Syrma (AK-134)
1944-1946
A star in the constellation Virgo.
(AK-134: displacement 14,350; length 441'6"; beam 56'11"; draft 28'4"; speed 12.5 knots; complement 226; armament 1 5-inch, 1 3-inch, 2 40 millimeter, 8 20 millimeter; class Crater; type EC2-S-C1)
Andres Almonaster was laid down on 10 January 1944 at New Orleans, La., by the Delta Shipbuilding Co. under a Maritime Commission contract (M. C. E. Hull 2455 launced on 19 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. James L. Wallace; and acquired by the Navy on 20 March 1944 from the War Shipping Administration on a bare-boat charter and converted to naval use as an auxiliary cargo ship by the Todd-Galveston Dry Docks, Inc., of Galveston, Texas, from 27 March to 12 August 1944. Near the end of that period, she was commissioned on 3 August 1944, Lt. Cmdr. Niles E. Lanphere, D-M, USNR, in coimmand.
She sailed for Norfolk, Va., the next day and arrived there on the 20th to begin her shakedown cruise. She was in the yard from 26 to 31 August for a short availability period and sailed with a convoy on 3 September. Her orders were modified five days later to proceed independently to Gulfport, Miss. Syrma loaded cargo there from 10 to 14 September and moved to New Orleans to complete loading.
Syrma, moved to Mobile where she took AFD-29 in tow and sailed for Panama on the 23rd. She arrived at the Canal Zone on 30 September; remained there until 9 October; and continued on to Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 31 October and remained in the islands until 25 November when she got underway for San Francisco. The cargo ship arrived there on 4 December 1944 and got underway for Portland, Oregon, the same day. Syrma remained there until 28 January 1945 when she departed for San Francisco. She loaded cargo from 1 to 9 February and sailed for Manus Island on the 10th with YF-619 in tow.
Syrma arrived at Seeadler Harbor on 7 March 1945; unloaded her cargo and tow; and began the return voyage to San Francisco on the 23rd. She arrived on 13 April and remained there until 8 June when she sailed for the Territory of Hawaii with YF-738 in tow. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 18 May, released the tow, and sailed the next day for Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, which she reached on the 28th. The ship unloaded her cargo and took on deck cargo for the Marshall Islands and left the next day.
Syrma operated in the Marshalls from 1 July to 12 August 1945 when she stood out for San Francisco, arriving there on the 26th. On 28 September, the ship again headed westward en route to Guam. She arrived at Apra Harbor on 18 October and departed Guam on 10 November for the east coast of the United States. She transited the Panama Canal on 9 December, and arrived at Norfolk on the 20th. She spent the remainder of December 1945 preparing for inactivation.
Syrma was decommissioned on 8 January 1946 and returned to the War Shipping Administration on the 11th, beiing berthed in the James River in the Reserve Flkeet. She was stricken from the Navy Register on 21 January 1946.
Acquired by the Fordham Trading Corp. on 16 October 1947, she was delivered to her purchaser at 10:00 a.m. on 21 November 1947. Renamed San Jorge, she operated under that name until 1954, when she was renamed St. John. Ultimately, she was broken up at Shanghai, People's Republic of China, in 1968.
Updated and corrected, Robert J. Cressman
26 March 2024
