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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

AF-15 Talamanca

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Mizar Class Stores Ship:
  • Built in 1931 at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, VA. as SS Talamanca a passenger/freighter combination liner and fruit cargo carrier for the United Mail Steamship Co., New York, N.Y.
  • Acquired by the Navy, 16 December 1941, from the United Mail Steamship Co.
  • Converted for Naval service at Maryland Drydock Co., Baltimore, MD.
  • Commissioned USS Talamanca AF-15, 28 January 1942, CDR. Nathan W. Bard in command
  • Decommissioned, 29 November 1945, at New Orleans, LA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 19 December 1945
  • Returned to United Fruit Co., in 1946
  • Sold to Elder & Fyffes in 1959, renamed SS Sulaco
  • Final Disposition, scrapped at Bruges, Belgium, arrived 28 July 1964
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 19 December 1945
  • Final Disposition, scrapped in 1965
    Specifications:
    Displacement 6,963 t.(lt) 11,880 t.(fl)
    Length 447' 10"
    Beam 60'
    Draft 25' 2"
    Speed 18 kts. (max)
    Cargo Capacity 2,615 DWT
    Complement 238
    Armament one single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount, four single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    Propulsion Turbo-electric, twin screws, 11,000shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Talamanca (AF-15)
    Talamanca 44k Talamanca (AF-15) underway, 30 June 1942, place unknown.
    US Navy ONI photo    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Commercial Service
    Talamanca 86k ex-Talamanca (AF-15) in commercial service as United Fruit Company's SS Talamanca moored pierside, circa 1946 to 1969, place unknown. David Nixon
    Talamanca 47k ex-Talamanca (AF-15) moored pierside in commercial service as Elder & Fyffes' SS Sulaco, circa 1959-64, place unknown. David Nixon
    Talamanca 76k ex-Talamanca (AF-15) in commercial service as Elder & Fyffes' SS Sulaco, underway off Avonmouth, United Kingdom, date unknown.
    Photo from the Malcolm Cranfield Collection.    		 David Nixon
    View the Talamanca (AF-15)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center web site
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    No Information Available
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 21 April 2006