Burias (AG-69)
1944-1947
An island located in the Philippines, south of Luzon.
(AG-69: displacement 14,350 (trial); length 441'6"; beam 56'11"; draft 23' (limiting); speed 12.5 knots (trial); complement 927; armament 1 5-inch, 4 40 millimeter, 10 20 millimeter; class Basilan)
Burias (AG-69) was laid down on 11 February 1944 at New Orleans, La., by the Delta Shiphuilding Co., Inc., under a Maritime Commission contract (M.C.E. Hull 2458) as Mollie Moore Davis; launched on 27 March 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Paul L. Jahncke; delivered to the Navy on 24 April 1944; converted for naval service at Mobile, Ala., by the Alabama Dry Dock Co.; and commissioned there on 9 October 1944, Lt. William M. Aye, D-M, USNR, in command.
Burias conducted shakedown training in Chesapeake Bay. Following a final outfitting at Norfolk, Va., she got underway for the Pacific early in December 1944. After a month long voyage during which she transited the Panama Canal, the ship arrived at Pearl Harbor on 7 January 1945. At the Oahu base, she underwent conversion to an electronics repair ship. She completed the conversion within two months and, early in March, received orders to join that portion of Service Squadron (ServRon) 10 stationed at Saipan in the Mariana Islands. There, she spent the remainder of World War II working in conjunction with Hector (AR-7) and Luzon (ARG-2) making hull and electronic repairs to warships damaged at Iwo Jima and in the long Okinawa campaign.
She departed Saipan on 30 October 1945 and arrived at Wakayama, Japan, on 5 November. Burias took on board servicemen on their way home at Wakayama and got underway for the west coast on 10 November 1945. The ship arrived at San Francisco, Calif., on 28 November and disembarked her passengers. Two days later, she put to sea bound for Bremerton, Wash. She reached Bremerton on 3 December and soon began decommissioning preparations.
Her title transferred to the Navy on 14 January 1946, the ship then moved to Seattle, Wash., on 23 January 1946 for the removal of her 20-millimeter antiaircraft guns and of some electronics equipment still on board.
On 11 February 1946, however, decommissioning preparations ceased, and she got underway for the Territory of Hawaii with passengers embarked. Burias entered Pearl Harbor on 21 February, disembarked her passengers, and resumed stripping operations.
Placed out of commission at Pearl Harbor on 9 April 1946, Burias remained in Hawaiian waters until March of 1947 at which time she was towed to San Francisco. Declared surplus to the needs of the Navy late in June, she had her name stricken from the Navy Register on 17 July 1947.
On 15 August 1947, the ship was turned over to the Maritime Commission to be laid up with the National Defense Reserve Fleet group berthed at Suisun Bay, Calif., entering those waters at 11:25 a.m. that day. She remained there until 2 November 1970 when she was sold to Zidell Explorations, Inc., of Portland, Ore., for scrapping. Her purchaser took delivery at 3:15 p.m. on 17 February 1971.
Raymond A. Mann
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
4 August 2022
