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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Antona (IX-133)

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Juliet - November - Uniform
 NJNU

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Mobile Floating Station Tanker:
  • Built in 1921 as the Emergency Fleet Corporation design 1041 tanker Birkenhead at Moore Shipbuilding Co., Oakland, CA. for the Socony Vacuum Oil Co., New York
  • Purchased by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) in 1943
  • Renamed Antona, 3 November 1943
  • Transferred to the US Navy, 4 May 1944, and commissioned, USS Antona (IX-133) while at Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, LCDR. Louis M. Fabian, USNR, in command
  • USS Antona (IX-133), assigned to ServRon 10, served as station tanker at Majuro, Eniwetok Atoll, Ulithi, Palau in the Caroline Islands, Okinawa and Subic Bay in the Philippines
  • Decommissioned, 3 May 1946, at San Francisco, CA., and delivered to the War Shipping Administration the same day for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 21 March 1946
  • Name reverted to Birkenhead
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 29 October 1947 to Kaiser Co. Inc., for $28,360 (PD-X-392)
    Specifications:
    Displacement 4,343 t.(lt)
    Length 438' 6"
    Beam 57'
    Draft 27' 4"
    Speed 10.5 kts
    Complement 61
    Armament
    one 4" gun mount
    one 3"/50 gun mount>
    Propulsion
    one triple expansion steam engine
    single propeller
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Pre WWII Merchant Service Socony Vacuum Oil Co.
    Antona
    094613309    		 97k SS Birkenhead in the colors of the Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc., New York, underway, circa 1942, location unknown.
    Auke Visser's Mobil-Tankers & Tugs Site     		Robert Hurst
    Antona
    094613307    		 232k SS Birkenhead in the colors of the Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc., New York, underway, circa 1942, location unknown.
    U.S. Coast Guard photo    		 MARAD
    Antona
    094613308    		 169k Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. tankder SS Birkenhead at anchor, 1 February 1942, location unknown.
    U.S. Coast Guard photo    		 MARAD
    Antona
    094613306    		 98k Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. tanker SS Birkenhead inbound from sea, 5 October 1942, location unknown.
    U.S. Coast Guard photo    		 MARAD
    Antona
    094613305    		 221k Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. tanker SS Birkenhead at anchor with a tug alongside, 9 November 1942, location unknown.
    U.S. Coast Guard photo    		 MARAD
    Antona
    094613304    		 198k Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. tanker SS Birkenhead, at anchor, 4 February 1943, location unknown.
    U.S. Coast Guard photo    		 MARAD
    Antona
    094613302    		 204k Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. tanker SS Birkenhead, at anchor, 4 June 1943, location unknown.
    U.S. Coast Guard photo    		 MARAD
    Antona
    094613301    		 239k Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. tanker SS Birkenhead, inbound from sea, 18 June 1943, location unknown.
    U.S. Coast Guard photo    		 MARAD
    Antona
    094613303    		 142k Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. tanker SS Birkenhead, outbound to sea, 21 July 1943, location unknown.
    U.S. Coast Guard photo    		 MARAD
    USS Antona (IX-133)
    DANFS Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    MARAD Vessel History Database
    Auke Visser's Mobil-Tankers & Tugs Site - Birkenhead
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Miscellaneous Ship (IX) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 5 May 2024