U.S. Navy
Battle Damage Repair Ships (ARB)
Emergency repair ships built on LST hulls that could do what no other vessel in the fleet could — beach themselves alongside a crippled ship and start cutting steel. All thirteen ARBs were converted from Landing Ship, Tank hulls and named for figures from Greek mythology. They operated at Okinawa, the Philippines, and every contested anchorage in the Western Pacific, reaching damaged vessels in shallow water where conventional repair ships could not go. When a ship was too broken to move but too valuable to abandon, an ARB would nose up alongside and put her welders to work.
World War II - Beachhead Repair
1943 - 1945
ARB
ARB-1
1943
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1947
Decommissioned
The first of a new breed — a repair ship that could beach herself alongside crippled vessels in the shallows. Built on an LST hull, Aristaeus carried welding gear, pumps, and hull repair equipment into forward combat zones where no drydock existed. She set the standard for emergency battle damage repair under fire that every ARB that followed would build on.
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ARB
ARB-2
1943
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the Titan god of the great river that encircled the world, Oceanus carried her repair capabilities to the far edges of the Pacific. Where larger repair ships needed deep anchorages, Oceanus could run her flat bottom right up onto the beach next to a stranded vessel and start cutting steel.
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ARB
ARB-3
1944
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the mythological ferryman loved by Sappho, 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 — often while Japanese shells were still falling nearby.
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ARB
ARB-4
1944
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the king of the Greek gods, Zeus brought thunderbolt-fast repair to ships crippled in combat. 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.
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ARB
ARB-5
1944
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the legendary king of Crete, 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.
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ARB
ARB-6
1944
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the mythological hero who led the Argonauts, this Jason sought not golden fleece but broken ships to mend. 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.
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ARB
ARB-7
1944
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the Trojan War hero and son of Zeus, 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.
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ARB
ARB-8
1944
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the father of Ajax who fought at Troy, Telamon brought emergency repair capability to the invasion beaches of the Philippines. When landing craft hit mines or took shellfire on the approach, Telamon's welders and hull technicians were there to patch them up and send them back to the beach.
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ARB
ARB-9
1944
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the Roman name of Odysseus, the craftiest hero of the Trojan War. 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.
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ARB
ARB-10
1944
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the Greek goddess of harvest and sustenance, Demeter sustained the fighting fleet in a different way — 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.
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ARB
ARB-11
1945
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
Named for the wise old king of Pylos who counseled the Greeks at Troy, 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.
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ARB
ARB-12
1945
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
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. If any ARB deserved her mythological name, it was this one.
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ARB
ARB-13
1945
Commissioned
LST Hull
Converted
4,100
TONS
1946
Decommissioned
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. Even unnamed, she carried the same mission as her sisters — get alongside broken ships and make them whole.
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13
Battle Damage Repair Ships
LST
Hull Conversion
Greek
Mythological Names
Pacific
Theater of Operations