>From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” 

(1981) Vol. 7, p.15.





TALAMANCA





AF-15

Displacement:  6,975 t.

Length:  446’10”

Beam:  60’

Draft:  25’ (mean)

Speed:  16 k.

Complement:  238

Armament:  1 5”; 4 3”





	TALAMANCA--a combination luxury liner and fruit cargo 

carrier built in 1931 by Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock 

Co., Newport News, Va.--was acquired by the Navy on 

16 December 1941 from the United Mail Steamship Co., New 

York, N.Y.; converted to an auxiliary stores ship at 

Baltimore, Md., by the Maryland Drydock Co.; designated 

AF-15 on 27 December 1941 and commissioned on 28 January 

1942, Comdr. Nathan W. Bard in command.



	TALAMANCA put to sea for the first time as a naval 

vessel on 13 February.  Six days later, laden with cargo, 

passengers, and mail, she transited the Panama Canal 

proceeded via Talara, Peru, across the southern Pacific and 

arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, on 16 March.  On 

1 April, following a voyage to Melbourne, Australia, and 

back to Wellington, she headed once more toward the United 

States.  She made a brief stop in Manzanilla, Mexico, on the 

16th and reached San Francisco, Calif., on 21 April.  

Between 9 May and 1 June, TALAMANCA made a round-trip voyage 

from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor and back again.  The 

stores ship spent the whole month of June in the Mare Island 

Navy Yard, undergoing further conversion and some repairs.



	TALAMANCA stood out of San Francisco on 8 July with a 

Hawaii-bound convoy.  She reached Pearl Harbor on the 16th 

and remained there for five days taking on fuel and stores 

before heading southwest on the 21st.  On 1 August, she 

parted company with the convoy headed--via the Fiji 

Islands--for New Zealand, and reached Auckland on the 7th.



	For the next three years, Auckland served as 

TALAMANCA’s home port.  Between August 1942 and April 1945, 

the ship plied the waters of the southwestern Pacific 

supplying American bases in that area.  She visited such 

places as the Fiji Islands; Espiritu Santo; Efate; Manus; 

and Napier, New Zealand.  The closest she ever came to the 

combat zone were stops at Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Florida, and 

the Russell Islands in the Solomons.  However, these voyages 

came in 1944 after the fighting had moved up the Solomons 

chain past Bougainville and into the Bismarck Archipelago.  

In all, TALAMANCA made some 36 resupply voyages from 

Auckland to various bases in the South Pacific and back 

again, all of them relatively routine affairs.



	On 28 April 1945, the stores ship set sail from 

Auckland for the last time.  She headed to Noumea, New 

Caledonia, thence to Manus, from where she was routed to the 

Marianas.  TALAMANCA reached Saipan on 10 May; discharged 

cargo, and, on the 16th, shifted to Tinian where she 

completed discharging her cargo.  From Tinian, she sailed, 

via Eniwetok Atoll, for the west coast.  She entered San 

Pedro, Calif., on 2 June 1945 and loaded cargo.  On the 9th, 

she headed back to the western Pacific.  Following 

fuel-and-water stops at Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok, TALAMANCA 

entered Apra Harbor, Guam, on 26 June.  Her crew unloaded 

her cargo there; and, four days later, she set sail for 

Manus.  The stores ship arrived at Manus on 3 July and 

embarked patients from the hospital for transportation to 

the United States.  Two days later, she steamed eastward 

again.  She stopped at Pearl Harbor on 13 July and entered 

San Francisco Bay on the 19th.



	Her passengers disembarked, she moored to a pier at the 

Moore Dry Dock Co. for overhaul.  She completed overhaul and 

repairs on 31 August and--after degaussing, compass 

compensation, and trials--began loading cargo on 

3 September.  On the 9th, she stood out of San Francisco Bay 

for Pearl Harbor and arrived there on the 14th.  Two days 

later, she continued on to Eniwetok where she stopped on the 

23d for fuel and water.  From there, she voyaged to Guam, 

thence to Iwo Jima, where she unloaded cargo.  On 8 October, 

TALAMANCA departed Iwo Jima with Saipan-bound passengers and 

arrived at her destination that afternoon.  She discharged 

her passengers that same day and her cargo the following 

day.  After stopping at Guam to embark passengers, the 

stores ship got underway for Hawaii and the United States.  

She stopped at Pearl Harbor from 27 to 29 October and then 

continued on to Panama.



	The stores ship reverted to her former employment as a 

fruit carrier on 10 November when she loaded bananas at 

Puerto Armuelles, Panama, for the War Shipping 

Administration.  She transited the canal on the 13th and set 

sail for New Orleans, La., the following day.  She reached 

her destination on the 18th and was placed out of commission 

there on 29 November 1945.  She was returned to the War 

Shipping Administration for eventual return to her owners.  

Her name was struck from the Navy list on 19 December 1945.





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com