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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 99294:  USS Saturn in 1944

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Saturn (AK-49, later AF-40), 1942-1972.
Originally S.S. Arauca (German Freighter, 1939)

USS Saturn, a 5088-ton cargo ship, was built in 1939 at Vegesach, Germany, as the German commercial freighter Arauca. She was interned at Port Everglades, Florida, when World War II began 1939 and was seized by the U.S. Government in 1941. Turned over to the Navy in April 1942, she was placed in commission as USS Saturn (AK-49) and for the next two years was employed carrying cargo from East Coast ports to Newfoundland and the Caribbean. The ship also made one trans-Atlantic voyage to England in the fall of 1943.

In April 1944 Saturn was reclassified as a store ship and given the designation AF-40. Following conversion work at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, in September 1944 she resumed operations with a voyage to the Mediterranean. During the rest of her active career Saturn made trips to Iceland, the Caribbean and along the Atlantic Coast, carrying foodstuffs and other supplies to U.S. bases and to ships at sea. Decommissioned in July 1946, she was turned over to the War Shipping Administration and laid up at Lee Hall, Virginia. Saturn remained in the Maritime Administration's reserve fleet until September 1972, when she was sold for scrapping. She was delivered to her new owner in December of that year and subsequently broken up in Spain.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Saturn (AK-49, later AF-40) and the German freighter Arauca.


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 99294

USS Saturn
(AF-40)

Photographed in 1944, probably immediately after completing conversion to a store ship.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Online Image: 46KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99295

USS Saturn
(AF-40)

Transfers frozen provisions to USS Midway (CVB-41), during operations off the U.S. East Coast in the spring of 1946.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Online Image: 157KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99296

USS Saturn
(AF-40)

Reprovisions USS Macon (CA-132), during operations off the U.S. East Coast, circa late April or early May 1946.
Photograph was released by Macon's Commanding Officer on 8 May 1946.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 96331

USS Saturn
(AF-40)

Firemen examine debris in the ship's Number Three Hold, after a fire on board had killed fifteen workmen while the ship was undergoing conversion to a refrigerator ship at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 27 April 1944.

Copied from typescript "History of the Norfolk Navy Yard in World War II", page 169. The original volume is in the collections of the Navy Department Library.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 555 pixels

 


USS Saturn (AF-40) is seen in the left background of the following view of another ship:

Photo #: NH 94524

USS Hesperia
(AKS-13)

Off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 26 April 1945.
USS Saturn (AF-40) is in the left background.

Courtesy of Charles N. Dragonette.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 


The following photographs show the German freighter Arauca before she became USS Saturn:

Photo #: NH 105638

S.S. Arauca
(German Freighter, 1939)

Interned at Port Everglades, Florida, after being chased into port there by the British cruiser Orion in December 1939.
This ship was seized by the U.S. in 1941 and became USS Saturn (AK-49, later AF-40) in 1942.
The original image is printed on post card stock.

Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 52KB; 740 x 515 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 105637

S.S. Arauca
(German Freighter, 1939)

Interned at Port Everglades, Florida, after being chased into port there by the British cruiser Orion in December 1939.
Note the swastika flag flying from the stern. This ship was seized by the U.S. in 1941 and became USS Saturn (AK-49, later AF-40) in 1942.
The original image is printed on post card stock.

Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 480 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 105639

S.S. Arauca
(Ex-German Freighter, 1939)

Being towed out of Port Everglades, Florida, on 19 August 1941 headed for overhaul at Mobile, Alabama.
She had been seized by the United States for defense service and flies the American flag aft. This German merchant ship had been in Port Everglades since being chased into port there by the British cruiser Orion in December 1939. She became USS Saturn (AK-49, later AF-40) in 1942.

Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 52KB; 740 x 515 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Saturn (AK-49, later AF-40). The following list features some of these images:

The images listed below are NOT in the Naval History and Heritage Command 's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".



  • Photo #: 80-G-214187
    USS Saturn (AK-49) underway at low speed in the vicinity of Norfolk, Virginia, 2 January 1944. Photographed from an aircraft based at Naval Air Station Norfolk.
    High aerial view, taken from off the ship's stern and slightly to port.

  • Photo #: 80-G-214189
    As 80-G-214187, but high aerial view taken from off the ship's bow and slightly to port.

  • Photo #: 80-G-214191
    As 80-G-214187, but starboard broadside aerial view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-214192
    As 80-G-214187, but port bow aerial view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-214193
    As 80-G-214187, but port quarter aerial view.


  • Photo #: 80-G-235170
    USS Saturn (AF-40) underway in the vicinity of Hampton Roads, Virginia, 3 July 1944. Photographed from an aircraft based at Naval Air Station Hampton Roads.
    High aerial view, taken from directly above the ship and slightly to port.

  • Photo #: 80-G-235171
    As 80-G-235170, but port broadside (somewhat toward the stern) aerial view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-235172
    As 80-G-235170, but port broadside aerial view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-235173
    As 80-G-235170, but aerial view from off the ship's bow and somewhat to port.

  • Photo #: 80-G-235174
    As 80-G-235170, but aerial view from almost directly off the ship's bow.


  • Photo #: 80-G-281818
    USS Saturn (AF-40) underway off the U.S. East Coast (position 40-57'N, 68-35'W) on course 010, 16 October 1944. Photographed from an blimp of squadron ZP-11.
    Starboard broadside high aerial view, with the ship making good speed.

  • Photo #: 80-G-451396
    USS Saturn (AF-40) underway during operations off the U.S. East Coast, 29 April 1946. Photographed from on board USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42).
    Port quarter surface view, taken from about the level of the top of Saturn's pilothouse.


    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval History and Heritage Command

    The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval History and Heritage Command '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."


    Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

    Page made 8 May 2004
    New images added 11 January 2009