Fyffes where it served as Samala, after an earlier Fyffes ship, until scrapping 1964.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference MVUS34 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Pacific American Steamship Association; Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast (August 1932). "Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Fore River Plant". Pacific Marine Review. San Francisco: J.S. Hines: 314. Retrieved 15 July 2021.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference PMR3201 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference PMRJUL32 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).