USNS Sgt . Jack J . Pendleton ( T - AKV - 5 ) USNS Sgt . " Jack J . Pendleton " ( T - AKV - 5 / T - AK - 276 ) was a constructed during World War II and placed into service under cognizance of the U . S . Maritime Commission . Post - war she was acquired by the U . S . Army and placed into service as USAT Sgt . " Jack J . Pendleton " . In 1950 she was reacquired by the Navy and placed into service as the USNS Sgt " Jack J . Pendleton " ( T - AKV - 5 ) . " Pendleton " continued to serve her country throughout the Korean War and Vietnam War . In 1973 , while sailing in the Paracel Islands , " Pendleton " struck a reef off Triton Island . Attempts to remove her from the reef failed , and she was abandoned . Victory ship built in Oregon . " Sgt . Jack J . Pendleton " was laid down under Maritime Commission contract as " Mandan Victory " ( MCV hull 109 ) on 15 April 1944 by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corp . , Portland , Oregon ; launched on 26 May 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . George C . Carter ; and delivered to the Maritime Commission ' s War Shipping Administration on 19 June 1944 . World War II service . Operated under a general agency agreement by the Isthmian Steamship Co . for the remainder of World War II and during the postwar period , " Mandan Victory " was subsequently operated by the Waterman Steamship Corporation and by A . L . Burbank and Co . In December 1947 , she was laid up with the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Wilmington , Delaware . Transferred to the U . S . Army . On 23 April 1948 , she was transferred to the Army . Renamed " Sgt . Jack J . Pendleton " , the Victory ship received miscellaneous alterations , including the addition of radar and the enlargement of her hatches , during the summer ; and , in the fall , she commenced 18 months of operations under the Army Transportation Service . Acquired by MSTS . On 1 March 1950 , the ship was transferred to the Navy for operation by the newly established Military Sea Transportation Service ( MSTS ) , now the Military Sealift Command . Designated as a cargo ship and aircraft ferry , the former Army ship was given a civil service crew ; placed in service as USNS " Sgt . Jack J . Pendleton " ( T - AKV - 5 ) ; and assigned to transpacific operations from her home port , San Francisco , California . Korean War service . In late June , as the war in Korea broke out , she completed her second round trip to Japan as an MSTS ship and , for the next two years , was employed in moving combat cargoes westward . In the summer of 1952 , however , she was shifted to runs to the Marshall Islands and the Mariana Islands ; and , in March 1953 , she resumed a Far East Schedule which she maintained until after the . Post - Korean War service . From 1954 to 1956 , her destinations ranged from islands in the Central Pacific Ocean , to Japan , Korea , Okinawa , Taiwan , the Philippine Islands , and Thailand . During the summer of 1956 , she conducted arctic operations . On board was poet and yeoman Allen Ginsberg , who used the ship ' s mimeograph to print 52 copies of " Siesta in Xbalba " , his first publication , while the ship was anchored off Icy Cape , Alaska . With the fall , resumed her schedule in the more temperate and tropical zones of the Pacific . Rescuing a Japanese crew at sea . In 1958 , she was commended for rescuing the entire crew of a large Japanese fishing vessel which had gone down in the Pacific ; and , in the same year , she again added northern ports in the Aleutians to her delivery points . Temporary service in the Atlantic . In 1959 , after calls at ports on the Indian Ocean , the Arabian Sea , and the Gulf of Aden , the ship transited the Suez Canal to take on and deliver cargo in the Mediterranean . From there , she moved into the Atlantic Ocean and , in late March , arrived at New York City . She then continued on to Norfolk , Virginia , whence , for the next two months , she conducted transatlantic runs . Redesignated " AK - 276 " ( 7 May 1956 ) , " Sgt . Jack J . Pendleton " carried supplies to northern bases in Greenland in July and in August ; and , in September , she sailed for northern Europe , whence she made her way back to the Pacific via the Suez Canal . During October and November , she put into ports on the Indian subcontinent , in southeast Asia , on the island of Taiwan , and on the Korean peninsula . In early December , she was in Japan ; and , on the 29th , she arrived at Seattle , Washington , whence , with the new year 1960 , she returned to San Francisco to resume transpacific operations . Later in that year , the Victory ship interrupted her more routine schedule to bring the Navy ' s bathyscaph , " Trieste " , back to San Diego , California , after the research vessel had set a record dive of 35 , 800 feet in the Mariana Trench . Vietnam War service . Later in the 1960s , as the war in Vietnam necessitated a speed - up in the supply line , she was employed in shuttling cargo from Subic Bay to South Vietnam . Since that time until , September 23 , 1973 when it went aground . " Sgt . Jack J . Pendleton " , had been home ported in Oakland , California . it continued operations in the Pacific and Vietnam for the Military Sealift Command until the date of the grounding . Grounding . While sailing from Vietnam and returning to the United States on September 23 , 1973 transiting the Paracel Islands , a group of small islands and reefs in the South China Sea Sgt . Jack J . Pendleton ran aground on a reef at Triton Island at 17 1 / 2 knots . Various attempts were made to salvage her , however , attempts failed , cargo removed , and she was abandoned . The salvage operation was conducted by the USS Mount Vernon ( LSD 39 ) and USS Duluth ( LPD 6 ) . The major items of interest aboard the Sgt Jack Pendleton to the US Government were two large generators . There were cases of old rifles and cases of ammunition on board as well . After many attempts , including an unsuccessful attempt by the embarked UDT / Seals ( Underwater Demolition Team ) to blow a hole in the reef surrounding Triton Island to facilitate the salvage operation using LCU - 8s instead of the CH 53 and CH 46 helicopters from Mount Vernon , members of the Mt . Vernon crew were sent aboard the Pendleton to salvage whatever was felt could be used by Mount Vernon for the rest of her deployment . Many pallets of large caliber shells were lifted by helicopter from the Pendleton and were set down on the flight deck of the Mt . Vernon , whose deck crewmen then moved them via pallet jack to a point where they could be reached by the Mt . Vernon ' s cranes and lowered into the mezzanine and well deck , a very hazardous operation given the nature of the live ammo and the pitching of the ship in the open ocean . Honors and awards . Qualified vessel personnel were qualified for the following : See : http : / / en . wikipedia . org / wiki / USS _ Beaufort _ ( ATS - 2 ) She ( USS Beaufort ) put to sea again on 25 September to help to refloat the grounded USNS Sgt . Jack J . Pendleton and returned to Subic Bay from that mission on 9 October . The crew of the Pendelton ran - a - ground on the coral shoal of Triton Island in the Parcel Island out to sea off of the DMZ of North Vietnam and South Vietnam ; the Pendelton was 10 degrees off course during the storm . It was hauling ammunition to South Vietnam . The seas were heavy , with high waves being pushed by high winds . As the storm subsided , the ' Beaufort ' hooked its steel cables to the aft section of the ' Pedleton ' and attempted to tow her off of the snow white coral reef ; there was no moving the ship . A barge was called from South Vietnam to unload the ammunition , and get it to U . S . Forces in South Vietnam , the unloading was completed by the sailors of the ' Pendleton ' . While the unloading was being completed , the crew of the ' Beaufort ' put its Navy Divers , Scuba , and Hard Hat Divers into the water to recon the bottom hull of the ' Pendleton ' . The Beaufort Hull Technician Divers , and the Explosive Ordnance Demolition E . O . D . Divers noticed a crack in the hull ; it was a gap between four inches to twelve inches , and compartments on flooded , which added additional weight . The bow of the ' Pendelton ' was protruding approximately twenty feet up toward the sky . Additional ships were dispatched to the scene to assist in pulling the ship off the reef . During the same time , China sent a message stating it owned the island and to stop all procedures and depart the island ; North Vietnam also stated it owned the coral reef and to make haste out of the area or it would send a warship to engage the Navy ships , both dispatches were taken seriously , however , no county was taking an operational naval vessel . All towing attempts failed , and a typhoon was closing in on the area . The ' Beaufort ' made on final attempt . Another ship rammed the starboard , nearly crushing a sailor , as the I - Beam of the other ship crushed - in the side of the ' Beaufort ' . The ship was hit so hard , the mast began to shake violently , and the men on the ship ' s bridge were on the deck waiting for it to crash . The ' Beaufort ' removed all men from the ' Pendelton ' , and loaded Divers into a Mike Boat , Landing Craft . The Divers took dive equipment , and demolitions to the ' Pendleton ' , and set charges to the hull . After retreating approximately 1 , 000 yards , the charges exploded , and the ship was there " for the duration " . It was used as a Radar Beacon for aircraft . The ' Beaufort ' Hull Technicians shored its bulkhead with wood and steel , until it could get back to port for major repairs . During repairs , a U . S . Naval Destroyer was docked starboard side to ' Beaufort ' . Note . Some accounts of this vessel give her name as “ " Pendelton " ” instead of the correct name “ " Pendleton " ” which is the spelling of the person for which she was named by the Navy .