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Pacific Fleet
America was unprepared for the second World War, but it came like a rainstorm moving over Hawaii, and then back out to sea. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, and left the Pacific Fleet severely crippled. Germany and Italy declared war on the United States a few days later. America now had the task of building the largest Military force in it's history. As the war began, America was suffering heavy losses of merchant shipping due to submarine warfare. The steel shipyards were working at top capacity. Reluctantly the Maritime Commission contracted several alternative shipyards to build concrete barges for logistic support of the fighting forces. One of these concrete barges was the Slate. The United States Navy commissioned the Slate on May 11, 1944. The Navy renamed this ship the "USS Carmita" IX-152
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It was a Naval supply ship, and spent
most of its time in the South Pacific. This was not a self propelled
ship, as it had to be towed by Tug boats from location to location.
Documented details of the ship, the men, and its role can be found
in the documents within the Archive section of this web site.
This ship survived the Second World War and was decommissioned as a Naval ship, September 25, 1946, stricken from the Navy list. The Carmita was reportably sunk during a storm in 1947. The Legacy of the 20th Century will be remembered in the annuals of history; of the contributions and sacrifices made by young men and women that defended our nation in two World Wars. We are a nation of ideas and of character, and as such, we shall not forget the values and principles of a generation of Freedom Fighters that served with distinction in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and both World Wars. |
