Figure 1: USS Bellatrix (AK-20) off Tampa, Florida, circa March 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Bellatrix (AKA-3) anchored off San Diego, California, 19 February 1943. A US Navy Bureau of Ships photograph now in the collections of the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Bellatrix (AKA-3) underway, date and location unknown. Photograph courtesy of Bill Gurrola. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Bellatrix (AKA-3) underway, circa the mid-1950s. Exact date and place unknown. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Bellatrix (AKA-3) photographed circa the mid-1950s. Exact date and place unknown. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: Ex-USS Bellatrix (AKA-3) in Peruvian naval service as Independencia (D-130), moored at a pier at Hamburg, Germany, in October 1977. Photograph courtesy of Gerhard Mueller-Debus. Click on photograph for larger image.
Originally laid down as the freighter SS Raven,
the ship was acquired by the US Navy for use as a cargo vessel on 16 April 1941
and re-named USS Bellatrix (AK-20), after the Latin word for “female
warrior.” The 8,045-ton Bellatrix was built by the Tampa Shipbuilding
Company at Tampa, Florida, and was commissioned on 17 February 1942. The ship
was approximately 459 feet long and 63 feet wide, had a top speed of 16.5
knots, and had a crew of 267 officers and men. Bellatrix was heavily armed
for a cargo ship with one 5-inch gun, eight 40-mm guns, and 18 20-mm guns.
Bellatrix served in the
Pacific for the bulk of 1942, participating in the invasion of Guadalcanal in
the Solomon Islands. Starting in August 1942, Bellatrix supported the
desperate struggle to hold Guadalcanal by bringing badly needed supplies to the
American troops on the island. Numerous attacks were made by Japanese aircraft
on Bellatrix as she steamed off the coast of Guadalcanal. On 8 August, a
wave of Japanese bombers came in at low level towards the American transports
and cargo ships off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal. Two of the bombers headed
straight for Bellatrix, but her crew opened fire with every gun on board
the ship. One of the aircraft passed close astern, visibly damaged from several
20-mm shell holes, while the second plane passed overhead. Under intense
gunfire from several ships in the American task group, the second bomber was
shot down. But then the Bellatrix’s crew saw the other bomber crash into
the nearby transport USS George F. Elliott (AP-13), which started an
enormous gasoline fire that eventually caused the ship to be abandoned. The
critically damaged George F. Elliott couldn’t be saved and eventually had
to be sunk by the destroyer USS Hull (DD-350).
During the next five months, Bellatrix
supported American forces on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, also in the Solomon
Islands. While unloading cargo off Guadalcanal in the early evening of 8
September 1942, two Japanese fighters attacked Bellatrix. Fortunately,
heavy anti-aircraft fire from the cargo ship forced the airplanes off their
course, so that the bombs they dropped landed harmlessly between Bellatrix
and the nearby transport USS Fuller (AP-14). The next morning, another
air raid, this time attempted by 18 Japanese bombers, dropped a large number of
bombs which landed just ahead of Bellatrix, with shrapnel from the
exploding bombs wounding two crewmen. Bellatrix’s gunners claimed to
have shot down one of the bombers. The ship’s luck was holding, because none of
the bombs actually hit Bellatrix.
On 14 September 1942, during heavy fighting on
Guadalcanal, Bellatrix transported 247 US Marines from Tulagi to
Guadalcanal. A major Japanese advance on Guadalcanal was beaten back by the Marines,
primarily because of the reinforcements brought in by Bellatrix. The
next day, five Japanese dive bombers attacked the American cargo ships off
Guadalcanal. Once again, all of the guns on board Bellatrix opened fire
and disrupted the attack. But two of the bombs dropped by the planes exploded
next to the starboard side of Bellatrix, buckling her hull plating,
tripping electrical circuit breakers throughout the ship, and blowing out
dozens of bolts and rivets. But Bellatrix remained afloat and continued
delivering her badly needed supplies to the Marines on Guadalcanal.
After spending several more months transporting
fuel and supplies to Guadalcanal, Bellatrix was sent back to the United
States for an overhaul. On 1 February 1943, Bellatrix was re-classified
an attack cargo ship and re-designated AKA-3. The attack cargo ship arrived at
San Diego, California, on 4 February. After a brief overhaul, Bellatrix left
San Diego and headed south for the Panama Canal. Once the ship transited the
canal, she steamed north to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving there on 8
March. On 8 June, Bellatrix was assigned to a huge convoy that took her
to Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, arriving there on 22 June. Those ships in Algeria
then participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily in July. After unloading her
supplies and surviving more air attacks off the coast of Sicily, only this time
by German bombers, Bellatrix headed back to the United States. Bellatrix
returned to the south Pacific later that year, but a supply run from New
Zealand to the Gilbert Islands was terminated prematurely by engine trouble in
November, and Bellatrix had to go to San Francisco, California, for
repairs.
After repairs to her engines were completed, Bellatrix
returned to service in March 1944. In June, the ship participated in the
invasion of Saipan in the Mariana Islands. For the remainder of the war in the
Pacific, Bellatirx was used as an amphibious assault training ship off
the coast of southern California. The ship also carried cargo to various ports
in California from late 1945 to early 1946. Bellatrix was decommissioned
on 1 April 1946 and her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 May.
She then was transferred to the Maritime Commission, which laid her up in the
National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California, on 30 June 1946.
But the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950
suddenly increased the US Navy’s need for cargo ships. Following some minor
repairs and equipment modifications at the Mare Island Navy Yard at Mare
Island, California, Bellatrix was re-commissioned on 15 March 1952. Bellatrix
performed logistics duties in the Pacific until December 1952 and then
conducted cargo operations and training exercises along the coast of California
until early 1955. Bellatrix was decommissioned once again on 3 June
1955. She eventually was assigned to the Bremerton Group of the Pacific Reserve
Fleet and remained there until 6 June 1960, when her name was struck from the
Naval Vessel Register and she was transferred to the Maritime Administration.
Bellatrix was
reinstated on the Naval Vessel Register on 15 March 1963, but then was leased
to the Peruvian Navy as Independencia under the auspices of the Military
Assistance Program. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register for the
third and last time on 14 November 1963. The ship was sold outright to Peru on
20 March 1964 and she served in the Peruvian Navy as a cadet training and cargo
ship until scrapped in October 1991. USS Bellatrix received five battle
stars for her service in World War II and one battle star for her service
during the Korean War.
