USS Callisto (AGP-15)

History
Name: ordered as LST-966
Renamed: Callisto (AGP-15), 14 August 1944
Namesake: Callisto, a nymph attendant of Artemis
Builder:
Yard number: 3436
Laid down: 31 October 1944
Launched: 29 November 1944
Completed: 12 June 1945
Commissioned: 12 June 1945
Decommissioned: 9 May 1946
Fate: transferred to the United States Maritime Commission, 14 May 1948
General characteristics
Class & type: Portunus-class motor torpedo boat tender
Displacement: 2,179 long tons (2,214 t)
Length: 328 ft (100 m)
Beam: 50 ft (15 m)
Draft: 11 ft 2 in (3.40 m)
Speed: 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement: 119
Armament: 8 x 40 mm (1.6 in) guns

USS Callisto (AGP-15) was a Portunus-class motor torpedo boat tender built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally ordered as USS LST-966, LST-542-class tank landing ship, but renamed and re-designated in August 1944. Callisto was laid down in October 1944, launched in November, and commissioned in June 1945. After brief service for the U.S. Navy, she was decommissioned in May 1946. Callisto was transferred to the United States Maritime Commission in May 1948 for disposal.

Career

LST-966, ordered as a tank landing ship of the LST-542 class, was re-designated as AGP-15 on 14 August 1944 and given the name Callisto, after Callisto, a nymph attendant of Artemis in Greek mythology. Callisto was laid down on 31 October 1944 by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipbuilding Co. of Baltimore, Maryland, and launched on 29 November. She was completed on 12 June 1945 and commissioned the same day under the command of Lieutenant Commander C. W. Brooks, USNR.

Callisto sailed from Yorktown, Virginia, on 23 July 1945 bound for the Pacific and service with the 7th Fleet. Delayed at Pearl Harbor by the cessation of hostilities, she reported at San Pedro Bay, Philippine Islands, on 15 October to serve as tender to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 9, busy with the varied tasks given these speedy craft as normal life was restored to the Philippines. Callisto provided berthing, maintenance, and supply facilities for her assigned squadron until 20 December when she cleared for San Francisco. She was decommissioned on 9 May 1946, and transferred to the United States Maritime Commission for disposal on 14 May 1948.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.


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