USS Zaurak ( AK - 117 ) USS " Zaurak " ( AK - 117 ) was an commissioned by the U . S . Navy for service in World War II . She was responsible for delivering troops , goods and equipment to locations in the war zone . " Zaurak " ( AK - 117 ) was laid down on 7 October 1943 at Houston , Texas , by the Todd - Houston Shipbuilding Corp . under a Maritime Commission contract ( MCE hull 1964 ) as " SS Hugh Young " ; renamed " Zaurak " on 13 November 1943 ; launched on 18 November 1943 ; sponsored by Miss Betsy Colston Young ; delivered to the Navy on 27 November ; moved to New Orleans , Louisiana , where she underwent conversion for naval use at the Todd Johnson yard ; and commissioned on 17 March 1944 , Lt . Cmdr . John S . Kapuscinski , USNR , in command . World War II Pacific Theatre operations . The new cargo ship departed New Orleans on 5 April and arrived in Norfolk , Virginia , on the 13th . After shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay , she loaded cargo , provisions , and stores at Norfolk and embarked passengers for a voyage to the South Pacific . She stood out of the Chesapeake Bay on 3 May , bound for New York , whence she departed on the 5th . Transiting the Panama Canal . After a stop at Guantánamo Bay , Cuba , she transited the Panama Canal on 19 May and headed independently toward Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides islands . Almost a month later , on 14 June , she steamed into Segond Channel . The ship disembarked passengers immediately but remained at Espiritu Santo for three weeks , during which time American forces invaded the Mariana Islands . Supporting the Saipan invasion forces . On 2 July , " Zaurak " departed Espiritu Santo to steam via Nouméa , New Caledonia , to Eniwetok and thence to join in the Marianas campaign . She arrived at Eniwetok on the 18th and departed there three days later with a convoy bound for Saipan . She arrived in the anchorage between Saipan and Tinian on 25 July and remained there for 17 days . On 9 August , she embarked 812 battle - weary officers and men of the Army ' s 27th Infantry Division and , two days later , departed the Marianas bound , via Eniwetok , for Espiritu Santo . The cargo ship arrived back in Segond Channel on 24 August and disembarked her passengers . Supporting the invasion of the Philippines . For the next two months , " Zaurak " made a series of voyages between various islands in the Southwestern Pacific , visiting several of the Solomon Islands , New Guinea , Emirau , Manus , and New Caledonia . On 23 October , she departed Bougainville in the Solomons with a convoy of 31 ships bound for the Philippines with reinforcements and supplies for the forces that had just invaded Leyte . She steamed into Leyte Gulf at the head of the convoy on 29 October and anchored in San Pedro Bay . Under attack by Japanese aircraft . During her 11 days there , " Zaurak " received her baptism of fire . Initially , conditions in the San Pedro Bay anchorage were quiet enough ; but , when she moved to the San Juanico Strait anchorage on the 31st , enemy air activity — occasioned by the proximity of Tacloban airfield — rose markedly . On 1 and 2 November , she fired her first shots at enemy planes attacking the airstrip ashore but , due to darkness and extreme range , scored no hits . On the 3d and 4th , Japanese began attacking the ships in the anchorage as secondary targets . " Zaurak " shoots down attacking plane . The ship claimed her first enemy plane on the latter morning when a plane attacking the airfield veered out of a searchlight beam and away from shore - based anti - aircraft fire to attack the ships in the anchorage . " Zaurak ' s " secondary battery opened fire , but the plane flew right through her field of fire to crash into in the vicinity of that merchant ship ' s number 1 hatch . Almost immediately , volunteers from " Zaurak " went to the stricken merchantman ' s aid , rescuing over 20 men from the water around the blazing ship . A little later that same morning , another Japanese plane ran afoul of " Zaurak ' s " guns and fell in flames into the water . Soon thereafter , two more intruders approached the ship but never came close enough to become a good target . Though she claimed hits on both , neither plane went down . Departing the Philippine area . During her final five days at Leyte , she experienced several more air attacks , but her guns downed no more planes . On 8 November , the ship had to get underway to ride out a heavy tropical storm which approached in typhoon force . The following day , " Zaurak " embarked passengers and departed Leyte Gulf in a convoy of 20 ships , bound for Hollandia , New Guinea . Delivering troops to the attack on Iwo Jima . After three months of voyages between such places as Guadalcanal , Espiritu Santo , New Caledonia , Bougainville , Green Island , Oro Bay , and Finschhafen , she voyaged to Munda in March 1945 to embark reinforcements for the Iwo Jima operation then in progress . She delivered elements of the 147th Infantry to Iwo Jima on 29 March and remained there for a week , embarking units of the 3rd Marine Division on the 27th . Transporting U . S . Marines to Guam and Okinawa . Two days later , she sailed from the Marshalls and , on 1 April , arrived at Guam where the marines disembarked . From there , she headed for Pavuvu in the Solomons , where she embarked Marine Corps and Navy men for passage back to Hawaii . Upon her arrival in Pearl Harbor on 3 May , she learned that most of the marines embarked were needed at Okinawa . She therefore departed Oahu on 6 May and set a course via Eniwetok and Ulithi for the Ryūkyūs . She arrived off Okinawa on 13 June and remained there for six days disembarking troops and unloading cargo . On 19 June , she got underway for Ulithi , on the first leg of the voyage back to the United States . After additional stops at Eniwetok , Kwajalein , and Pearl Harbor , she arrived in Seattle , Washington , on 10 August . Three days later , she entered the Todd Shipyard for her first major overhaul . End - of - war activity . While she was in the yard , Japan capitulated . " Zaurak ' s " repairs were completed in mid - September ; and , after embarking passengers , the ship departed Seattle on 21 September . Steaming via Pearl Harbor and Ulithi , she arrived in Buckner Bay , Okinawa , on 25 October . From there , she moved to Shanghai , China , where she traded replacement troops for men returning home to the United States . From there , she proceeded to Jinsen , Korea , to make a similar personnel trade . Following that , the ship made a stop at Taku in North China and a return visit to Shanghai before getting underway on 1 December to return home . Following a non - stop voyage across the expanse of the Pacific , " Zaurak " entered San Francisco Bay on 20 December . Post - war decommissioning . She remained at San Francisco until decommissioned on 12 March 1946 . She was transferred to the Maritime Commission that same day for layup at Suisun Bay , California , with the National Defense Reserve Fleet . Her name was struck from the Navy List on 28 March 1946 . Military awards and honors . " Zaurak " earned one battle star for service in World War II . Her crew was eligible for the following medals and ribbons : Crew member individual awards :