Media (AK-83)

Career (US)
Ordered: N3-M-A1 hull, MC hull 468
Laid down: Laid down, 28 January 1943,
as MV Oliver R. Mumford
Launched: 29 August 1943
Commissioned: Never commissioned
Struck: 24 November 1943,
scrapped in 1968
Fate: Transferred to the U.S. Army
as Glenn Gerald Griswold
General characteristics
Displacement: 1,677 t.(lt), 5,202 t.(fl)
Length: 269 ft 10 in (82.25 m)
Beam: 42 ft 6 in (12.95 m)
Draught: 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Propulsion: Diesel, single shaft, 1,300shp
Speed: 10 kts.
Notes: The ship was Navy only during construction, transferred to Army upon delivery to Navy and underwent extensive modifications for operation by the Corps of Engineers as a port repair ship.

Media (AK-83)[Note 1] was a World War II US navy ship that was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation.[1]

Media (AK-83) was contracted to be built as Oliver R. Mumford under Maritime Commission contract 4 September 1941 as a type N3-M-A1 cargo ship. She was acquired by the Navy 1 January 1943 before being laid down by Penn Jersey Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, New Jersey, 28 January 1943; launched 29 August 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Ernest G. Bornheimer; completed and delivered to Navy on 17 November 1943.

That same day Media was delivered by to the U.S. Army and struck from the Navy list on 24 November 1943. The Ship was renamed Glenn Gerald Griswold, after an Engineer officer killed while fighting a dump fire in Naples, Italy.[2] The Glenn Gerald Griswold was converted into a port repair ship by Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, on 5 June 1944[3] and sailed for Europe by summer's end.[4] After the postwar work the ship was placed in the reserve fleet.

Notes

  1. ^ Only USS Enceladus (AK-80) of the ten ships of the Enceladus class, composed of Maritime Commission N3-M-A1 type small cargo vessels, saw significant naval service. Of the other nine, excpting USS Hydra (AK-82), all were transferred within months or days of shipyard delivery to Navy to the Army. Hydra was transferred to Army shortly after commissioning and trials. Navy had assumed the administration of contracts for these ships from the Maritime Commission on 1 January 1943 during or before construction and thus most were only administratively Navy, including names and numbers, during construction.

References

  1. ^ http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq63-1.htm | Navy History & Heritage Command - Ship Naming in the United States Navy
  2. ^ http://www.clafma.org/griswold.html | County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association; People Who Made a Difference: Glenn G. Griswold
  3. ^ http://140.194.76.129/publications/misc/un21/c-17.pdf United States Army in World War II - The Corps of Engineers: Troops and Equipment - Chapter XVII - Preparing to Reconstruct Ports
  4. ^ Grover, David (1987). U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II. Naval Institute Press. pp. 133–137. ISBN 0-87021-766-6. )

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links

Enceladus-class cargo ships

Enceladus · Europa · Hydra · Media · Mira · Nashira · Norma · Sagitta · Tucana · Vela
Type N3-M ships

Asa Lothrop · Charles A. Ranlett · Eben H. Linnell · Elias D. Knight · John L. Manson · Josiah Paul · Laughlin McKay · Moses Pike · Nathaniel Matthews · Oliver R. Mumford · Sumner Pierce · Symmes Potter · William Lester · William Nott