USS Midway (AG-41)

Career (USA)
Name:	USS Midway
Namesake:	the Battle of Midway
Owner:	Alaska Transportation Company, Seattle, Washington
Builder:	Todd Shipyards Corporation, Brooklyn, New York
Laid down:	date unknown
Completed:	in 1921
Acquired:	by the Navy on bareboat charter
Commissioned:	10 April 1942 as USS Midway (AG-41) at Puget Sound Navy Yard
Decommissioned:	24 May 1946
Renamed:	Tyee in 1939; USS Panay (AG-41), 3 April 1943
Struck:	date unknown
Fate:	returned to her owner at war's end
General characteristics
Type:	commercial cargo ship
Displacement:	1,622 tons
Tons burthen:	2,250 tons
Length:	238' 8"
Beam:	33' 8"
Draft:	16' 9"
Propulsion:	unknown, single propeller
Speed:	11.5 knots
Troops:	300
Complement:	86 officers and enlisted
Armament:	one single 3"/50 gun mount

USS Midway (AG-41) – also known as USS Panay (AG-41) -- was a commercial cargo ship leased by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was used by the Navy as a cargo ship and as a troop transport in the North Pacific Ocean. She was returned to her owner at war’s end.

Constructed in Brooklyn

The first ship to be named Midway by the Navy, she was built in 1921 as Oritani by Todd Shipyards Corporation, Brooklyn, New York, and renamed Tyee in 1939; was acquired by the Navy on a bareboat charter through the War Shipping Administration (WSA) from Alaska Transportation Company, Seattle, Washington; and commissioned at Puget Sound Navy Yard 10 April 1942.

World War II service

Classified as general auxiliary, Midway operated along the Pacific coast between ports of the Northwestern United States and American bases in Alaska and the Aleutians. In January 1943 she steamed to Pearl Harbor and shuttled troops, provisions and equipment between the islands of the central Pacific.

Renamed Panay

Renamed Panay 3 April 1943 to allow the name to be used for a new aircraft carrier, she resumed the Alaskan run in the summer and continued this vital service to military and naval units in the far north through the end of the war.

Post-war decommissioning

Panay was decommissioned 24 May 1946 and was returned to her owner.

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• - NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - AG-41 Midway / Panay