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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo #  NH 83230:  Cargo ship Kopara, probably prior to World War II


Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

Kopara (New Zealand Cargo Ship, 1938).
Served as USS Kopara (AK-62, later AG-50) in 1942-1945

Kopara, a 679-ton cargo ship, was built at Napier, New Zealand, in 1938. She was purchased by the U.S. Navy in August 1942 and placed in commission as USS Kopara (AK-62) a month later. A few days after commissioning, she was reclassified as a miscellanous auxiliary and given the new hull number AG-50. During the rest of 1942, she regularly carried supplies to the embattled U.S. forces on Guadalcanal, at times narrowly escaping damage from Japanese guns and aircraft.

For the remainder of her Navy service, Kopara continued supply operations in the south Pacific, voyaging from New Zealand northward into the Solomons and eastward to American Samoa and the Ellice Islands. After two years of this important, if unexciting, employment, Kopara was decommissioned in January 1945 and ultimately returned to civilian ownership.

This page features our only view of the New Zealand cargo ship Kopara, which served as USS Kopara (AK-62, later AG-50) in 1942-1945.


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.

Photo #: NH 83230

SS Kopara
(New Zealand Cargo Ship, 1938)

Probably photographed prior to World War II.
This ship served as USS Kopara (AK-62 & AG-50) in 1942-45.

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1975.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 57KB; 740 x 490 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 31 December 2001