U.S.S. Ajax
The fourth Ajax was laid down on 7 May 1941 at San Pedro, Calif., by the
Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp.; launched on 22 August 1942;
sponsored by Mrs. Isaac C. Johnson; commissioned on 30 October 1943, Comdr.
John L. Brown in command.
The repair ship departed San Pedro on 9 December, arrived at Pearl Harbor on
16 December, and began preparing small craft to be used as control vessels
in the Marshall Islands campaign by installing radar, sound detection
equipment, and antiaircraft guns. On 8 January 1944, an oil fire in her
blacksmith shop threatened the entire ship, but was extinguished.
Nevertheless, Ajax spent part of January repairing her own damage.
On 25 January, Ajax was ordered to proceed in company with Wadleigh (DD-689)
to the Ellice Islands; but, two days after reaching Funafuti, she moved to
Makin Atoll, Gilbert Islands, to work on the ships that would occupy Majuro
in the Marshall Islands. Upon completing that mission, the ship returned to
Funafuti on 26 February, only to sail three days later for Majuro.
While she was serving there, Service Squadron (ServRon) 4 was absorbed by
ServRon 10. There, she and Vestal (AR^4) repaired combatant ships through
the Hollandia strikes and during preparations for the Marianas campaign. On
13 June, she sailed for Eniwetok to help set up an advance repair base where
she labored through August, at one time working extensive jobs on 19
cruisers and nine battleships.
Late in August, bacillary dysentery broke out among the crew and soon
reached epidemic proportions. The ship was quarantined on 1 September and
detached on 9 September to proceed to Kwajalein to combat the epidemic.
Quarantine ended on 10 October, and Ajax steamed to Ulithi to resume repair
work and to handle her first major battle damage job. Severely damaged
during a torpedo attack off Formosa, Canberra (CA-70) received sufficient
temporary repairs alongside Ajax to enable the cruiser to continue on to
Manus. The repair ship continued her work at Ulithi in support of operations
in the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.
On 25 May 1945, Ajax headed for San Pedro Bay, Leyte Gulf, to help prepare
for the final assault on Japan, spending July repairing typhoon-battered
Bennington (CV-20). The job consisted of rebuilding the forward section of
her flight deck and required assistance fromBasilan (AG-68), Baham (AK-122),
and Jason (ARH-1).
Upon learning of Japan's capitulation on 15 August, Ajax began readying
amphibious and transport ships to carry occupation forces to the Japanese
home islands. On 20 September, she sailed for Guinan, Samar; embarked troops
for passage to Okinawa; and once there, repaired other typhoon-damaged
snips. Ironically, while she was carrying out this task, typhoons forced her
to go to sea herself on 28 September and on 7 October. But for these two
incidents, her work at Okinawa was uninterrupted until 28 November, when she
sailed for the United States with 800 passengers. She arrived at San Diego
on 18 December and, three days later, entered the San Francisco Naval
Shipyard for a six-week overhaul.
The yard work ended on 23 February 1946, and Ajax sailed via Pearl Harbor
for the Bikini Atoll to participate in the atomic bomb tests to be held
there in July. Following the tests, she returned to San Diejjo on 8 October.
For the next few years, she tended ships primarily at San Diego.
The repair ship got underway on 2 April 1951 for the first of many postwar
cruises to Japan and arrived at Yokosuka on the 18th. She headed for Sasebo
on 1 May and spent the rest of the year and early 1952 engaged in repair
services in those two ports.
Ajax returned to San Diego on 26 April and devoted the next four and
one-half months to operations in various shipyards and ports along the coast
of California. She made five more cruises to Japan before 1960, each time
operating out of Sasebo and Yokosuka and in every instance returning to San
Diego.
Ajax returned from the United States to Japan in February 1960 and in June
received orders changing her home port from San Diego to Sasebo. She then
became the permanent flagship of SeryRon 3 in the Far East. She moved to
Yokosuka in August to begin her first yard overhaul in the Orient. Among her
alterations was the installation of flag office spaces for ServRon 3 staff.
Following refresher training, underway replenishment, and towing exercises
with Castor (AKS-1), Ajax returned to Sasebo on 17 December.
Early in 1961, she became an ambassador of goodwill on a cruise in which she
entertained local dignitaries as well as the local populace during visits to
Kure, Beppu, Kagoshima, Iwakuni, and Kobe, Japan; Hong Kong; Keelung and
Kaoshiung, Taiwan; Subic Bay; and Buckner Bay, Okinawa. A scheduled two-day
visit to the last port became a three-week stay in March and April when Ajax
remained there as backup repair ship in the event that President Kennedy's
strong diplomatic resistance to communist aggression in Laos would involve
the American Navy in hostilities.
When Seadragon (SSN-584), the first nuclear submarine to put into a Japanese
port, arrived at Sasebo on 12 November 1964, Ajax served as a press platform
for radio and television reporters who came to report the event.
On 10 January 1968, Ajax sailed for Subic Bay where she remained until
mid-March, before returning to her home port. On 3 June, the repair ship
headed for Vietnam and arrived at Vung Tau on 9 June. Although that port was
a rest and recreation center for the allied forces, Ajax worked without
break for 13 days making badly needed repairs and providing services to
ships and small craft operating in the Mekong Delta, as we[l as to various
Army and Air Force equipment ashore. The repair ship got underway for Subic
Bay on 22 June, arrived on 25 June, and undertook a repair job of
considerable significance—the regunning of four 5-inch mounts on Boston
(CAG-1). The repair ship's technicians worked around the clock for seven
days to complete the job and return Boston to her ready status. After her
arrival in Sasebo on 23 July, Ajax provided routine repairs and service
support for ships there and in Yokosuka for the remainder of the year and
the beginning of 1969.
Ajax continued her usual routine of servicing ships in Sasebo, Yokosuka, and
Subic Bay during 1969, including a two-week stay in Vung Tau from 27
September to 10 October. As 1970 began, she received word that her home port
would revert to San Diego effective 1 June. Prior to that date, Ajax
continued servicing Vung Tau from 13 April to 9 May in support of the
American offensive in Cambodia. Hector relieved Ajax as flagship on 10 July;
and, on the 15th, the latter headed for San Diego where she arrived on 6
August.
On 14 June 1971, following a year's service on the California coast, the
ship once again steamed toward Japan and arrived in Sasebo on 5 July.
Commander, Service Group (ComServGru) 3, embarked; and Ajax commenced
business as usual. The ship spent September in Vung Tau, but her month of
hard work there was followed by five days of "rest and relaxation" in Hong
Kong before she returned to Sasebo on 1 October. However, the vessel soon
again proceeded to Vung Tau and worked diligently for the first three weeks
in November. Next came a three-day rest in Keelung and Taipei, Taiwan,
before a run back to Sasebo to prepare for the voyage home. On 27 January
1972, ComServGru 3 shifted his flag to Hector; and Ajax steamed via Pearl
Harbor to San Diego where she arrived on 16 February and served for the
remainder of the year.
Ajax again got underway westward on 16 January and stopped at Pearl Harbor
before arriving in Sasebo on 6 February to relieve Jason as flagship. The
repair ship made two "rest and relaxation" cruises, one in April to Keelung
and the other in July to Hong Kong. Typhoon "Dot" complicated the second
"pleasure cruise" by closing Hong Kong harbor and causing Ajax to circle in
rough waters for two extra days before pulling into port. Her return to
Sasebo on 25 July was uneventful; and, after being relieved by Hector on 7
August, the ship headed home, arrived at San Diego on 29 August, and
remained in California for the rest of the year and the first six months of
1974. On 6 July of that year, she got underway in company with Tolovana
(AO-64) and steamed for Yokosuka which she reached on 27 July. She operated
there until 8 November when she headed for Subic Bay to provide fleet repair
services. She labored in the Philippines for a month before proceeding to
Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where she ended the year.
Ajax returned to San Diego on 15 February 1975. On 5 October, she got
underway for a two-month visit to Pearl Harbor to provide repair support in
the middle Pacific. She departed Hawaii on 8 December and arrived in her
home port on the 15th in time for a holiday in a leave and upkeep period.
Ajax remained in or near San Diego for the entire year 1976.
During the first half of 1977, Ajax made ready for another deployment. The
ship departed San Diego with Blue Ridge (LCC-19) on 24 August and arrived at
Pearl Harbor on 31 August. The following morning, Ajax got underway for
Japan and six months in Yokosuka. A series of labor strikes by Japanese
employees gave the repair ship's crew members the opportunity to prove their
expertise and capabilities. Besides carrying out their normal duties, they
helped run the base utilities and acted as firemen, bus drivers, and skilled
practitioners of many other occupations to aid the naval activity. She
visited Taipei, Taiwan, in December and spent four days in January 1978 in
Pusan, Korea. On 5 February, she headed via Pearl Harbor for San Diego,
where she arrived on 24 February.
Except for two days of sea trials in April, Ajax remained at San Diego until
mid-1980. During this period she received an overhaul there by the National
Steel and Ship Building Co. which lasted from 21 September 1978 to 21 July
1979.
On 20 May, she sailed for the Orient and reached Subic Bay on 17 June. Three
days later, the ship got underway and steamed via Sri Lanka to Diego Garcia
where she arrived and relieved L. Y. Spear (AS-38) on 6 July. During her
busy three months in the Indian Ocean servicing 31 ships, Ajax made a brief
visit to Port Louis, Mauritius, for recreation. On 12 October, after being
relieved by Emory S. Land (AS-39), Ajax sailed eastward; stopped in Bunbury
and Sydney, Australia; Pearl Harbor; and finally reached San Diego on 20
November.
With the exception of two three-day visits to San Francisco and two days of
training in the local operating area, Ajax remained in San Diego throughout
1981. One notable occurrence during the year was the reporting on board for
duty of the ship's first 30 enlisted women. While the women became
accustomed to shipboard routine, Ajax underwent inspections and training. On
16 October, the ship reached another milestone in the "Women at Sea" program
when Ens. Dale Norris became the first woman officer on board Ajax to become
surface warfare qualified.
On 22 January 1982, Ajax got underway for training and a brief port visit to
Mazatlan, Mexico, and arrived back home on the last day of the month.
Pre-overseas movement preparations throughout the next few months ensured
that the repair ship was ready for her 2 April departure for the western
Pacific and the Indian Ocean. After a four-day stopover in Pearl Harbor, the
ship headed for Subic Bay, where she arrived on 1 May and spent three weeks
providing fleet repair services before continuing on to Diego Garcia where
she arrived on 1 June. During that deployment, Ajax visited Berbera in
Somalia, Singapore, and Pattaya in Thailand, before she returned—via Pearl
Harbor—to San Diego. The repair ship entered San Diego on 21 October and
commenced post-deployment standdown.
Her leave and upkeep period came to an end in November, and Ajax set about
her repair work once again. Over the next seven months, the ship provided
repair services for units of the Pacific Fleet at San Diego, served as a
training facility for naval reserve detachments undergoing their annual two
weeks of active duty, and made preparations for a regular overhaul. She also
put to sea infrequently for trials and, on one occasion in May and June of
1983, to carry her repair services to Bremerton, Wash. Ajax returned to San
Diego from that mission on 10 June 1983 and, the next day, began a month of
final preparations for overhaul. On 11 July, her crew moved to living spaces
on board a non-self-propelled barracks ship, and the overhaul began in
earnest.
Receiving repair services, rather than extending them to others, occupied
her time for the rest of 1983 and during the first two months of 1984. On 1
and 2 March, she put to sea to conduct post-overhaul trials and, on the 3d,
resumed repair services to other units of the Pacific Fleet. During the last
week in March, she was frequently at sea in the local operating area
carrying out independent ship's exercises. From the beginning of April to
late June, Ajax performed repair missions at San Diego. On 27 June, the
repair ship stood out of San Diego and, after a day of independent ship's
exercises in the local operating area, shaped a course for the Naval Air
Station, Alameda, where she moored on 29 June. Ajax carried out repair
assignments at Alameda until the third week in September. On 16 September,
she got underway to conduct exercises and then head back to San Diego. The
repair ship tied up at pierside at the Naval Station, San Diego, on 19
September. Except for two periods at sea in October for refresher training,
Ajax spent the rest of 1984 in port repairing ships of the Pacific Fleet.
She continued so engaged into January of 1985, though she interrupted those
efforts from the 19th to the 21st to carry out sea trials in the southern
California operating area. The first three weeks of February brought more
repair work; however, on the 22d, she put to sea again bound for Long Beach.
Ajax reached her destination on 27 February and set about her work almost
immediately. She spent the next five months—save for five days underway
locally in May—performing repairs at Long Beach. On 31 July, the repair ship
embarked upon the final overseas assignment of her Navy career.
Her last deployment afforded Ajax a real opportunity to carry out the
function for which she had been designed and built. Continually moving, she
performed repairs at widely separated locations. Steaming by way of Hawaii
and Guam, she arrived in the Philippines at Subic Bay on 31 August. From
Subic Bay, she voyaged to Singapore where she stopped between 24 September
and 3 October. Leaving Singapore, Ajax headed through the Malacca Strait
into the Indian Ocean. She arrived at isolated Diego Garcia Island on 11
October but resumed her voyage again on the 13th. The repair ship dropped
anchor at Al Masirah, an island in the Arabian Sea just off the east coast
of Oman, on the 19th and carried out repair work there until the beginning
of November. On the 2d, she headed back to Diego Garcia where she arrived on
the 9th. Her crew performed repairs on Mars (AFS-1) and Shasta (AE-33)
before Ajax put to sea to return to Al Masirah. After conducting
availabilities for ships of the Middle East Force at Al Masirah from 22
November to 5 December, she put to sea to avoid a large dust storm. While
still underway, she laid in a course for Singapore on 7 December. The ship
reached her destination on 20 December. Following repairs on Jesse L. Brown
(FF-1089), Ajax set sail once again on 31 December bound for Diego Garcia
Island. She arrived at Diego Garcia on 7 January 1986 and provided repair
services there for a fortnight. On 22 January, the ship left Diego Garcia in
her wake and set course for Pattaya, Thailand, where she spent most of the
first week in February. On 12 February, Ajax stood into Subic Bay where she
was relieved by Hector.
The repair ship embarked upon the long voyage across the Pacific Ocean on 21
February. She stopped at Pearl Harbor between 8 and 10 March and arrived
back in San Diego on the 18th. Following the usual leave and upkeep period,
Ajax resumed her repair services. That activity lasted until the second week
in September when she began preparations to go out of service. Ajax was
decommissioned at San Diego on 31 December 1986.
Ajax (AR-6) received five battle stars for service in the Vietnam conflict.