SS Veragua
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| History | |
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  USA and UK
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| Builder: | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation |
| Launched: | 23 April 1932 |
| Acquired: | by bareboat charter, 20 March 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 8 May 1942 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 June 1946 |
| Fate: | scrapped 1965 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Navy: Mizar-class stores ship |
| Type: | civilian: passenger & cargo liner |
| Displacement: | 7,068 t.(lt) 11,880 t.(fl) |
| Length: | 447 ft 10 in (136.50 m) |
| Beam: | 60 ft 4 in (18.39 m) |
| Draft: | 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m) |
| Installed power: | 11,000 shp |
| Propulsion: | turbo-electric transmission, twin screws |
| Speed: | 19 knots (35 km/h) (max) |
| Capacity: | 2,615 tonnes deadweight (DWT) |
| Complement: | 238 |
| Armament: | one single 5 in (130 mm) dual purpose gun mount, four single 3 in (76 mm) dual purpose gun mounts, eight 20 mm guns |
USS Merak (AF-21) was United Fruit Company cargo and passenger liner Veragua that served as a United States Navy Mizar-class stores ship in World War II. In peacetime before and after the war she carried fruit and passengers; in war she supplied troops and ships in the field. She was the US Navy's second USS Merak.
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation of Quincy, Massachusetts built the ship, the last vessel of this series, as SS Veragua for United Fruit Company with launch on 23 April 1932. She was one of six UFC sister ships driven by turbo-electric transmission. Veragua was delivered in August and made her maiden voyage on the 11th of that month to Havana. Kingston. Cristobal, and Port Limon. United Fruit placed Veragua on express liner services between Central America and New York.
On 2 February 1940 naval historian Samuel E. Morison and his Harvard Columbus Expedition returned to New York aboard Veragua after retracing the voyages of Christopher Columbus since the previous August.
The US Navy bareboat chartered her through the Maritime Commission on 20 March 1942. Todd Pacific Shipyards of Galveston, Texas converted her for Navy use and she was renamed Merak and commissioned on 8 May 1942, commanded by Cmdr L.E. Divoll.
Shakedown training began on her maiden Navy voyage to Charleston, South Carolina. By 20 March 1943 she completed 10 voyages in convoy from east coast ports to Caribbean islands. She then made one supply voyage to Reykjavík, Iceland, arriving on 10 April. She then made two short deliveries to Cuba before making her first transatlantic crossing in July, delivering men, mail, and stores in Algeria, North Africa. Between further Caribbean trips, Merak voyaged to both Sicily and Scotland before the end of 1943.
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Wikipedia