USS Birgit ( AKA - 24 ) USS " Birgit " ( AKA - 24 ) was an named after the minor planet " 960 Birgit , " which in turn was named after a daughter of Swedish astronomer Bror Ansgar Asplind . USS " Birgit " served as a commissioned ship for 16 months . " Birgit " ( AKA 24 ) was laid down on 22 February 1944 at Providence , R . I . , by Walsh - Kaiser Co . , Inc . , under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 1885 ) ; launched on 18 July 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . Ella A . Cunard ; and commissioned on 28 October 1944 , Comdr . Gerald J . Burke , USNR , in command . Service history . 1944 . Following fitting out at Boston , Mass . , the attack cargo ship sailed for the Chesapeake Bay in mid - November . After shakedown training , the new attack cargo ship entered the Norfolk Navy Yard late on 4 November for repairs and alterations . This work was completed at the end of the month , and she sailed for Bayonne , N . J . on 30 November . There , the ship loaded cargo and embarked passenger , before sailing for the Pacific on 6 December . Escorted by , " Birgit " steamed to Panama , transiting the canal on the 12th and leaving the Canal Zone very early on the 13th . Proceeding singly to Hawaii , the ship reached Pearl Harbor on Christmas Day 1944 , after having paused en route to render medical aid to SS " S . B . Hunt " on the 21st . 1945 . After disembarking her passengers and discharging her cargo , the ship shifted to Honolulu on 5 January 1945 and immediately began loading cargo for the Army ' s 752d Anti Aircraft ( AA ) Battalion . On the 7th , she embarked 235 soldiers attached to the unit , and sailed independently for the Marshall Islands on the 8th . Reaching " Eniwetok " on the 16th , " Birgit " tarried there for a week , topping off her fuel bunkers from before leaving the lagoon on the 23d for a round - trip voyage to Saipan and back . The attack cargo ship made Saipan on the 27th and returned to Eniwetok on 3 February . At this point , turbine damage forced " Birgit " to return to Hawaii for repairs . She set sail alone on 5 February , reached Oahu on the 15th , and entered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard on the 19th . Following this availability , " Birgit " trained near Maui , practicing amphibious landings and tactical maneuvers between 24 March and 29 March . The attack cargo ship then returned to her cargo hauling duties , taking on board freight at Honolulu on the 30th and embarking 235 soldiers on 1 April . Sailing that afternoon for the Marshalls and Marianas , " Birgit " visited Eniwetok from 10 April to 11 April and Saipan from 14 April to 28 April before she discharged her remaining cargo at Guam on the 28th . This task completed , she sailed for Eniwetok and , for almost four months , served the Commander , Marshalls Gilberts Area , making interisland cargo runs to such places as Eniwetok , Kwajalein , Majuro , and Tarawa . While " Birgit " performed the prosaic , but vital , cargo - carrying tasks in the rear areas , the Allied war effort came to a victorious conclusion , sped along by two atomic bombs . V - J Day found " Birgit " at Eniwetok atoll . On 22 August , after taking on fuel from , the attack cargo ship got underway for the Philippines as part of 5th Fleet ' s Amphibious Group 8 and arrived at Guiuan Roadstead off Samar on the 29th . She then sailed for Manila on 4 September and reached that port late on the 6th . Three days later , " Birgit " sailed for Lingayen Gulf , routed via Subic Bay , and anchored off Aringay Point on 10 September . There , she loaded 785 tons of ammunition , vehicles , gasoline , and rations , completing the evolution early on the 15th . She then embarked 225 men of the Army ' s 33d Infantry Division . " Birgit " took part in a landing rehearsal at Aringay Point on the 17th and then sailed for Japan on the 20th . Birgit navigated the 600 yard swept channel passing through Kii Suido between Shikoku and Honshū and arrived off Wakayama before dawn on 25 September . Reaching her assigned position off the beachhead at 06 : 23 , " Birgit " lowered her landing craft , getting them all waterborne within 10 minutes . Then , she proceeded to the inner anchorage area , where she anchored at 10 : 25 . An hour later , she started discharging cargo , using her landing craft . Still , lack of lighterage kept the unloading moving slowly for the balance of the day . The supply of boats improved on the 26th and " Birgit ' s " cargo operations speeded up correspondingly . By 17 : 30 , she had unloaded her cargo and disembarked her troops . " Birgit ' s " part in the occupation completed , she weighed anchor on the 27th , sailing for Leyte in company with , and . Routed via Subic Bay , " Birgit " reached Leyte ' s San Pedro Bay on 5 October , tarrying there briefly before shifting south to Mindanao , anchoring in Davao Gulf on the 8th . There , the attack cargo ship embarked 135 men of the Army ' s 21st Regimental Combat Team and loaded 795 tons of cargo . Clearing Davao Gulf on 15 October , " Birgit " headed back to Japan , arriving at Hiro Wan , off Honshū , on late the 21st . She unloaded her cargo and disembarked her troops at Matsuyama early on the 23rd . At that point in time , " Birgit " joined the armada of ships assigned to Operation " Magic Carpet " duty , as she lay in Hiro Wan . Sailing for Okinawa on the 30th , she reached Buckner Bay on 1 November and embarked 407 returning servicemen the following afternoon . She weighed anchor for the United States shortly thereafter and arrived at San Francisco on 17 November . After repairs at the Kaiser dockyard at Richmond , California , " Birgit " sailed for the Philippines on the 25th , making Guiuan Roadstead at Samar on 13 December . Two days later , " Birgit " sailed for San Francisco once more with 478 homeward bound men and reached her destination on New Year ' s Day 1946 . Decommissioning . Released from " Magic Carpet " duty on arrival in San Francisco , the attack cargo ship was soon authorized for disposal . Sailing from the west coast on 28 January 1946 , " Birgit " headed for the Gulf Coast and inactivation . Clearing the Panama Canal on 11 February , she finally reached Orange , Texas , on 10 March via New Orleans . Birgit was placed out of commission at Orange on 15 March 1946 , and her name was struck from the Navy list on 21 May 1946 . The ship was delivered to the Maritime Commission on 1 July 1946 at Mobile , Alabama , for further disposition . While specific information on her fate has not been found , records suggest that she was sold and scrapped sometime in the 1970s .