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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

AK-42 / AKS-20 Mercury

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Charlie - India - Charlie

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive 26 June 44) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (5 stars)
Bottom Row - World War II Victory Medal - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (3-Lebanon)

Mercury Class Cargo Ship:

Laid down as MS Lightning, a Maritime Commission type (C2 Cargo) hull under Maritime Contract (MC hull 16) at Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J.

Launched, 15 July 1939

Purchased by Moore-McCormack Lines and placed in operation as MS Mormactern, 30 October 1940

Acquired by the US Navy, 20 June 1941

Converted for Naval service and commissioned USS Mercury (AK-42), 1 July 1942, LCDR. G. W. Graber, USNR, in command

During World War II Mercury was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

**Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns**
Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
Capture and defense of Guadalcanal, September 1942	Leyte operation Leyte landings, Dulag, 21 October 1944
Marshall Islands operation Occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, 2 to 16 February 1944 Occupation of Eniwetok Atoll, 17 February 1944	Luzon operation Lingayen Gulf landing, 9 January 1945
Marianas operation Capture and occupation of Saipan, 20 June 1944	.

Converted to a General Store Issues Ship, redesignated (AKS-20), 31 July 1945

Decommissioned, 28 May 1959, at Orange, TX.

Struck from the Naval Register, 1 August 1959

Transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD), 5 April 1960, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, TX.

Final Disposition, scrapped in 1975

Mercury received five battle stars for World War II service

Specifications:
Displacement 7,345 t.(lt), 10,850 t.(fl)
Length 459' 2"
Beam 63'
Draft 25' 9" (max)
Speed 15.5 kts.
Complement 265
Armament

one 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount

four single 3"/50 dual purpose guns

eight single 20mm AA gun mounts
Propulsion diesel engines, single shaft, 6,000shp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
USS Mercury (AK-42)
	130k	Mercury (AK-42) resupplying Essex (CV-9) via highline, 27 April 1945, while operating off Okinawa. *Essex* crewmen in the foreground are stacking bags of flour. Note the man on *Mercury's forward hatch, directing the hoisting of another load from her hold. US National Archives photo # 80-G-373777*, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives	US Naval Historical Center
USS Mercury (AKS-20)
	59k	Mercury (AK-42) at anchor, circa 1946, location unknown.	Robert Hurst
	118k	From left to right Sixth Fleet ships moored at Barcelona, Spain in April 1956: Cassin Young (DD-793), Albany (CA-123), Newport News (CA-148), Mercury (AKS-20), and Mauna Loa (AE-8). *Newport News* had just taken over as Flagship for Vice Admiral Harry D. Felt, Commander Sixth Fleet, when this photo was taken.	George Klos

View the Mercury (AK-42)
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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Last Updated 30 August 2007