Norma (AK-86)
| Career (US) | 100x35px |
|---|---|
| Ordered: |
as MV Sumner Pierce N3-M-A1 hull, MC hull 649 |
| Laid down: | 3 December 1943 |
| Launched: | 4 June 1944 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. Joseph Kijek |
| Acquired: | by Navy and transferred to U.S. Army 6 June 1944 |
| Renamed: | Norma (AK-86) 30 October 1942; Transferred to the U.S. Army 6 June 1944 for conversion to the Port Repair ship Henry Wright Hurley |
| Struck: | by Navy 28 June 1944 |
| Fate: | Sold 31 March 1965 to Zidell Explorations, Inc., Portland, Oregon for scrapping. |
| Notes: | Norma (AK-86) was never commissioned and never saw service with the U.S. Navy. |
| 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) |
| Draft: | 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) |
| Propulsion: | Diesel, single shaft, 1,300shp |
| Speed: | 10 kts. |
| Complement: | 83 |
| Armament: | Navy design: 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount |
| Notes: | The ship was never commissioned and never saw U.S. Naval service. Conversion into a Port Repair ship radically altered design and appearance (See photos of a Port Repair ship returned to Navy). |
Norma (AK-86) was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation.[1].
The ship was built as a Maritime Commission type N3-M-A1 cargo vessel intended for naval and Lend Lease service as M.C. hull 649 assigned the name MV Summer Pierce before being laid down on 3 December 1943. The ship was renamed and designated Norma (AK-86), 30 October 1942 intended as an Enceladus-class cargo ship for the U.S. Navy. The Norma was delivered to the Navy on 6 June 1944 and transferred to the U.S. Army on the same day. Norma was renamed the Henry Wright Hurley[2] by the Army and began conversion into a U.S. Army Port Repair ship for service with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.[3]
Army Port Repair Ship
The Army converted the ship into one of ten Port Repair ships for use by the Army Engineers in clearing war damaged ports. These ships were extensively modified with a distinctive appearance the result of heavy lift bow horns with a forty ton lift capacity.[4] The converted ship saw little or no service as intended as it was one of the conversions completed in 1945.[3]
Final disposition
The ship was returned to the Maritime Administration 8 August 1947 and sent into the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, California. On 31 March 1965 the Henry Wright Hurley was sold to Zidell Explorations, Inc., Portland, Oregon for scrapping.
References
- ↑ http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq63-1.htm | Navy History & Heritage Command - Ship Naming in the United States Navy
- ↑ http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/13/130086.htm | NavSource: USAPR Henry Wright Hurley ex Norma (AK-86)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Grover, David (1987). U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II. Naval Institute Press. pp. 133–137. ISBN 0-87021-766-6.)
- ↑ 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
- This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- United States Army in World War II - The Corps of Engineers: Troops and Equipment - Chapter XVII - Preparing to Reconstruct Ports
- NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - USAPR Henry Wright Hurley ex Norma (AK-86)
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- Ship infoboxes without an image
- Pages with broken file links
- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
- Port Repair Ships of the U.S. Army
- Enceladus class cargo ships
- Ships built in New Jersey
- 1944 ships
- Type N3 ships of the United States Army
- World War II auxiliary ships of the United States
