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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Belle Isle (AG-73)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)
Basilan Class Miscellaneous Auxiliary:
  • Laid down, 19 September 1944, as a Maritime Commission type (EC2-S-C1) hull under Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 3070) at New England Shipbuilding Corp., South Portland, ME.
  • Launched, 3 November 1944
  • Placed in reduced commissioned, 12 November 1944, for transit to Bethlehem Steel Co., Hoboken, N.J. for conversion to an electronics repair vessel, LCDR. James H. Graves, Jr., USNR, (Aux Ferry Crew #5) in command
  • Decommissioned, 15 November 1944 at Hoboken, N.J.
  • Commissioned, USS Belle Isle, 13 July 1945, at New York Navy Yard, LCDR. Edward C. Morck, USNR, in command
  • Decommissioned, 30 August 1946, at San Diego, CA.
  • Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group
  • Reclassified General Stores Issue Ship (AKS-21), 18 August 1951
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 April 1960
  • Final Disposition, possibly sunk as a target in 1960
    Specifications:
    Displacement 5,371 t.(lt) 14,350 t.(fl)
    Length 441' 6"
    Beam 56' 11"
    Draft 23' (lim)
    Speed 12.5 kts. (trial)
    Complement
    Officers 52
    Enlisted 843
    Largest Boom Capacity 36 t.
    Armament
    one single 5"/38 cal dual purpose gun mount
    four single 40mm AA gun mounts
    eight single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Fuel Capacities
    NSFO 7,400 Bbls
    Diesel 1,470 Bbls
    Propulsion
    One General Machine Corp. vertical triple-expansion reciprocating engine
    two Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers, 220psi 450° Ship's Service Generators
     three Diesel-drive 350Kw 450V A.C.
     two turbo-drive 60Kw 120V D.C.
    single propeller, 2,500shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Belle Isle
    094907305    		 171k
    Namesake
    Belle Isle - Belle Isle is an uninhabited island slightly more than 15 miles off the coast of Labrador and slightly less than 20 miles north of Newfoundland at the Atlantic entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle, which takes its name. Named by the French explorer Jacques Cartier, the island lies on the shortest shipping lane between the Great Lakes and Europe and is on the main north-south shipping route to Hudson Bay and the Northwest Territories. The northern terminus of the International Appalachian Trail is on Belle Isle.
    Photo - Belle Isle South End Upper Belle Island Gulf of St Lawrence, date unknown, Pinterest, photo by Jim Feiner
    Map - The Strait of Belle Isle, Newfoundland, the Labrador coast and and Belle Isle    		 Tommy Trampp
    Belle Isle 105k USS Belle Isle (AG-73) underway near New York Navy Yard, 13 July 1945, her commissioning date.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM. photo # 19-N-87439, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Robert Hurst
    Belle Isle 91k USS Belle Isle (AG-73) in San Francisco Bay, circa April 1946. Note the electronics antennas on the forecastle, used for repairing electronics equipment. The stern of USS Saratoga (CV-3) is in the background at left.
    US Navy photo # NH 98707 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, donated by Boatswain's Mate First Class Robert G. Tippins, USN (Retired), 2003.    		 US Navy Historical Center
    Belle Isle 67k USS Belle Isle (AG-73) underway off San Diego, CA. in 1946.
    US Navy photo # NH 82191 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1975.    		 US Navy Historical Center
    Belle Isle 17k USS Belle Isle (AG-73) underway, date and location unknown. Gunter Krebs
    Belle Isle
    094907306    		 120k USS Belle Isle (AG-73) underway, probably in a US port, date and location unknown.
    Photo from www.flickr.com by Photolibrarian    		 John Spivey
    USS Belle Isle (AG-73)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
     LCDR. Graves Jr., James Henry, USNR12 November 1944 - 15 November 1944
     Decommissioned15 November 1944 - 13 July 1945
    01LCDR. Morck, Carl Edward, USNR13 July 1945 - ?
    02LCDR. Brackett, George Albert, USNR1 September 1945 - 30 August 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To the Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Miscellaneous (AG) Photo Index Back To The General Stores Issue Ship (AKS) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 15 March 2024