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| Merchant Service
Panama Railroad Line |
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Namesake
Ancon - Ancon Hill is the name of a large hill that overlooks Panama City and once served as a form of protection from pirates and sea invasion. The township was
originally located around this hill, and was created to house employees of the Panama Canal during its construction. (Wikipedia) |
Tommy Trampp |
10010449 |
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SS Ancon Maiden Voyage postal cover, 1 July 1939. |
Steve Hatchett from the collection
of his father George Hatchett |
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Pre-WWII post card image of the Panama Lines passenger liner SS Ancon under way. |
Tommy Trampp |
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Pre-WWII image of SS Ancon under way, circa 1939-1941, location unknown.
US Navy photo # NH 99212, a US Navy photo from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. |
US Naval Historical Center |
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Post-WWII image of SS Ancon returning to the Bethlehem Steel Co., Fore River, Quincy, MA., 13 June 1947, after being
reconverted there for merchant service with the Panama Railroad Co. The drawbridge on State Route 3A and the large coal power plant were between the shipyard and the
sea.
Photo ©"Boston Herald". Caption courtesy Shipscribe.com. |
Photo - Tommy Trampp
Caption - Robert Hurst |
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SS Ancon under way in harbor, date and location unknown. |
Gerhard Mueller-Debus |
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SS Ancon under way in harbor, date and location unknown. |
Gerhard Mueller-Debuss |
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1:1250 scale model of SS Ancon by Mercator. |
Tommy Trampp |
USS Ancon (AP-66)
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USS Ancon (AP-66) under way near Boston Navy Yard, 12 September 1942.
She has been fitted as a combat loaded transport with three sets of Welin davits on each side to handle landing craft but does not yet have any special communications
or radar antennas
US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, photo #s 19-N-34029 and 19-N-34028, US Navy Bureau of Ships photos now in the collections of the US
National Archives. Courtesy Shipscribe.com |
Robert Hurst |
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USS Ancon (AP-66) under way off Norfolk, VA., 15 October 1942.
Evident signs of her conversion are the guns forward and aft and the air search radar antenna placed, unusually, at the fore end of the ship's funnel.
US Navy Bureau of Ships photo and text from "U.S. Amphibious Ships and Craft: An Illustrated Design History" by Norman Friedman. |
Robert Hurst |
USS Ancon (AGC-4)
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US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo No. 19-N-45727 |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) port quarter view and port broadside views while under way near the Norfolk Navy Yard,
21 April 1943, soon after her AGC conversion.
US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo No. 19-N-45727 and US National Archives,
RG-19-LCM, Photo No. 19-N-45725, courtesy Shipscribe.com. |
Mike Green |
US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo No. 19-N-45725 |
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Aerial view of USS Ancon (AGC-4) under way off Norfolk, VA., 24 April 1943, after conversion to an Amphibious Force Command Ship. The big radar antenna on her lattice mast is for an SK long-range air search set. Note that she retained her four attack transport davits.
US Navy Bureau of Ships photo and text from "U.S. Amphibious Ships and Craft: An Illustrated Design History" by Norman Friedman. |
Robert Hurst |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) at anchor in Chesapeake Bay, 8 May 1943, after conversion from a troop transport to an amphibious command ship (AGC). Note that some of her civilian bow ornamentation, although painted over, is still visible.
US Navy photo # NH 95389 |
Robert Hurst and Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret. |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) at anchor, 11 June 1943, during preparations for the invasion of Sicily.
US Navy photo # NH 99148 |
Robert Hurst |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) surface plotting area, probably the Navy Operations Room adjacent to or part of the Joint Operations Room, 3 July 1943 shortly before the invasion of Sicily. Note plotting crew with charts on multiple tables, sound powered phones, communications gear in cabinets at left, speaking tubes on bulkhead at right, and aircraft status board on bulkhead at rear.
US National Archives photo # 80-G-215068, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
Bill Gonyo |
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Status board in the Joint Operations Room, USS Ancon (AGC-4), 3 July 1943.
This board shows the disposition of Task Force 85 ships shortly before the invasion of Sicily.
US National Archives photo # 80-G-215080, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
Bill Gonyo |
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Joint Operations Room, USS Ancon (AGC-4), 3 July 1943 shortly before the invasion of Sicily. Command personnel are manning the stations on the raised platform at the left. The two horizontal plots may be the air plot table (foreground) and local plot table (background). The task force disposition status board is on a bulkhead at the left rear. A radio transmitting keyboard is in use in the foreground. Note the extensive use of sound powered phones. Chalked on the vertical status board at right is the statement "Again we have been asked to do the impossible. Let's do it as usual."
US National Archives photo # 80-G-215083, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
Bill Gonyo |
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Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, U.S. Army, on the navigation bridge of USS Ancon (AGC-4), en route to the invasion of Sicily, 7 July 1943. With him is CAPT. Timothy Wellings, USN.
US National Archives photo # 80-G-86325, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
Bill Gonyo |
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Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk, USN on the bridge of his flagship, USS Ancon (AGC-4), during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943.
US National Archives photo # 80-G-302134, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
Bill Gonyo |
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Vice Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, USN (left), Commander Western Naval Task Force (Task Force 80) with his Chief of Staff and Aide, Rear Admiral Spencer S. Lewis, USN, on board USS Ancon (AGC-4), flagship for the Salerno Landings in September 1943. Note the binoculars worn by both men.
US Navy photo # NH 99213, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. |
Bill Gonyo |
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Vice Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, USN (right), who commanded American naval forces during the invasions of Morocco, Sicily, and Salerno, on the deck of his flagship, USS Ancon (AGC-4), with war correspondent Quentin Reynolds.
US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
Bill Gonyo |
10010446
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The staff of Vice Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt USN, aboard his flagship USS Ancon (AGC-4), in the Mediterranean in 1943 and 1944.
Jim Moses' father C.W. Moses, USN was staff gunnery officer on VADM. Hewitt's staff. |
Jim Moses CDR, USN (Ret.) for his father RADM C.W. Moses, USN (Ret.) |
10010447
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Flag and General Officers (including LT. Gen George S. Patton, USA) aboard USS Ancon (AGC-4), Vice Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt
USN, flagship in the Mediterranean circa 1943, 1944.
Note, this photo could also have been taken aboard USS Monrovia (APA-31)
Jim Moses' father C.W. Moses, USN was staff gunnery officer on VADM. Hewitt's staff. |
Jim Moses CDR, USN (Ret.) for his father RADM C.W. Moses, USN (Ret.) |
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Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk, USN inspecting the crew of USS Ancon (AGC-4), 9 September 1943, at the time of the Salerno operation. Note these Sailors' dyed "white" hats and pneumatic life belts.
US National Archives photo # 80-G-302132, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
Bill Gonyo |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) at anchor, 11 September, 1943, in
Salerno Bay, Italy. Note unidentified Italian submarine alongside. |
The War Story of the Ancon, Cristobal & Panama |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) in the background of this photo of
HM LST-404 and two unidentified PT boats off the invasion beaches at Salerno,
12 September 1943.
US National Archives Photo No. 80-G-87333 a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives |
Mike Green |
10010443 |
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US Navy PT-Boats off Salerno Italy during Operation Avalanche landings, 9 to 21 September 1943. USS Ancon (AGC-4) is in the
background, the dazzle camouflaged PT-Boat is possibly PT-208.
LIFE Magazine Archives - George Rodger Photographer |
Mike Green |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) off the Salerno beachhead, 12 September 1943 serving as operation flagship. Note the US Navy submarine chasers (SCs) laying smoke screens to protect the larger ships.
US National Archives photo # 80-G-87314, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
US Naval Historical Center |
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Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, U.S. Army, Commanding General, Fifth Army, on board USS Ancon (AGC-4) during the landings at Salerno, Italy, 12 September 1943.
US National Archives photo # 80-G-87335, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
Bill Gonyo |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) under way, date and location unknown.
US Navy photo from "Allied Landing Craft of World War Two", published by Arms, and Armour Press. |
Robert Hurst |
10010445
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) off Slapton Sands, Start Bay, Devon, UK. during landing exercises, 11-12 March 1944.
TimeLife_image_116791108 by David Scherman. For personal non-commercial use only. |
David Upton |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) off Normandy, 7 June 1944, PC-565 is in the foreground
US Navy photo # 80-N-257287 |
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,
Vol. 1, pg. 283 |
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King George VI, of Great Britain (center) inspecting USS Ancon (AGC-4), 25 May 1944, shortly before the invasion of Normandy. Accompanying him are: Rear Admiral John L. Hall, Jr., USN (right background); and
Commander Mead S. Pearson, USN, Ancon's Commanding Officer (right).
US Navy photo # NH 99131, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, donation of Captain George W. Mead, Jr., USN, 1969. |
Bill Gonyo |
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Royal Navy Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay and US Navy Rear Admiral John L. Hall, Jr. aboard USS Ancon (AGC-4), 25 May 1944.
US National Archives photo # 80-G-45713, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. |
Bill Gonyo |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) at anchor off Omaha Beach, Normandy, June 1944. |
Robert Hurst |
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Starboard bow view of USS Ancon (AGC-4) under way off Charleston Navy Yard, S.C., 21 December3 1944. She is wearing Measure 31a, Design 18Ax camouflage and has a small hull number at bow.
US Navy photo # NH 96391 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. |
Robert Hurst |
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Starboard quarter view of USS Ancon (AGC-4) under way off Charleston Navy Yard, S.C., 21 December3 1944. She is wearing Measure 31a, Design 18Ax camouflage and has a small hull number at bow.
US Navy photo # NH 96390 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. |
Robert Hurst |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) underway off Charleston Navy Yard, S.C., 21 December 1944. She is wearing Measure 31a, Design 18Ax camouflage. (Note the photo is mis-dated 21 December 1945)
US Navy photo # NH 95392-A from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. |
Robert Hurst |
10010450 |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) at anchor, date and location unknown. |
Aryeh Wetherhorn |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) at anchor in Manila Bay, Philippine Islands in August 1945, She is wearing Measure 31a, Design 18Ax camouflage and has a large hull number painted on her bow.
US Navy photo # NH 99150 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. |
Robert Hurst |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) at anchor with the fleet in Tokyo Bay, 2 September 1945, during then formal Japanese surrender, as navy carrier planes fly information overhead. She is wearing Measure 31a, Design 18Ax camouflage and has a large hull number on her bow
US Army Signal Corps. photo # SC 106337 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy Maine Maritime Academy. |
Robert Hurst |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) underway in Tokyo Bay. On the morning of the 29 August 1945, Ancon sailed into Tokyo Bay and assumed duties
as a press release ship in coordination with battleship USS Iowa (BB-61).
From the ship's anchorage between USS Missouri (BB-63) and
USS South Dakota (BB-57), her crew witnessed the official Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945.
Life Magazine Archives, John Florea Photographer, shared by Peter DeForest |
Mike Green |
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Crew manning twin 40mm Bofors mount aboard USS Ancon (AGC-4) anchored in Tokyo Bay in late-August/September, 1945. The ships
were on high alert in case the Japanese mounted an attack against the occupation fleet.
Life Magazine Archives, John Florea Photographer, shared by Peter DeForest |
Mike Green |
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USS Ancon (AGC-4) at anchor in San Francisco Bay circa December 1945.
US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 98751 |
Mike Green |
 TS State of Maine
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TS State of Maine in port, probably, at Castine, Maine, while serving as the Maine Maritime Academy's training ship, circa 1962-1973. Photograph by the Maine Maritime Academy.
US Navy photo # NH 99237, a US Navy photo from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. |
US Naval Historical Center |
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TS State of Maine moored pierside at the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad building, Jacksonville, FL. during her 1964 winter training cruise.
US Navy photo # NH 99238, a US Navy photo from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. |
US Naval Historical Center |
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TS State of Maine moored pierside, date and location unknown. |
Gerhard Mueller-Debus |
