USS Otus (ARG-20)
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Date: 2022-01-18

USS Otus (ARG-20), by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10095588 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Type_C1-B_ships
#Ships_built_in_Kearny,_New_Jersey
#1940_ships
#Submarine_tenders_of_the_United_States_Navy
#Repair_ships_of_the_United_States_Navy
#World_War_II_auxiliary_ships_of_the_United_States
USS Otus （AS-20） was a submarine tender in service with the United States Navy from 1941 to 1946.
In 1945, she was converted to an internal combustion engine repair ship and redesignated ARG-20.
Decommissioned in 1946, she was scrapped in 1970.
The ship was laid down under Maritime Commission （MC） Contract 3 June 1940 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Kearny,
New Jersey, MC hull 70, yard hull 175, and launched as Fred Morris on 2 November 1940, sponsored by Mrs. Fred Allain Morris.
Fred Morris, official number 240200, was the fourth in a series of five identical ships （Joseph Lykes, Zoella Lykes, Reuben Tipton （Torpedoed/lost 1942）, Fred Morris, and
John Lykes） built for Lykes Brothers Steamship Company of New Orleans and delivered to the company on 27 December 1940 after successful trials for the MC and Lykes.
The ship was intended for service between the U.S. Gulf ports and ports in United Kingdom and Mediterranean.
To meet requirements for river and canal navigation modifications were made for visibility on the bridge and masts were telescopic to meet Manchester ship canal height requirements.
The ship was designed to accommodate a crew of eighteen deck department, sixteen engine department and nine in the steward's department for a total of forty-three crew with two owner's staterooms approximating liner cabins suitable for passengers.
Characteristics as built were 417 ft 9 in （127.3 m） length overall, 395 ft 0 in （120.4 m） length between perpendiculars, 60 ft （18.3 m） beam （molded）, 27 ft 6 in （8.4 m） loaded draft, 6,863 GRT, 9,095 DWT, with a displacement of 12,875 tons.
Propulsion was a De Laval steam turbine driving a bronze, variable-pitch, three-bladed...