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USS ''Graffias'' (AF-29), a , is the only ship of the United States Navy to have this name. The name ''Graffias'' is another name for the star Beta Scorpii in the constellation Scorpius. The ''Graffias'' was originally laid down in 1943 as ''Topa Topa'', a Maritime Commission type (C2-S-E1) hull under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1610) at the Gulf Shipbuilding Company, Chickasaw, Alabama. The ship was acquired by the United States Navy on 19 February 1944 and subsequently converted by the Bethlehem Steel Company, Baltimore, Maryland. The ''Graffias'' was commissioned at Baltimore on 28 October 1944, with Lieutenant Commander B. P. Caraher in command. ==Initial operations== After a brief shakedown along the East Coast, ''Graffias'' sailed for the Pacific on 25 November as a unit of ServRon Ten. Reaching Ulithi on 31 December, she discharged her valuable cargo of provisions and returned to San Francisco, California, a month later. Laden with foodstuffs and provisions for the staging areas and the front, ''Graffias'' made two more San Francisco-Ulithi voyages through May 1945. The refrigerator-cargo ship returned to Pearl Harbor on 31 May and from there sailed again to Ulithi with provisions, returning to Hawaii on 14 July. After repairs at Pearl Harbor, ''Graffias'' sailed to Adak, Alaska, reaching port on 18 August. With the Japanese capitulation, she began a new task: bringing desperately needed provisions to the starving island and to American occupation forces. ''Graffias'' reached Ominato, Honshū, on 9 September, and after replenishing American bases at Wakayama, Nagasaki, and Sasebo, sailed for the United States with home and discharge-bound passengers. Putting in at Seattle on 26 October, she disembarked her passengers and checked into Bremerton Navy Yard for overhaul. By January 1946, ''Graffias'' was well embarked on the routine which she was to follow until the Korean War, replenishing scattered American bases across the Pacific. Taking on cargo at Seattle or San Francisco, she would discharge provisions at such far-flung points as Wake Island, Eniwetok, Kwajalein, Bikini, Okinawa, the Philippines, Guam, Saipan, Formosa, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Yokosuka. These Pacific replenishment cruises, whose duration was 2½ months on the average, were supplemented by periodic overhauls and participation in various fleet exercises. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Graffias (AF-29)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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