page_title: USS Betelgeuse (AKA-11)
section_title: Acquisition
hierarchical_section_title: USS Betelgeuse (AKA-11) / History / Acquisition
caption_attribution_description: The former Moore McCormack Line freighter SS Mormaclark at the Brewer Ship Yard, Staten Island, New York (USA), on 6 June 1941, undergoing conversion to a U.S. Navy ship. She was commissioned as USS Betelgeuse (AK-28) on 14 June 1941. Note the neutrality markings on her side.
context_page_description: USS Betelgeuse was an Arcturus-class attack cargo ship, the first United States Navy ship named for Betelgeuse, a star in the constellation Orion. She served as a commissioned ship for 4 years and 9 months.
context_section_description: Betelgeuse was laid down as a C-2D on 9 March 1939 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Hull 180 under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 31); launched as Mormaclark on 18 September 1939; sponsored by Miss Anne Perry Woodward; delivered to the Moore McCormack Lines, Inc., on 29 November 1939; acquired by the Navy on 29 May 1941; renamed Betelgeuse on 3 June 1941; converted for naval service by the Brewer Dry Dock Company, Staten Island, N.Y.; and commissioned as AK-28 on 14 June, Commander Harry D. Power in command.
  From her commissioning nearly through the fall of 1941, the cargo ship operated in the Atlantic conducting amphibious maneuvers off North Carolina in June and July, performing similar evolutions off Virginia in September, and carrying cargo to Bermuda and various ports in the West Indies during October. She then entered the Charleston Navy Yard for an overhaul and was there when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December.
caption: Mormaclark at Brewer shipyard in Staten Island during conversion, June 6, 1941
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