USS Wasatch

History
United States
NameUSS Wasatch
NamesakeWasatch Range in Utah
BuilderNorth Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina
Laid down7 August 1943
Launched8 October 1943
Acquired31 December 1943
Commissioned20 May 1944
Decommissioned30 August 1946
Stricken1 January 1960
Honours and
awards
5 battle stars
FateScrapped 1960
General characteristics
Class and typeMount McKinley-class Amphibious Command Ship
Displacement12,750 long tons (12,955 t)
Length459 ft 2 in (139.95 m)
Beam63 ft (19 m)
Draft24 ft (7.3 m)
Speed16.4 knots (30.4 km/h; 18.9 mph)
Complement612
Armament

USS Wasatch (AGC-9) was a Mount McKinley-class amphibious force command ship, named after a mountain chain in northern Utah. She was designed as a cargo ship and converted into an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations.

The ship was laid down as Fleetwing, a type C2-S-AJ1 cargo vessel, under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1349) on 7 August 1943 at Wilmington, N.C., by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company. Fleetwing was launched on 8 October 1943, sponsored by Mrs. P. A. Wilson, and acquired by the Navy on 31 December 1943 for conversion to an amphibious command ship. Renamed Wasatch and designated AGC-9, the ship was converted for naval use at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., and commissioned there on 20 May 1944.