Ibex II (IX-119)
1943-1946
While the first Ibex was named for the variety of wild goat found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, the second perpetuated the name of the Civil War vessel.
II
(IX-119: displacement 14,500 (limiting); length 441'6"; beam 56'11"; draft 28'4"; speed 11.0 knots; complement 176; armament 1 5-inch, 1 3-inch, 8 20 millimeter; type EC2-S-C1)
Nicholas Longworth was laid down on 16 October 1943 at Wilmington, Calif., by the California Shipbuilding Corp., under a Maritime Commission contract (M.C.E. Hull 1908); renamed Ibex on 27 October 1943; launched on 15 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. A. T. Olson; acquired by the Navy on 13 December 1943 and transferred to the Navy under a bareboat charter at 3:15 p.m. that day, and commissioned, Lt. Cmdr. John L. Frazer, D-V(G), USNR, in command.
After shakedown off the West Coast, Ibex departed San Pedro, Calif., on 23 January 1944, reaching Nouméa, New Caledonia, on 18 February. Operating as a floating storage ship, she transported gasoline and lube oil in the South Pacific for the next eight months. From October 1944 until the end of World War II in the Pacific, she operated with Service Squadron (SerRon) 8, Third Fleet, which supplied the fighting units during the most crucial months of the war.
After VJ day she remained in the Far East servicing the occupation forces; then returned to the U.S. early in 1946, clearing Shanghai, China, on 6 April 1946 for Balboa. During the return voyage, she put in to Wake Island on 17 April to transfer Sea2c William D. Bartle to the U.S. Naval Hospital there for emergency medical treatment.
Decommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, on 28 June 1946, Ibex was returned to the Maritime Commission on the 30th, entering Area S-4 of the James River group of the Reserve Fleet off Lee Hall, Virginia, at 9:20 a.m. on 30 June 1946.
Transferred to T. J. Stevenson & Co., Inc., and withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet at 12:30 p.m., on 12 January 1948 under a general agency agreement, the ship was delivered to her purchasers at 3:25 p.m. on 18 February 1948. Renamed Helen Stevenson, she served as such until sold to the University of Chicago in February 1957, then to Liberian interests one month later (March 1957).
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
25 May 2022
