USS Andromeda ( AKA - 15 ) USS " Andromeda " ( AKA - 15 ) was an " Andromeda " class attack cargo ship named after the constellation " Andromeda . " She served as a commissioned ship for 13 years . History . " Andromeda " was laid down on 22 September 1942 at Kearny , New Jersey , by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 199 ) ; launched on 22 December 1942 ; sponsored by Mrs . Janet Roper ; reclassified an attack cargo ship and redesignated AKA - 15 on 1 February 1943 ; delivered to the Navy on 30 March 1943 ; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 2 April 1943 , Comdr . William A . Fly in command . The attack cargo ship made her maiden voyage late in April from New York to Norfolk , Virginia , and then conducted shakedown training in Chesapeake Bay . On 8 June , she put to sea with a convoy bound for the Mediterranean Sea . " Andromeda " arrived in Mers el Kebir , Algeria , on the 22nd and began training for the Allied invasion of Sicily . On 5 July , the attack cargo ship left Oran , Algeria , with Task Force ( TF ) 85 and set a course for the southern coast of Sicily . She and her colleagues in Cent Force arrived in the transport area off Scoglitti during the night of the 9th and 10th . Allied troops stormed ashore in the darkness of the early morning hours of the 10th , and " Andromeda " spent the next two days disgorging her cargo . Late in the evening of the 12th , she departed the area in company with , 10 other auxiliaries , and an escort of nine destroyer s . Returning to Oran , " Andromeda " spent the next few weeks at several locations on the North African coast preparing for another amphibious assault . On 5 September , the attack cargo ship stood out of Mers el Kebir with Task Group ( TG ) 81 . 2 , the transport group of the Southern Attack Force for the invasion of the Italian mainland just to the southeast of Naples on the shores of the Gulf of Salerno . She arrived at her destination late in the evening of the 8th . Early the next morning , troops of the Army ' s 36th Division stormed ashore at Salerno . " Andromeda " remained in the transport area in the gulf until the 10th discharging troops and equipment to fuel the offensive . She departed the area during the last watch of the 10th with a convoy bound for Oran , Algeria . The attack cargo ship anchored in Oran on the morning of the 14th . On the 19th , she headed back to Salerno carrying supplies and reinforcements . " Andromeda " unloaded at Salerno on the 22nd and the 23rd and then embarked upon the return voyage to Algeria . She arrived at Mers el Kebir on 26 September . The attack cargo ship spent almost six weeks practicing amphibious landings with American and Free French troops on the Algerian coast at Mers el Kebir , Oran , and Arzew . Between 5 November and 7 November , she made the passage to Bizerte , Tunisia , where she loaded cargo and embarked troops until the 19th . Departing Bizerte , Andromeda made a six - day stop at Mers el Kebir between 23 November and 29 November and an overnight pause at Oran on the 29th and 30th before joining a convoy bound for the British Isles . The ship visited Belfast in Northern Ireland and several ports in Scotland and then headed across the Atlantic on 18 December . " Andromeda " arrived in Norfolk , Virginia , on 2 January 1944 and began a yard overhaul on the 3d . On 13 February and 14 February , the attack cargo ship made the passage to New York . She loaded cargo at New York and then , on 27 February , put to sea with a convoy bound for Europe . She reached Newport in Wales on 9 March and unloaded cargo on the 10th , llth , and 12th . After visiting several Scottish ports , Andromeda stood out of the River Clyde on 29 March and shaped course for North Africa . The ship reached Mers el Kebir again on 6 April and spent the next two months conducting amphibious training on the Algerian coast between Mers el Kebir and Arzew . On 16 June , the attack cargo ship left the North African coast for the Italian boot . She entered Naples on the 19th and remained there until the 23rd . Steaming by way of Palermo , Sicily , " Andromeda " made Algiers on 7 July . She loaded cargo and got underway again for Naples on the 8th . Arriving at her destination on 10 July , she divided her time between Naples and the Gulf of Pozzuoli for the rest of the month . " Andromeda " spent the first part of August in the Bay of Castellamare waiting for the beginning of Operation " Dragoon " , the invasion of southern France . The attack cargo ship left the Bay of Castellamare on 12 August and arrived off the invasion beaches on the 15th . She unloaded her cargo and headed back to Oran on the 16th . For over two months , the ship went back and forth across the Mediterranean Sea carrying supplies and reinforcements from North Africa to the armies operating ashore in southern France . On 25 October 1944 , however , she set out from Mers el Kebir to return to the United States . Andromeda arrived in Boston , Mass . , on 8 November and commenced a month of repairs on the 9th . After loading cargo at Davisville , R . I . , the attack cargo ship put to sea for the journey to the Pacific . Steaming by way of Norfolk , she arrived in the Canal Zone at the end of December , transited the canal on the 31st and resumed her voyage west on New Year ' s Day 1945 . She entered Pearl Harbor on 15 January and began the ubiquitous cargo loading operation . On 24 January , the ship got underway for the southwestern Pacific . She unloaded cargo at Nouméa , New Caledonia , between 3 February and 7 February and then returned to sea bound for the Solomon Islands . On 10 February , " Andromeda " arrived at Guadalcanal . She spent the ensuing five weeks in the Solomon Islands carrying out amphibious exercises in preparation for the assault on Okinawa . The attack cargo ship left the Solomons on 15 March bound ultimately for the campaign about to unfold in the Ryukyu Islands . She entered Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands on the 21st and bided her time until the 27th when her portion of the invasion force sortied from the lagoon . " Andromeda " arrived in the transport area off Okinawa on L - day , 1 April . The soldiers and marines carried out their landing that morning , and support ships like " Andromeda " began to disgorge supplies and equipment . The attack cargo ship stayed in the vicinity for nine days . During that time , the Japanese launched massive air attacks in an attempt to thwart the offensive . " Andromeda " went to general quarters time after time to help beat off the aerial onslaught and , on at least one occasion , helped to splash one of the intruders . The attack cargo ship cleared the Ryukyu Islands on 9 April and laid in a course for Hawaii . She pulled into Pearl Harbor on the 24th and loaded cargo until near the middle of May . On 12 May , " Andromeda " put to sea on her way back to Okinawa . Steaming by way of Eniwetok in the Marshalls and Ulithi in the Carolines , the ship reached Okinawa on 7 June . She stayed there for a week then headed back to Pearl Harbor on the 14th . " Andromeda " reentered Pearl Harbor on 29 June and then conducted training at Maui before setting a course for the Mariana Islands . She reached Saipan on 28 July and passed a fortnight in the Marianas . " Andromeda " returned to sea on 11 August , and hostilities ended four days later when she was half the way to the Solomons . She spent the period 18 August to 23 August in the Solomons and returned to the Marianas at Guam on the 30th . During the two months following Japan ' s surrender , " Andromeda " carried out two missions to the home islands and made a voyage to Manila in the Philippines . After embarking servicemen at Sasebo , Japan , the attack cargo ship got underway for the United States on 6 November . After a nonstop voyage , she returned to American soil at Seattle , Washington , on 22 November . The ship spent four weeks there before heading south to San Francisco , California , where she arrived on 22 December 1945 . " Andromeda " remained on active duty during the late 1940s and early 1950s . She made cargo runs between the west coast and American bases at such places as Pearl Harbor , Midway , Wake Island , Kwajalein , Guam , and Saipan . In September and October 1949 , the attack cargo ship made a round - trip voyage from the West Coast to the East Coast and back . She resumed operations from her base on the west coast upon her return . In August 1950 , she voyaged north to the Pribilof Islands and , in March 1951 , left the west coast for the Far East . " Andromeda " provided logistics support for United Nations forces fighting the Korean War until returning to San Diego at the end of the year . After 10 months of duty on the west coast , the ship returned to the Orient and logistics support for the United Nations defense of South Korea . She took up duty along the west coast in the spring of 1953 , but interrupted it for a round - trip voyage to Yokosuka , Japan , in August and early September . " Andromeda " deployed to the Far East in 1954 and participated in Operation Passage to Freedom , the evacuation of refugees from North Vietnam in August & September The attack cargo ship came back to the west coast from that assignment in October and operated on the Pacific Coast . In June , 1955 the ship sailed to Seattle in preparation for the Dewline Operation . On 6 July the ship sailed north to Icy Cape , and when the ice cleared , went around Pt . Barrow and then to her offloading sites as far east as Cape Peary in Amundsen Gulf . During this operation in the ice , the ship broke the palm of her rudder . The ship was evacuated of none essential personnel and towed back to Pt . Barrow where the personnel were backloaded . Andromeda was then tow to Seattle arriving early October . Long gashes in the hull from contact with the ice could not be repaired and the ship was deactivated . " Andromeda " was placed out of commission at San Diego on 1 May 1956 . She was transferred to the Maritime Administration for lay up with the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Olympia , Washington Her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 July 1960 , and she was sold to the Marine Power & Equipment Co . , of Seattle , Washington , on 12 March 1971 . Awards . " Andromeda " earned five battle star s during World War II and five battle stars for service in the Korean War