USS Saturn (AK-49)
USS Saturn (AF-40) in 1944 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Nazi Germany | |
| Name | ES Arauca |
| Namesake | Arauca, Colombia |
| Owner | Hamburg America Line |
| Operator | Hamburg America Line |
| Port of registry | Hamburg |
| Builder | Bremer Vulkan |
| Launched | 1939 |
| Completed | 1939 |
| Maiden voyage | August 1939 |
| Out of service | 19 December 1939 |
| Captured | 28 July 1941 |
| Fate | Interned in the United States; later requisitioned by the Navy, 20 April 1942 |
| United States | |
| Name |
|
| Operator |
|
| Acquired | 20 April 1942 |
| Commissioned | 20 April 1942 |
| Decommissioned | 23 July 1946 |
| Stricken | 15 August 1946 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 12 September 1972 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type |
|
| Tonnage | |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | |
| Beam | 55.7 ft (17.0 m) |
| Draught | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
| Depth | 22.8 ft (6.9 m) |
| Installed power | 5,600 shp |
| Propulsion | turbo-electric transmission |
| Speed | 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h) |
| Complement | 180 (1944) |
| Sensors & processing systems | |
| Armament |
|
| Notes | |
_in_1944_(NH_99294).jpeg){kind=link}
USS Saturn (AK-49) was a German cargo ship, built in 1939 as ES Arauca. ("ES" stands for "Electroschiff", meaning German: electric ship.) In 1941 before the US entered World War II, US authorities seized her and started converting her into a United States Navy stores ship. She was the sole ship of the US Navy's Saturn class. She was laid up in 1946 and scrapped in 1972.
Arauca was built for trade between Germany and the Caribbean, and was named accordingly. Arauca is a border town in eastern Colombia on the frontier with Venezuela.