USS Cabell (AK-166)

USS Cabell (AK-166) was an Alamosa-class cargo ship commissioned by the US Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.

USS Cabell (AK-166) at anchor, location unknown, c. late 1945.
History
United States
Name: Cabell
Namesake: Cabell County, West Virginia
Ordered: as type (C1-M-AV1) hull, MC hull 2111[1]
Builder: Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Richmond, California
Yard number: 68[1]
Laid down: date unknown
Launched: 23 December 1944
Sponsored by: Mrs. W. P. Gilmore
Acquired: 11 April 1945
Commissioned: 11 April 1945
Decommissioned: 19 July 1946
Stricken: 31 July 1946
Identification:
Fate: delivered to American Mail Line agent, 7 May 1947
Status: Sold to Swedish Rederlaktiebolaget Bris, 28 May 1947
History
Sweden
Name: Sommen
Namesake: Sommen Lake
Owner: Rederlaktiebolaget Bris
Acquired: 28 May 1947
Status: Sold 1963
History
Greece
Name: Donald
Acquired: 1963
Status: October 1963, posted as missing in the Gulf of Aden
General characteristics [2]
Class and type: Alamosa-class cargo ship
Type: C1-M-AV1
Tonnage: 5,032 long tons deadweight (DWT)[1]
Displacement:
  • 2,382 long tons (2,420 t) (standard)
  • 7,450 long tons (7,570 t) (full load)
Length: 388 ft 8 in (118.47 m)
Beam: 50 ft (15 m)
Draft: 21 ft 1 in (6.43 m)
Installed power:
Propulsion: 1 × propeller
Speed: 11.5 kn (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Capacity:
  • 3,945 t (3,883 long tons) DWT
  • 9,830 cu ft (278 m3) (refrigerated)
  • 227,730 cu ft (6,449 m3) (non-refrigerated)
Complement:
  • 15 Officers
  • 70 Enlisted
Armament:

Construction

Cabell was launched 23 December 1944, by Kaiser Cargo Co., Richmond, California, under a Maritime Commission contract, MC hull 2111; sponsored by Mrs. W. P. Gilmore; acquired by the Navy 11 April 1945; commissioned the same day, Lieutenant E. J. McCluskey, USNR, in command; and reported to the U.S. Pacific Fleet.[3]

World War II Pacific Theatre operations

Cabell made one cargo voyage from San Francisco, California, to Eniwetok and San Pedro Bay, Philippine Islands, between 1 June 1945 and 22 August. She sailed from San Francisco again 8 September with cargo for Eniwetok and Yokosuka Naval Base in Tokyo Bay, where she arrived 7 October.[3]

Continuing with support of occupation operations, Cabell called at ports in the Philippines, and on Okinawa, Saipan, and Guam, before arriving at San Pedro, California, 15 April 1946.[3]

Post-war decommissioning

Cabell was decommissioned at Seattle, Washington, 19 July 1946, and returned to the Maritime Commission 3 days later. The ship was sold to a Swedish firm and reflagged 1947.[3]

Merchant service

Cabell was sold to the Swedish shipping firm of Rederlaktiebolaget Bris, 28 May 1947, after they refused her sister ship Amador.[4] She was renamed Sommen after the lake Sommen in Sweden.[5]

In 1963, Sommen was reflagged again as the Greek ship MV Donald. She disappeared, however, later that year, with 26 people and a 5,000 t (4,900 long tons; 5,500 short tons) cargo of iron bound for Indonesia. The ship had last been heard from on 25 August 1963, when the captain sent word that the ship had encountered rough seas in the Indian Ocean.[6]

Notes
    Citations
    1. C1 Cargo Ships 2009.
    2. Navsource 2015.
    3. DANFS.
    4. MADAR.
    5. Navsource 2014.
    6. Post-Gazette 1963, p. 1.

    Bibliography

    Newspaper resources

    • "Ship Missing, 26 Aboard". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 25 September 1963. Retrieved 13 November 2016.

    Online resources


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