Iolanda (AKS-14)
1944-1946
A minor planet, No. 509.
(AKS-14: displacement 5,244; length 441'6"; beam 56'11"; draft 28'4"; speed 12 knots; complement 193; armament 1 5-inch, 4 3-inch; class Acubens; type EC2-S-C1)
Iolanda (AKS-14), originally a "liberty ship", was launched by New England Shipbuilding Corp., South Portland, Maine, on 21 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. J. Gary Jones; acquired and commissioned with a skeleton crew 31 October for transfer to Bethlehem Steel's Simpson Yard, East Boston, Mass. The ship was decommissioned on 2 November 1944 for conversion to Navy use, and commissioned in full on 14 June 1945, Lt. Cmdr. E. G. Kelly in command.
Following shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay area, Iolanda arrived Bayonne, N.J., on 21 July 1945 to load almost 3,000 tons of general stores consisting of the almost 8,000 different items needed by the operating ships of the fleet. She departed on 3 August for duty in the western Pacific and sailing via the Canal Zone and Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, arrived at Ulithi, America's bustling advance base in the western Carolines. Iolanda steamed into Ulithi on 24 September to help supply America's victorious fleet. She steamed from Ulithi on 30 September, to provision ships at Okinawa, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
The first day of 1946 saw her at Manus loading additional stores, and she departed on 1 February to replenish vessels at Guam, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Iolanda supplied both ships and shore stations in support of the occupation until departing Shanghai on 10 April 1946. After a stopover at Guam she proceeded to Pearl Harbor, where she was decommissioned on 11 July 1946.
Later towed to San Francisco, Iolanda was returned to the Maritime Commission on 24 April 1947 and was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Calif., where she remains.
