USS Sirona ( AKA - 43 ) USS " Sirona " ( AKA - 43 ) was an named after the asteroid " 116 Sirona , " which in turn is named after the Celtic goddess " Sirona . " USS " Sirona " served as a commissioned ship for 13 months . " Sirona " ( AKA - 43 ) was laid down on 15 February 1945 under Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 1904 ) by the Walsh - Kaiser Co . , Inc . , Providence , R . I . ; launched on 17 April 1945 ; sponsored by Mrs . Lawrence B . Harris ; and commissioned on 10 May 1945 , Lt . Comdr . Joseph A . Neal , USNR , in command . Service history . " Sirona " arrived at Hampton Roads on 24 May 1945 and underwent abbreviated shakedown training there from 28 May to 1 June . After a brief repair period , she departed Norfolk on 7 June for France , arriving at Marseille on the 21st . There she loaded troops and supplies and sailed for the Pacific , transiting the Panama Canal on 11 July . On the 28th , she rendered medical assistance to the crew of tanker " Esso Rochester " ; and , after calls at Eniwetok and Ulithi , she arrived at Manila on 13 August . On 25 August , " Sirona " left Manila as part of a large transport force bound for Tokyo , Japan . She remained in Tokyo Bay from 2 – 5 September and arrived at Okinawa on the 7th . Upkeep there was interrupted when she got underway to avoid a typhoon between the 16th and 18th . On the 19th , the ship embarked 200 Marines and 514 tons of cargo ; and , on the 27th , she sailed with a large transport group , which arrived at Taku , China , on 30 September . She offloaded her troops and cargo there on 4 and 5 October and then sailed for Manila on the 6th . Upon arrival at Manila , " Sirona ' s " crew built temporary troop berthing facilities in her cargo holds , adding 295 berths to the 264 in her normal troop quarters . The ship departed Manila on 22 October ; and , upon arrival at Kowloon on the 24th , she embarked 1 , 035 troops of the 13th Chinese Army , with 34 tons of rice , small - arms ammunition , and light equipment . She sailed with six other transports on the 25th for Darien , Manchuria ; but , on the 28th , was diverted to Chinwangtao where she disembarked her troops and cargo on 30 and 31 October . Returning to Kowloon on 7 November , she embarked about 800 men of the Chinese Honorable 1st Division , which she delivered at Tsingtao on the 14th . The ship remained there until being assigned on the 26th to return servicemen to the United States under operation " Magic Carpet " . Between 29 November and 1 December , she embarked 504 troops at Shanghai and disembarked them at Seattle on 16 December . " Sirona " was detached from the " Magic Carpet " force on 30 December , and remained in Seattle pending a decision on her postwar employment . On 9 April 1946 , she sailed from Seattle and arrived at Boston , Massachusetts , on 17 May . There , she was decommissioned on 12 June and transferred the same day to the Maritime Commission for service as the training ship " Yankee States " at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy . Struck from the Navy list on 3 July 1946 , the ship was laid up in the Maritime Commission Reserve Fleet in the James River on 29 July 1947 ; and was sold to the Boston Metals Corp . , Baltimore , Maryland . , on 17 May 1966 for scrapping .