The Aristaeus-class repair ship was a class of repair ships of the United States Navy during the Second World War.
Thirteen ships was converted into a repair ship throughout the later stages of World War II. The ships were converted from the LST-1, LST-491 and LST-542 classes. After the war, few ships were then sold to foreign countries such as Brazil, Greece, Norway and West Germany.
The ship's hull remained nearly the same but with new equipments to carry out her purpose now placed on deck alongside several cranes. The ships' armament had been slightly changed and relocated to make way for the ships' equipments. All ships served in the Pacific Theater until the end of the war with no ships lost in combat.[1]
MV Gordon Jensen (ex-USS Zeus) is still active to this day, serving as a transport and berthing vessel for SNOPAC Products Inc. processing crews in Alaska.[2]
ARB-13 (ex-USS LST-50) was redesignated as a repair ship on 14 November 1952. She was sold to Norway as HNoMS Ellida (A534) and later sold to Greece as Sakipis (A329).
| Aristaeus-class repair ship[3] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pennant number | Name | Callsign | Builders | Launched | Commissioned | Decommissioned | Fate | |
| ARB-1 | NJWX | Philadelphia Navy Yard | 11 February 1943 | 18 May 1943 | 10 January 1947 | Fate unknown | ||
| ARB-2 | NJXA | 11 February 1943 | 22 May 1943 | January 1947 | Scrapped | |||
| ARB-3 | NJXD | Dravo Corporation | 30 January 1943 | 5 August 1943 | January 1947 | Scrapped on 8 July 1962 | ||
| ARB-4 | NJXG | Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. | 26 October 1943 | 11 April 1944 | 30 August 1946 | Sold to merchant service, laid up in Alaska | ||
| ARB-5 | NJXJ | 24 December 1943 | 23 May 1944 | January 1947 | Scrapped on 19 November 1980 | |||
| ARB-6 | NJLJ | 20 January 1944 | 24 June 1944 | 29 November 1945 | Scrapped | |||
| ARB-7 | NJLR | Bethlehem Steel Co. | 21 August 1944 | 10 March 1945 | 29 January 1947 | Scrapped on 30 May 1989 | ||
| ARB-8 | NJLV | Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard | 10 January 1945 | 1 June 1945 | 20 May 1947 | Scrapped on 1 March 1974 | ||
| ARB-9 | NJMB | 2 December 1944 | 20 April 1945 | 28 February 1947 | Sold to West Germany and renamed Odin (A512), fate unknown | |||
| ARB-10 | NJMJ | Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. | 19 January 1945 | 3 July 1945 | 25 May 1947 | Sold to merchant service, sunk on 12 January 1964 | ||
| ARB-11 | NJMP | 11 January 1945 | 23 June 1945 | 3 December 1946 | Sold to West Germany and renamed Wotan (A513), fate unknown | |||
| ARB-12 | NJMR | 14 February 1945 | 23 July 1945 | 3 December 1946 | Sold to Brazil and renamed Belmonte (G24), sunk as target on 19 March 2002 | |||
| ARB-13 | Sold to Norway as HNoMS Ellida (A534), later sold to Greece as Sakipis (A329) | |||||||