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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Capella (AK-13)

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - Zulu - Kilo NAZK

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Defense Service Medal (with "A" device)
Bottom Row - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

Hog Island Standard Fabricated Type A freighter Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1022:

Laid down, 1 July 1919, as SS Comerant, for the United States Shipping Board under USSB contract # 1508 at American International Shipbuilding Corp., Hog Island, PA.

Launched, 3 March 1920

Delivered, 17 April 1920, the 77th in the series, and was given the ID number 4253-W

Acquired by the Navy, 20 November 1921

Commissioned USS Capella (AK-13), 8 December 1921, LCDR. Samuel W. Hickey, USNRF, in command

Decommissioned, 1 September 1924, at Norfolk, VA.

Laid up in reserve at Norfolk, VA.

Recommissioned, 10 November 1938, CDR. Donald R. Osborn Jr. USN in command

Decommissioned, 30 November 1945, at Norfolk, VA.

Struck from the Naval Register, 19 December 1945

Transferred to the War Shipping Administration, 17 July 1946 for disposal

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 3 September 1947, to H.H. Buncher for scrapping by Boston Metals, Baltimore, MD., (PD-X-377), for $57,777.77, Withdrawn from the James River Reserve Fleet, 2 October 1947

Specifications:
Displacement 4,037 t.(lt) 11,500 t.(fl)
Length 401'
Beam 54' 1"
Draft 24' 5"
Speed 11.5 kts.

Complement

Officers 18

Enlisted 253

Largest Boom Capacity 5t.

Cargo Capacity 4,960 DWT

non-refrigerated, 271, 330 Cu ft

Armament

two single 5"/51 single purpose gun mounts (replaced by one 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount)

four single3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts (added at the end of 1940)

eight single 20mm AA gun mounts (add in 1942)

Fuel Capacity NSFO 7,285 bbls

Propulsion

one General Electric-Curtis steam turbine

three Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers, 215psi 475°

three turbo-drive 60Kw 120V D.C. Ship's Service Generators

single propeller, 2,500shp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
0913001313	57k	*Namesake* Capella is the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga, the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega.	Tommy Trampp
	135k	*USS Capella* (AK-13) at the New York Navy Yard, 26 September 1922, loading an Army 16" gun on deck aft for shipment to Pearl Harbor. The Merritt and Chapman derrick Monarch has lifted the gun clear of the Moran Towing and Transportation Co. barge No. 30. USS Maryland (BB-46)** is across the pier. The crane between the two ships is probably moving along rails on the pier. US Navy photo # 42062 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command .	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	103k	*USS Capella* (AK-13) at the New York Navy Yard, 26 September 1922, showing the Army 16" Model 1919 gun stowed on the port side forward for shipment to Pearl Harbor. Ships in the background include a Kanawha class oiler and two destroyers, one of which appears to be USS Billingsley (DD-293)*. US Navy photo # 42057* from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command.	Robert Hurst
	57k	*USS Capella* (AK-13)** pierside, probably between 1922 and 1924. US Navy photo # NH 55049 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	48k	*USS Capella* (AK-13)** transiting the Panama Canal, probably between 1938 and 1940. The ship was unarmed until she received two 5"/51 and four 3"/50 guns at the end of 1940. Photo courtesy of FADM C. W. Nimitz, USN. US Navy photo # NH 58160 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command	US Naval History and Heritage Command
0913001301	213k	*USS Capella* (AK-13)** underway off the Atlantic Coast, 14 July 1943. US Navy photo by an airship from NAS Weeksville, N.C. now in the collections of the US National Archives, photo # 80-G-76595	Rick Davis
	79k	*USS Capella* (AK-13)** underway in 1942 or 1943, after she received eight 20mm guns and before her two 5"/51 guns were replaced by one 5"/38 gun. She also carried four 3"/50 guns amidships. She is painted in camouflage Measure 12(modified). US Naval History and Heritage Command photo #: NH 98063, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Mike Green
	52k	Torpedo damage to starboard shell of *USS Capella* (AK-13)**, looking aft, showing wash boarding just forward of the rupture. The ship is dry docked at the New York Navy Yard, after being struck by a nearly-spent 21-inch torpedo accidentally discharged by a U.S. Navy PT boat in upper Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. The ship was at anchor in a light load condition in fifteen fathoms of water, sea calm and weather partly cloudy. At 1824, 9 April 1942 the torpedo struck the starboard side aft at about frame 158, fifteen feet below the waterline just aft of the shaft alley. Bureau of Ships Navy Department, War Damage Report No. 27	Mike Green
	165k	Torpedo damage to port shell of *USS Capella* (AK-13)** looking aft. Photo shows wrinkle in the shell above the hull rupture. Bureau of Ships Navy Department, War Damage Report No. 27	Mike Green
	179k	Torpedo damage to port shell of *USS Capella* (AK-13)** looking aft. Photo shows wrinkle in the shell above the hull rupture. Bureau of Ships Navy Department, War Damage Report No. 27	Mike Green
	180k	Torpedo damage to ports shell, looking forward, of *USS Capella* (AK-13)**. Photo shows the tear in the keel plate at Frame 157 and in the shell plating at the first platform. Bureau of Ships Navy Department, War Damage Report No. 27	Mike Green
	208k	Damage diagram of *USS Capella* (AK-13) from torpedo explosion, 9 April 1942, Capella was hit by a friendly torpedo fired from PT-59**, causing eight injuries, but no deaths. Bureau of Ships Navy Department, War Damage Report No. 27.	Mike Green
	142k	*USS Capella* (AK-13)** near the Norfolk Navy Yard. 12 August 1943, after change of armament. She now has two 3"/50 on the forecastle and two 3"/50 and one 5"/38 on the poop. The area between the bridge and the smokestack is again empty except for a lattice radar mast. US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo # 19-N-52044, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Mike Green

USS Capella (AK-13)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

Commanding Officers
01	LCDR. Hickey, Samuel Walter	8 December 1921 - 15 June 1922
02	LCDR. Lind, Wallace Ludwig	15 June 1922 - 18 April 1923
03	LCDR. Chew, Francis Thornton, USN (USNA 1909)	18 April 1923 - 15 January 1924
04	LTjg. Healy, William Harold, USN	15 January 1924 - 1 September 1924
	Decommissioned	1 September 1924 - 10 November 1938
05	CDR. Osborn Jr., Donald Roderick USN (USNA 1920)	10 November 1938 - 1 August 1940
06	CDR. Macklin Jr., Charles Fearns USN (USNA 1921-B)	1 August 1940 - ?
07	CDR. Jenkins, John Hayes USN (USNA 1917) Ret.	19 October 1943 - 21 October 1944
08	LT. Dunning, Roy J. USNR	21 October 1944 - 1 August 1945
09	LCDR. Crouch, James M. USNR	1 August 1945 - 30 November 1945


Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
MARAD Vessel History Database

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 5 March 2021