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Naval History and Heritage Command

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Veritas (AKA-50)

1945-1946

Minor planet No. 490, discovered on 3 September 1902 by astronomer Max Wolf of Heidelberg, Germany. The planet is named for a mythological goddess, the daughter of Time and Saturn.

(AKA-50: displacement 7,080; length 426'0"; beam 58'0"; draft 16'0"; speed 16.9 knots; cpomplement 303; armament 1 5-inch, 8 40-millimeter, 10 20-millimeter; class Sidonia; type S4-SE2-BE1)

Veritas (AKA-50) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (M.C. Hull 1911) on 26 April 1945 at Providence, R.I., by the Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc.; launched on 16 June 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Fred B. Smith; and commissioned on 19 July 1945, Lt. Cmdr. Albert S. Brooks, (D),USNR, in command.

Into the fall of 1945, Veritas operated along the Atlantic coast, making cargo runs which took her as far north as Boston and ranged south to Hampton Roads, Va. After loading cargo at Norfolk from 22 to 26 October, Veritas got underway on the 26th for Bermuda and the only duty which took her away from the eastern seaboard of the United States.

The cargo vessel returned to Norfolk and transported cargo to Baltimore in December and made stops at Bayonne, N.J., and New York City before heading for Hampton Roads early in 1946. She arrived at Norfolk on 17 January 1946 and was decommissioned on 21 February 1946.  

Stricken from the Naval Register on 12 April 1946, the cargo vessel was returned to the Maritime Commission on 29 June 1946, entering the Reserve Fleet at 3:45 p.m. that day, being moored in unit S-6 of the James River berthing area at Lee Hall, Virginia. She remained there until transferred to the Arrow Steamship Co. under a general agency agreement as part of the Maritime Administration (MarAd)’s repair program at 11:50 a.m. on 17 November 1955. 

Ex-Veritas was returned to MarAd at 10:30 a.m. on 18 January 1956, entering the Reserve Fleet berthing area at Wilmington, N.C. After the ship remained unpurchased (MarAd received no bids) when offered for sale in September 1960, Union Minerals & Alloys Corp. subsequently purchased the vessel for scrap on 16 November 1966, and took delivery at Wilmington at 12:10 on 9 December 1966.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

22 June 2022

Published: Wed Jun 22 11:02:32 EDT 2022