USS Alnitah (AK-127)

USS Alnitah (AK-127), under way, date and location unknown.
History
United States
Name:	John A. Logan Alnitah
Namesake:	John A. Logan The star Alnitah
Ordered:	as a Type EC2-S-C1 hull, MCE hull 451
Builder:	Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond, California
Yard number:	451
Way number:	10
Laid down:	12 October 1942
Launched:	14 January 1943
Sponsored by:	Mrs. T. W. Ludington
Acquired:	8 October 1943
Commissioned:	27 November 1943
Decommissioned:	11 March 1946
Refit:	converted for Naval service at Los Angeles Shipbuilding Corp, San Pedro, CA.
Struck:	28 March 1946
Identification:	Hull symbol: AK-127 Code letters: NHCI
Fate:	sold for scrapping, 3 March 1961
Status:	delivered for dismantling, 12 April 1961
General characteristics
Class and type:	Crater-class cargo ship
Displacement:	4,023 long tons (4,088 t) (standard) 14,550 long tons (14,780 t) (full load)
Length:	441 ft 6 in (134.57 m)
Beam:	56 ft 11 in (17.35 m)
Draft:	28 ft 4 in (8.64 m)
Installed power:	2 × Combustion Engineering header-type boilers, 220psi 450° 2,500 shp (1,900 kW)
Propulsion:	1 × General Machine Corp. vertical triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine 1 × shaft
Speed:	12.5 kn (14.4 mph; 23.2 km/h)
Capacity:	7,800 t (7,700 long tons) DWT 444,206 cu ft (12,578.5 m3) (non-refrigerated)
Troops:	1057
Complement:	309
Armament:	1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 caliber dual purpose gun 4 × 40 mm (1.6 in) 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft (AA) gun mounts 6 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon cannons anti-aircraft gun mounts

The USS Alnitah (AK-127) was a Crater-class cargo ship in the service of the US Navy in World War II. Named a spelling variation of the star Alnitak in the constellation Orion, it was the only ship of the Navy to bear this name.

Alnitah was laid down 10 December 1942, as liberty ship SS John A. Logan, MCE hull 451, by Permanente Metals Corporation, Yard No. 2, Richmond, California, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract; launched on 14 January 1943; sponsored by Mrs. T. W. Ludington; acquired by the Navy on a bareboat basis on 7 October 1943; converted for naval service at San Pedro, California, by Los Angeles Shipbuilding Corp.; renamed Alnitah on 11 October 1943 and simultaneously designated AK-127; and placed in commission at San Pedro on 27 November 1943, Lieutenant Commander Ernest J. Youngjohns, Jr., USNR, in command.

Following a brief period of shakedown training, the ship took on cargo and personnel at Port Hueneme, California, for transportation to the South Pacific. She departed the California coast on 12 December, and reached Espiritu Santo on 3 January 1944. On that same day, Alnitah reported to Service Squadron 8 for duty as an interisland transport. Among her ports of call were Guadalcanal and Florida Island, Solomon Islands; Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides; Treasury Islands; Russell Islands; Fiji Islands; Auckland, New Zealand; Nouméa, New Caledonia; Milne Bay, New Guinea; Ulithi, Caroline Islands; Tinian and Guam, Mariana Islands; and Okinawa.