USS Saturn
On 6 December 1941, the day before the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bureau of Navigation recommended that Sting be renamed Saturn.[2] Her conversion for Navy use was meant to be completed by late December, but because of her technical complexity this was extended by several months.[2] The opportunity was therefore taken to convert her more fully to Navy specifications, including armament, but the Maritime Commission retained sole charge of her repairs.[2]
On 20 April 1942 Sting was delivered to the US Navy, commissioned as USS Saturn and classified AK-49 at Mobile, Alabama.[3] On 3 May her Navy crew tried to take her to Charleston, South Carolina were stopped by the failure of her condensate pump, steering gear, anchor windlass, make up and main feed pumps, evaporators, fuel oil service pumps and turbine-driven exciter.[2] She eventually left Mobile on 3 June but took until 14 June to reach Charleston, where she needed further repairs.[2]
On 11 August 1942 Saturn tried to leave Charleston for Norfolk, Virginia but the water circulating pumps for both of her boilers failed.[2] On 19 September she left Boston on the first of three trips supplying American bases in Newfoundland with general cargo.[3] However, in October she was drydocked in Boston for emergency replacement of her stern tube, which took until December.[2]
From March 1943 Saturn operated between east coast ports, mainly Norfolk, Virginia, and Baltimore, Maryland, and bases in the Caribbean such as Guantanamo and Trinidad.[3] She suffered a loss of boiler feedwater and high oxygen content in her boiler water, so in July 1943 the Bureau of Ships gave the Norfolk Naval Shipyard plans to replace much of her boiler, feed and condensate system.[2] There are no known records of whether this work was done, and nor are there records of any further technical problems.[2]
In October and November 1943 Saturn made one transatlantic crossing to England, and then resumed supply trips between the US and Caribbean until September 1944.[3] In April 1944 Norfolk Navy Yard converted her to a provision store ship and on 10 April she was reclassified AF-40.[3] While in the Norfolk Navy Yard on April 27, 1944, a fire broke out in the hold, resulting in the death of 16 men working on the ship. This accident remained classified until 2010.[5] On 2 September 1944 Saturn sailed to the Mediterranean carrying supplies for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.[3] After one trip to Iceland and several voyages to the Caribbean, she made another trip to Oran, French Algeria in March 1945.[3] Saturn resumed her supply voyages up and down the Atlantic Coast until arriving at Norfolk, Virginia on 1 July 1946.[3]
Military awards and honors
Saturn received one battle star for her World War II service.[3] Her crew was eligible for the following medals:
- American Campaign Medal
- Europe, Africa, Middle East Campaign Medal (1)
- World War II Victory Medal
