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Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • Boats-Ships--Support Ships
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  • World War II 1939-1945
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Lacerta (AKA-29)

1944-1946

A group of stars north of Pegasus in the Milky Way. There are about 40 visible stars in this region between the Lion and the Great Bear.

(AKA-29: displacement 7,080; length 426'; beam 58'; draft 16'; speed 17 knots; complement 302; troop capacity 303; armament 1 5-inch, 8 40-millimeter, 10 20-millimeter; class Artemis; type S4-SE2-BE1)

Lacerta (AKA-29) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (M. C. Hull 1890) on 5 July 1944 at Providence, R.I., by the Walsh-Kaiser Shipyard; launched on 10 November 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Frank Bratley; delivered by the builders to the Maritime Commission at 10:00 a.m. on 19 December 1944, then delivered to the Navy simultaneously; and commissioned at Providence the same day, Lt. Cmdr. Louis Funkenstein in command.

After shakedown, Lacerta cleared Norfolk, Va., on 18 January 1945 for Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, where she loaded cargo for the Solomon Islands. Arriving at Guadalcanal on 27 February, Lacerta discharged cargo and embarked troops for the Okinawa invasion. She departed Saipan on 27 March for the operation that would advance U.S. troops to a strategic position almost next door to Japan. Arriving in the transport area on 1 April under heavy enemy air raids, the cargo ship remained off the southeast coast of Okinawa unloading supplies for marines fighting ashore.

Lacerta departed Okinawa on 9 April 1945 for Saipan, where she remained until 3 June. In the months prior to Japan’s surrender, she ferried cargo among the Solomon and Mariana Islands before arriving at Manila, Philippines, on 22 August. Loading troops and equipment there, Lacerta participated in the movement of occupation forces to Japan, arriving at Yokohama on 13 September. She then carried occupation troops from Okinawa to Tientsin, China, remaining in the Far Fast until 19 November when she cleared Tsingtao, China, for Seattle, Washington.

After a short stay at Seattle, Lacerta returned to Norfolk on 12 February 1946 and decommissioned there on 25 March. She was returned to the Maritime Commission at 9:30 a.m. on 30 June 1946, entering the James River portion of the Reserve Fleet, berthed off Lee Hall, Virginia. Removed from the Reserve Fleet under a general agency agreement with South Atlantic Steamship Lines, Inc., at 9:45 a.m. on 15 September 1954, for repairs, she returned to the Reserve Fleet, this time at Wilmington, N.C., at 3:15 p.m. on 5 January 1955. The veteran of the assault on Okinawa was ultimately purchased by Union Minerals & Alloys Corp., on 22 July 1966 and removed by her purchaser from the Wilmington berthing area at 12:30 p.m. on 6 September 1966 to be broken up for scrap.

Lacerta received one battle star for her World War II service, for her participation in the assault and occupation on Okinawa Gunto (1-9 April 1945).

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

7 July 2020  

Published: Wed Oct 18 23:55:17 EDT 2023