USS Ulysses (ARB-9)

{{Infobox ship image

|Ship image=USS Ulysses (ARB-9).jpg

|Ship caption=USS Ulysses (ARB-9) under way, date and location unknown.

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{{Infobox ship career

|Ship country=United States

|Ship flag={{USN flag|1947}}

|Ship name=* LST-967

Ulysses

|Ship namesake= Ulysses

|Ship ordered=

|Ship builder= Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Hingham, Massachusetts

|Ship yard number= 3437{{sfn|Bethlehem-Hingham|2011}}

|Ship laid down= 2 November 1944

|Ship launched= 2 December 1944

|Ship sponsor=

|Ship commissioned=* 27 December 1944, reduced commission

20 April 1945, full commission

|Ship decommissioned=* 8 January 1945

28 February 1947

|Ship struck= 1961

|Ship identification=*Hull symbol: LST-967

Hull symbol: ARB-9
Code letters: NJMB
{{ICS|November}}{{ICS|Juliet}}{{ICS|Mike}}{{ICS|Bravo}}

|Ship honors=

|Ship fate= Transferred to the West Germany Navy, 7 June 1961

}}

{{Infobox ship career

|Hide header= title

|Ship country=West Germany

|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|West Germany|naval}}

|Ship name= Odin

|Ship namesake= Odin

|Ship acquired=

|Ship commissioned=2 July 1960

|Ship decommissioned=

|Ship identification=Hull symbol: A512

|Ship struck=

|Ship reinstated=

|Ship homeport=

|Ship fate= Scrapped

|Ship notes=

}}

{{Infobox ship characteristics

|Hide header=

|Header caption={{sfn|Navsource|2016}}

|Ship class=* {{sclass|LST-542|tank landing ship}}

Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ship

|Ship displacement=*{{cvt|1781|LT|lk=on}} light

{{cvt|3960|LT}} full load

|Ship length={{LST-542 class tank landing ship length}}

|Ship beam={{LST-542 class tank landing ship beam}}

|Ship draft={{cvt|11|ft|2|in}}

|Ship depth=

|Ship power={{LST-542 class tank landing ship power}}

|Ship propulsion={{LST-542 class tank landing ship propulsion}}

|Ship speed={{LST-542 class tank landing ship speed}}

|Ship range=

|Ship complement=15 officers, 271 enlisted men

|Ship boats=

|Ship capacity=

|Ship troops=

|Ship armament=

2 × quad Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60s
8 × single Oerlikon 20 mm cannons

|Ship armor=

|Ship notes=

}}

USS Ulysses (ARB-9) was planned as a United States Navy {{sclass|LST-542|tank landing ship}}, but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Ulysses (a character in Greek mythology and the protagonist of Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey, which tells of his arduous voyage back to Ithaca, his home, after the Trojan War), she was the second US Naval vessel to bear the name.

Construction

Originally slated for construction as LST-967, but redesignated ARB-9 on 14 April 1944, and named Ulysses on 28 April 1944, the ship was laid down on 2 November 1944, at Hingham, Massachusetts, by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard; launched on 2 December 1944; and commissioned on 27 December 1944, for transit to her conversion yard. After proceeding to Baltimore, she was decommissioned on 9 January 1945; converted to a battle damage repair ship by the Maryland Drydock Company; and recommissioned on 20 April 1945.{{sfn|DANFS|2015}}{{sfn|Navsource|2016}}

Service history

In May 1945, the new battle damage repair ship conducted shakedown exercises in Chesapeake Bay; then, on 22 May, she departed Norfolk, in company with {{USS|Patroclus|ARL-19|2}}. She steamed via the Panama Canal and San Pedro, and arrived at San Francisco, on the morning of 1 June. There, she loaded stores and pontoons before getting underway from San Francisco Bay on 28 June.{{sfn|DANFS|2015}}

After Ulysses had been at sea for only six hours, the bolts, plates, and turnbuckles holding the pontoons in place began to show signs of bending under the stress of the ocean voyage, and the ship was ordered back to San Francisco, for additional work on the pontoon mounts. At noon on 6 July, she again got underway and set her course, via Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok, for the Marianas. She arrived at Saipan, on 6 August, (just over a week before Japan capitulated) and reported to Commander, Service Division 103.{{sfn|DANFS|2015}}

Ironically, on the very day – 6 August 1945 – Ulysses arrived at Saipan, only {{cvt|5|mi}} away on Tinian Island, a plane named the Enola Gay took off and flew to Hiroshima, Japan, and dropped the world's first atomic bomb on that city. The sailors aboard Ulysses knew nothing of this at the time, nor for several days afterwards.

During the remainder of 1945, she carried out repair assignments while based in turn at Saipan and at Okinawa. At Buckner Bay, on 9 and 10 October 1945, she weathered a devastating typhoon (Typhoon Louise (1945)) during which she collided three times with {{USS|LST-717||2}}. The repair ship lost three anchors in attempting to hold her position in the anchorage during the height of the storm and emerged from the ordeal with a {{convert|6|ft|spell=in|adj=on}} hole in one side.{{sfn|DANFS|2015}}

In January 1946, Ulysses shifted operations to Shanghai; then, in March, she set her course for the United States. After transiting the Panama Canal and unloading ammunition at Charleston, South Carolina, in mid-May, she proceeded to Jacksonville, for preservation work. On 3 September, she reported to the 16th Fleet and, on 28 February 1947, she was decommissioned and joined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs, Florida. She remained there until 1 January 1961, when her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register.{{sfn|DANFS|2015}}