Battle Damage Repair Ships (ARB)

Lead ship of the ARB class, converted from LST-389 at Bethlehem Steel, Baltimore. The first of a new breed - a repair ship that could beach herself alongside crippled vessels in the shallows. Carried welding gear, pumps, and hull repair equipment into forward combat zones where no drydock existed. Repaired battle-damaged vessels from Manus to Okinawa. Named for the Greek beekeeper god who taught mortals the art of healing.

Named for the Titan god of the great river encircling the earth. Converted from LST-390, Oceanus carried her repair capabilities to the far edges of the Pacific. Where larger repair ships needed deep anchorages, she could run her flat bottom right up onto the beach next to a stranded vessel and start cutting steel.

Named for the mythological ferryman loved by Sappho. Converted from LST-344, Phaon ferried repair capability to invasion beaches across the Western Pacific. Her crew patched landing craft, welded hull breaches on beached ships, and pumped out flooded compartments at Ulithi, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa - often while Japanese shells were still falling.

Named for the king of the Greek gods. At Okinawa, where kamikaze attacks left dozens of ships burning and listing, Zeus beached alongside stricken vessels and her crew went to work cutting away wreckage, shoring bulkheads, and restoring watertight integrity under the constant threat of another attack. Converted from LST-132, she brought thunderbolt-fast repair to the most dangerous anchorage of the war.

Named for the legendary king of Crete. Converted from LST-527, Minos served at forward Pacific bases where the line between repair facility and combat zone barely existed. Her LST hull let her operate in waters too shallow for conventional repair ships, reaching damaged vessels that larger ARs simply could not get to.

Named for the mythological hero who led the Argonauts. This Jason sought not golden fleece but broken ships to mend. Converted from LST-529, she operated alongside the invasion fleets in the Philippines and Okinawa, where damaged landing craft and support ships needed immediate repair to keep the assault moving forward.

Named for the Trojan War hero and son of Zeus. Converted from LST-956, Sarpedon charged into the most dangerous waters of the Pacific campaign. At Leyte Gulf and Okinawa, where Japanese resistance was fiercest, her crew repaired battle damage on ships that couldn't withdraw - keeping them afloat and fighting when retreat meant sinking.

Named for the father of Ajax who fought at Troy. Converted from LST-957, Telamon brought emergency repair capability to the invasion beaches of the Philippines. When landing craft hit mines or took shellfire on the approach, her welders and hull technicians patched them up and sent them back to the beach.

Named for the Roman name of Odysseus, the craftiest hero of the Trojan War. Converted from LST-960, Ulysses embodied that resourcefulness - her crew improvised repairs with whatever materials were at hand, fabricating patches from salvaged steel and rigging temporary fixes that held long enough to get ships back in the fight.

Named for the Greek goddess of harvest and sustenance. Converted from LST-967, Demeter sustained the fighting fleet by restoring broken ships to operational condition at forward bases. Her flat-bottomed hull could nose right up alongside a beached or grounded vessel, turning a disaster into a temporary drydock.

Named for the wise old king of Pylos who counseled the Greeks at Troy. Converted from LST-968, Nestor arrived late in the war bringing hard-won knowledge of battle damage repair to the fleet off Okinawa. Even in the war's final months, kamikaze damage kept ARB crews working around the clock patching ships faster than the enemy could break them.

The most fitting name in the entire ARB fleet. Hephaestus - the Greek god of the forge, fire, and metalworking - was the divine blacksmith who crafted armor for the gods. Her Navy namesake carried that same fire in her welding torches, forging repairs on broken warships at the edge of the combat zone. Converted from LST-1127. If any ARB deserved her mythological name, it was this one.

The last of the battle damage repair ships, never given a name beyond her hull number. ARB-13 entered service as the war ended - a testament to the massive scale of American shipbuilding that produced specialized vessels right up until the final days. Converted from LST-1098. Even unnamed, she carried the same mission as her sisters: get alongside broken ships and make them whole.