USS Aludra, a 7050-ton (light displacement) Alstede class store ship, was built at Oakland, California, to U.S. Maritime Commission design R2-S-BV1. Completed in March 1945 as the civilian refrigerated cargo ship Matchless, she was operated commercially for more than four years, including Pacific service during the last months of World War II. The ship was laid up near Mobile, Alabama in August 1949, but was reactivated as part of the Nation's response to the Korean War crisis. Renamed Aludra in January 1951, she was converted for U.S. Navy use at Camden, New Jersey and placed in commission in June 1952.
Aludra made one Korean War deployment between October 1952 and May 1953. She continued her work with the Pacific Fleet during the next decade and a half, taking part in the development of new underway replenishment techniques and regularly steaming to Far Eastern waters for service with the Seventh Fleet. In 1954 the store ship participated in the evacuation of refugees from northern Vietnam. Between 1965 and 1969, she was actively employed supporting Vietnam War combat operations. USS Aludra was decommissioned in September 1969 and laid up at Suisun Bay, California. She remained in the National Defense Reserve Fleet until 1977 and was sold for scrapping in November of that year.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Aludra (AF-55).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Aludra (AF-55). The following list features some of these images:
The images listed below are NOT in
the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".
USS Aludra (AF-55) underway, probably during the early 1950s. This image was received by the Naval Photographic Center in August 1959, as one of a group of photos that were generally taken several years earlier. Port bow aerial view, with thin light gray smoke issuing from the funnel. As USN 1043433, but starboard stern aerial view with darker smoke.
USS Aludra (AF-55) entering Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 12 October 1963. Photographed by PH1 J.K. Avery of Utility Squadron 5A (VU-5A). Starboard bow (very tight on the bow) high aerial view. The ship appears to be moving very slowly, if at all. As USN 1094229, but starboard bow (relatively tight on the bow) low aerial view (show from about the height of the mid-point of Aludra's smokestack. Mountainous terrain is in the background.
Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions". |
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 12 August 2006