Junior N . Van Noy ( ship ) " Junior N . Van Noy " was a Great Lakes steamer converted as one of ten U . S . U . S . Army Port Repair ship s to be operated by the U . S . Army Corps of Engineers in rehabilitating war damaged ports . The other nine ships were Maritime Commission type N3 – M – A1 cargo ship hulls built under U . S . Navy supervision and transferred upon completion or after very brief Navy service to the U . S . Army for conversion to port repair ships . Construction and Commercial Career . " Covena " was completed 1919 under United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation ( EFC ) contract for seventeen ships , EFC Design 1060 , Laker ( a design referred to as " Stemwinders " ) , at Great Lakes Engineering Works , River Rouge Plant , Ecorse , Michigan . The design was for a bulk carrier with engines aft with dimensions of 253 . 5 X 43 . 5 X 25 , triple expansion engines , oil or coal fired . The ship remained with the United States Shipping Board during 1919 - 1222 and was then operated by Hammond Lumber 1922 - 1937 as " Covena " . Transfer to Lawrence Phillips brought a new name , " Josephine Lawrence " , for operations with that company 1937 - 1941 and then with Pan Atlantic 1941 - 1942 . When transferred to Waterman the ship operated as the " Lawrence " from 1942 until allocation by the War Shipping Administration ( WSA ) to Army in 1943 . U . S . Army Port Repair Ship . The Army acquired the ship through allocation by WSA and named it " Junior N . Van Noy " after Private Junior Van Noy , recipient posthumously of the Medal of Honor , killed in action 17 October 1943 in New Guinea . All port repair ships were named for Engineers killed in action . Private Van Noy was in an Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment . Conversion . The Army had identified the Maritime Commission type N3 – M – A1 cargo ship hulls as the candidates most suitable to meet the requirement for port repair ships . There was competition from both the U . S . Navy and the British for the diesel powered version , the N3 - M - A1 , of this design . The offer of the steam version , the N3 - S - A1 was rejected by the Army . During the resulting disputes the Army obtained the " Josephine Lawrence " by allocation from the WSA . The conversion of the " Josephine Lawrence " began 11 September 1943 . The U . S . Army Transportation Corps ( TC ) had the lead in the conversion of the ships to Corps of Engineers specifications and then turned over to the Engineers for operations . The converted ship had been promised by TC for 15 January 1944 almost on the schedule required by the European command . Delays , shortages of materials , workers and intense competition from other requirements pushed that date even further into February and then 19 April 1944 . On initial test operation the TC found the generators it had specified were insufficient and replacement was required . The Coprs of Engineers crews had been trained ashore separately from the ships and thus had to join the ships to learn the practical details . The " Junior N . Van Noy " , the first of the port repair ships to be ready , sailed from Mobile , Alabama in late April with an Engineers crew sent from Fort Belvoir to Philadelphia for final preparation before deployment overseas . The crew was an organized , designated Corps of Engineers unit designated as an " Engineer Port Repair Ship Crew " . The reference , " Preparing to Reconstruct Ports " , notes : The trip was a trying experience but perhaps more valuable in some ways than formal training . The soldiers quickly turned sea - men . Between Mobile and Key West the crew learned to spit to leeward and talk in terms of decks , bulkheads , and ladders . Morale was not so high , however , among the more experienced officers who knew ships and had to run this one . Deficiencies in both ship and crew were worked in Philadelphia , Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay and the ship was the first of two to leave for the European Theater of Operations in July , 1944 . European Operations . " Junior Van Noy " sailed for the European Theater in late July 1944 from Halifax in Convoy number HXS300 arriving in August . The arrival of the ship is noted in " The Corps of Engineers : The War Against Germany " : CHAPTER XVI Developing Beaches and Reconstructing Ports : On 10 August the engineers working on the Cherbourg quays saw a new kind of ship steaming into the harbor . She was the " Junior N . Van Noy " , the first engineer port repair ship sent overseas . A converted Great Lakes steamer displacing only 3 , 000 tons , the ship had machine shops , storage bins , and heavy salvage equipment aboard . Her decks bristled with derricks and booms for lifting sunken ships and other debris . Manning the ship was the sixty - member 1071st Engineer Port Repair Ship Crew . At Cherbourg the ship was first under control of the 1056th Engineer Port Construction and Repair Group then passed to the control of the 1055th Engineer Port Construction and Repair Group . The " Junior N . Van Noy " left Cherbourg 3 October 1944 bound for Le Havre with the 1055th Port Construction and Repair Group .