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Armadillo (IX-111)

1943-1946 

An insect-eating mammal which has an armorlike shell encasing its back and head, whose natural habitat ranges from southern Oklahoma and southern Arkansas into Mexico and Central America. Armadillo is a Spanish word meaning "little armored thing" and was bestowed to the mammal by early Spanish explorers of North America.

(IX-111: displacement 14,500; length 441'6"; beam 56'11"; draft 28'4"; speed 11.0 knots; complement 79; armament 1 5-inch, 1 3-inch, 8 20 millimeter; class Armadillo; type Z-ET1-S-C3)

Sidney Howard was a tanker laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (M. C. E. Hull 1900) on 24 September 1943 at Wilmington, Calif., by the California Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 26 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. S. Howard; renamed Armadillo and designated IX-111; and acquired by the Navy on a bareboat basis and simultaneously placed in commission at San Pedro, Calif., on 18 November 1943, Lt. Michael R. Meyer in command.

Following her commissioning, the vessel began a period of final fitting out and shakedown training off the southern California coast. In January 1944, Armadillo was assigned to Service Force, Pacific Fleet, and sailed for Pearl Harbor, Terriotory of Hawaii. From early February through early April 1944, the vessel carried people and petroleum products between Pearl Harbor and Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. On 22 April, she reported to Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, where she served as a station tanker through late August. Armadillo then shifted to Ulithi, Caroline Islands, to perform the same duty, a routine broken by trips to Guam and Saipan in the Mariana Islands and to Peleliu in the Palaus.

Armadillo left Ulithi on 10 April 1945 and shaped a course for Okinawa. She arrived there on 18 April and began providing services to various ships of the Pacific Fleet. On 1 February 1946, the tanker departed Buckner Bay, Okinawa, and headed for the east coast of the United States. She transited the Panama Canal on 13 March and continued on to Norfolk, Va. The vessel reached that port on 23 March and began preparations for her inactivation.

Armadillo was decommissioned on 29 May 1946 and was delivered to the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration berthing area at Lee Hall, Va., at 5:00 p.m. that same day. Her name was stricken from the Navy Register on 19 June 1946, and she resumed the name Sidney Howard.

Acquired by Hasler & Co., agents, for the Windsor Navigation Co., on 3 February 1948, the ship was delivered to her purchaser at Baltimore, Md., on 14 April 1948. Renamed Dean H., the vessel was sold to Liberian interests in November 1954, but returned to the U.S. flag on 3 March 1959. Sold to Winco Tankers, Inc., on the same day, she was renamed Chris H., and carried that name until the title returned to the Maritime Administration the day after Christmas of 1962. Then operated by Winco Tankers, Inc., under a bareboat charter, Chris H. was deactivated on 7 February 1963 and returned to the Reserve Fleet where she remained until purchased by N. V. Intershitra on 22 February 1972. She was delivered to her purchaser on 10 March 1972, to be broken up for scrap in the Netherlands.

Armadillo earned one battle star for her World War II service.

Published: Mon Dec 12 17:09:37 EST 2016