USS Antares ( AG - 10 ) USS " Antares " ( AG - 10 / AKS - 3 ) was an " Antares " - class cargo ship acquired by the U . S . Navy after World War I for use in transporting cargo , named after Antares , the brightest star in constellation Scorpius . She earned two battle stars in service during World War II . Early career . " Antares " was originally built under Shipping Board contract as the steel - hulled freighter Nedmac , and constructed by the American International Ship Building Corp . ; acquired by the Navy on 14 November 1921 under the terms of Executive Order No . 3570 ( 29 October 1921 ) which authorized her transfer from the Shipping Board , she was renamed Antares and classified as a " miscellaneous auxiliary " , AG - 10 . She was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 23 February 1922 , Lieutenant Commander Howard E . Pinkham , USNRF , in command . After fitting out , " Antares " joined the Fleet Train , replacing the old auxiliary . In March 1923 , the ship became flagship for the Train , Scouting Fleet , a squadron of auxiliaries that supported those elements of the Fleet operating along the U . S . East Coast . Though her unit was later administratively incorporated into the Fleet Base Force as Squadron 1 , " Antares " continued to wear the flag of the officer who commanded the auxiliaries on the Atlantic coast . Throughout that period , the ship also served as the fleet target repair and photographic ship , a vital auxiliary to the fleet ' s gunnery training in the 1920s . Employed at East Coast ports and operating areas , ranging from the Southern Drill Grounds to the Caribbean , " Antares " , like other naval vessels , occasionally gathered oceanographic data in the course of her voyages ; she re - plotted landmarks for range finder and compass calibration charts , furnishing the Hydrographic Office with data needed to complete the calibration chart of Culebra , Puerto Rico , during the fiscal year 1924 . During this time period , " Antares " participated in fleet concentrations and maneuvers in Cuban waters and in the Panama Canal Zone . " Antares " brought the planes of Utility Squadron 2 ( VJ - 2 ) back to Naval Air Station ( NAS ) , Hampton Roads , following the winter maneuvers in 1925 , and for the winter maneuvers of 1926 , transported three assembled and one crated plane from VJ - 2 to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base , where they towed sleeve targets for the Scouting Fleet ' s cruisers . " Antares " then transported VJ - 2 to Coco Solo , and from there back to Guantanamo Bay . She again served as an aviation transport that summer , returning to Cuban waters in company with the repair ship . From 1 January 1934 , " Antares " served as a supply ship for the Special Service Squadron and , from January to March 1935 , as a Mobile Base for the Fleet Marine Force . She then operated in the Caribbean until 1 June 1936 under orders of the Chief of Naval Operations . Placed in reduced commission as of 4 June , " Antares " served as receiving ship at the Philadelphia Navy Yard . Placed in full commission on 17 May 1937 at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , " Antares " was assigned temporary duty with the Naval Transportation Service ( a forerunner of the later Military Sea Transportation Service and the Military Sealift Command ) , and operated on both east and west coasts . She also operated with the Training Detachment , United States Fleet , and while assigned to this unit participated in Fleet Landing Exercise No . 4 in February 1938 . In his report of the evolution , Rear Admiral Alfred Wilkinson Johnson — Commander , Training Detachment — considered that " Antares " — which had acted as a " utility auxiliary " — had proved " indispensable " . He commended her performance of duty , which had been performed in spite of a " crammed schedule , allowing little or no time for upkeep . " " Antares " was the only ship available which could handle the experimental tank lighter , artillery lighter , and other heavy marine equipment . " Her design , " Johnson wrote , " except for speed , is ideal for the type of duty performed , and without her services serious curtailment of the operations would have been necessary . " The planned conversion of the ship to a general stores issue ship caused consternation at Headquarters , Marine Corps , General Thomas Holcomb pleading with the Chief of Naval Operations — Admiral William D . Leahy — to leave " Antares " in her current configuration , since she had proved so invaluable in the development of equipment and tactics in landing on a hostile shore . Ultimately , however , the conversion was carried out despite the marines ' earnest entreaties . Resuming her work with the Base Force , United States Fleet , from mid - June 1938 , " Antares " operated principally out of San Pedro , California , but later expanded her area of operations to the Hawaiian Islands and changed her base to Pearl Harbor . On 30 November 1940 , the ship was reclassified to a general stores issue ship , AKS - 3 . During 1941 , " Antares " operated between Pearl Harbor and the U . S . West Coast ( San Pedro , Mare Island Navy Yard , and San Francisco , California ) , and Pacific islands such as Palmyra and Canton . World War II . " Antares " was provided as transport to the Hawaiian Department , U . S . Army , during the urgent program to develop an air ferry route through the southern Pacific to the Philippines that would avoid the Japanese mandated islands of the central Pacific . On 3 November 1941 she left Oahu for Canton Island with three hundred and eight military ( components of the 804th Engineer Battalion ) and civilian personnel , supplies and towing a 500 ton barge with 804th Engineer Battalion construction equipment and two small barges that foundered enroute . On 7 December 1941 , " Antares " stood toward the entrance to Pearl Harbor at 06 : 30 with a steel barge in tow , having arrived from Canton and Palmyra and expecting to transfer the barge to a tug and then proceed into Pearl . Not sighting the tug at the appointed time , " Antares " altered course , turning slowly to the east , when her watch suddenly spotted a suspicious object about on the auxiliary ' s starboard quarter . " Antares " notified the destroyer , on patrol off the harbor entrance , and the latter altered course toward the object which proved to be a midget submarine . A PBY Catalina from Patrol Squadron 14 showed up almost simultaneously and dropped smoke floats in the vicinity ; meanwhile , " Ward " went to general quarters and attacked , sinking the intruder . While the report of this incident off the harbor entrance was making its way up the chain of command with glacial slowness , " Antares " spotted the tug at 07 : 15 . At 07 : 58 , " Antares " spotted explosions in Pearl Harbor and Japanese planes ; two minutes later an enemy aircraft strafed the ship , and soon thereafter , bomb and shell fragments ( perhaps American " overs " or unexploded antiaircraft shells ) hit the water nearby . As " Antares " captain — Captain Lawrence C . Grannis — subsequently reported of events at that point , " As this vessel is not armed , no effective offensive or defensive tactics appeared possible . " Passing the tow to " Keosanqua " at 08 : 35 , " Antares " zigzagged and turned to a position between the restricted waters of the entrance to Pearl Harbor and the entrance to Honolulu harbor , inshore of the warship s beginning to sortie . " As it was apparent that the continued presence of the " Antares " offshore was placing the ship and personnel in constant jeopardy , " Grannis later reported , he requested permission to enter Honolulu . With permission granted at 10 : 54 , " Antares " stood in and moored at 11 : 46 to berth 5 - A . Although the work necessary to repair the damaged ships there took precedence , " Antares " underwent an availability at Pearl Harbor . During this period of alterations , she received her authorized main and secondary battery : two guns , four guns and eight anti - aircraft autocannon s . Her alterations completed by 27 April 1942 , the ship held brief trials and then began loading stores . Then , her holds full , she sailed for Pago Pago , Samoa , on 20 May , arriving 11 days later . Proceeding thence to Tongatapu , in the Tonga ( or Friendly ) Islands , soon thereafter , " Antares " reached her destination on 7 June . She remained there as a general stores issue ship until 1 September , when she shifted to Noumea , New Caledonia . She issued stores to fleet units at Noumea until 5 February 1943 , when she sailed to the Fiji Islands and Auckland , New Zealand , ultimately returning to New Caledonia on 7 March . During March 1943 , " Antares " took part in the successful salvaging of — which had run aground on Garanhua Reef , off New Caledonia , on the 17th of that month — before being sent to Samoa , and from there to San Francisco , California , where she arrived on 6 May 1943 . Following drydocking and general repairs , " Antares " returned to Samoa on 10 June , and proceeded from there to Espiritu Santo , arriving there on 18 June . A week later , she sailed for Efate , and thence to New Caledonia , arriving there on 5 July . Ordered back to the United States , " Antares " reached San Francisco on 1 August and , after reloading supplies and undergoing voyage repairs , again sailed for the South Pacific on 10 September , arriving at her destination , Espiritu Santo , on 4 October . Moving to Tulagi , in the Solomons , a week later , " Antares " replenished ships there until 24 October , when she returned to Espiritu Santo , and from there set course for the U . S . Reloading at San Francisco , " Antares " returned to Efate on New Year ' s Day 1944 , but , eight days later , moved to Espiritu Santo and the Guadalcanal - Tulagi area . Expending her stores there , the ship proceeded from there to Auckland , and thence to the New Hebrides and Solomons , operating and issuing general stores in these areas until January 1945 . Assigned then to Ulithi , in the Carolines , " Antares " arrived there on 10 January and issued stores until returning to Espiritu Santo in late January . She remained there until returning to the Carolines , reaching Ulithi on 11 April . Ten days later , the ship moved to Guam , and from there to Saipan for further routing to Okinawa to support the ongoing operations there . " Antares " reached her destination — Kerama Retto — on 10 May , and issued stores in that forward area until she was ordered to Pearl Harbor , via Saipan . " Antares " sailed alone from Saipan on 25 June 1945 , bound for Pearl Harbor . At 13 : 29 on the 28th , " Antares " ' lookouts reported a periscope and wake on her starboard quarter . Going to general quarters , the ship increased speed ; her captain — Lieutenant Commander N . A . Gansa , USNR — took the conn and maneuvered the ship hard right ; the torpedo missed astern , but a close - range battle soon ensued . Simultaneously , lookouts observed what looked like a human - controlled torpedo ( " kaiten " ) in the port wake , turning to the right . At 13 : 31 , the ship commenced firing at a periscope wake while she commenced an erratic zig - zag maneuver to avoid the " kaiten " on the port quarter , close at hand . While " Antares " stern swung to starboard , the No . 2 2 in gun , firing down the side of the ship , scored a hit on the " kaiten " and it disappeared . Another periscope soon appeared at 13 : 44 ; Antares after a 5 in gun opened fire , the concussion dazing the crew of one of the 3 in guns nearby ( a severed phone connection had prevented them from getting the word to secure ) and ripping open the ready - use boxes for the 3 in guns . Simultaneously , the stores issue ship ' s call for help was being answered ; YMS - 468 and the destroyer closed the scene of the battle to lend a hand . At 14 : 14 , Antares sighted what appeared to be a large submarine commencing to surface ; her 5 in gunfire , however , or the timely arrival of help , soon forced what looked like a quick dive . At 1418 , " Antares " captain ordered " cease fire " , but maintained the evasive action he had begun at the outset of the action . During the action , Antares expended 11 rounds of 5 in , 35 rounds of 3 in , and 130 rounds of 20 mm . She suffered four men wounded when a 20 mm shell hit a splinter shield ; seven men suffered broken ear drums from the concussion of the 5 in gun going off directly over the 3 in gun they manned . Postwar records reveal " Antares " assailants to be , whose torpedoes missed their target , and the " kaiten " - carrying , which had departed Hikari on 15 June 1945 for the waters east of the Marianas as part of the " Todoroki " squadron — a special " kaiten " attack unit . Navy planes flying out of Saipan subsequently sank the latter on 29 June . " Antares " brought her eventful voyage to a close at Pearl Harbor on 9 July . She sailed for Ulithi on the 28th , and arrived there on 12 August as the war in the Pacific was coming to a close . Sailing for Okinawa on the 14th , she arrived there on the 19th . The ship subsequently supported the occupation of Korea and China , issuing stores and clothing to forces at Jinsen ( now Inchon ) , Korea ; Taku Bay , Weiheiwei and Tsingtao , China into the spring of 1946 , departing Tsingtao on 18 April for Guam . Reaching that port a week later , on 25 April , " Antares " sailed for the U . S . on 2 May . Ultimately reaching San Francisco , California , late in May , the ship completed discharging her remaining goods and commenced inactivation . Decommissioned on 2 August 1946 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard , " Antares " name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 25 September 1946 . On 18 September 1947 , she was sold to Kaiser and Co . for scrapping . Military awards and honors . " Antares " was awarded two battle stars for her World War II service .