USS Alcona ( AK - 157 ) USS Alcona ( AK - 157 ) was an " Alamosa " - class cargo ship 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 . " Alcona " ( AK - 157 ) was laid down as the unnamed Maritime Commission contract hull ( MC hull 2102 ) on 27 November 1943 at Richmond , California , by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Co . ; named Alcona by the Navy and designated AK - 157 on 25 February 1944 ; launched on 9 May 1944 and sponsored by Mrs . Morris Chamberlain of Oakland , California , transferred there by the Maritime Commission to the Navy on 15 September 1944 , and commissioned the same day , Lt . Lester J . Lavine , USNR , in command . " Alcona " then shifted to the Mare Island Navy Yard , Vallejo , California , to be fitted out . World War II Pacific Theatre operations . Following shakedown training out of San Pedro , California , " Alcona " reported by dispatch , for duty with Service Squadron 7 on 22 October 1944 the same day that she sailed for San Francisco , California . Arriving there on the 23d , the cargo ship took on board cargo and got underway on the last day of October to commence operations supplying American advanced bases in New Guinea and later , in the Philippines which would keep her occupied for the rest of the war . New Guinea operations . Pausing briefly at Pearl Harbor on 10 and 11 November , " Alcona " then continued , via Finschhafen , New Guinea , to Manus where she arrived on 29 November . After discharging her cargo , " Alcona " then proceeded via Hollandia , New Guinea , to Mios Woendi , in the Padaido Islands , where she spent Christmas before getting underway on 27 December for Australia . From Australia to the Philippines . " Alcona " reached Brisbane , Australia , on 4 January 1945 and loaded cargo there until the 10th when she weighed anchor to head for the advanced base at Milne Bay , New Guinea . Upon emptying her hold there and at Finschhafen , the cargo ship then proceeded to Torokina , Bougainville , in the Solomons to pick up a mine unit for transportation to the Philippines . Arriving at Cape Torokina on 27 January , the ship got underway , via Hollandia , for Leyte the following morning and arrived at San Pedro Bay , Leyte , on 12 February . Underway for Manus on the 24th " Alcona " arrived in the Admiralties on 3 March and loaded cargo there before getting underway for Brisbane on the 11th . Although a typhoon hindered the ship ' s passage , she reached her destination without mishap on the 18th . Subsequently , " Alcona " returned to the Philippines and entered Manila Bay on 24 April . En route back , she touched at Seeadler Harbor , Manus , and $ 3 , New Guinea , before reaching Hollandia to reload . Upon arrival back in the Philippines , Alcona discharged her cargo into tank landing craft ( LCT ' s ) off the former American naval base at Cavite . After discharging more cargo at Subic Bay on 17 May , at Guiuan Samar , the same day , and at San Pedro Bay , " Alcona " visited Brisbane for the third time in mid - June . End - of - war operations . " Alcona " had transported another consignment of cargo to the Philippines by mid - July and had completed her task at Subic Bay by 8 August , two days after the first atomic bomb had been dropped on the city of Hiroshima . Underway for Samar on the 12th , " Alcona " arrived three days later and was laying at anchor off Samar the day that Japan capitulated , 15 August 1945 . Post - war operations . " Alcona " conducted another voyage from Brisbane to the Philippines and then , after undergoing repairs in the advanced base sectional floating drydock " ABSD - 5 " , proceeded to Samar on 12 November . The cargo ship remained there until she sailed for Panama on 19 January 1946 . Transfer to the Atlantic . Reaching Balboa on 3 March , " Alcona " entered the Panama Canal that afternoon and reached Cristobal on the Atlantic side of the isthmus , at 2340 . Underway for Norfolk , Virginia , on the morning of 7 March , " Alcona " proceeded toward her destination until rerouted to New York on the 12th . She anchored in Gravesend Bay , New York , on the 16th but got underway for Bayonne , New Jersey , 10 days later . The cargo ship reached the wharf at the naval base annex there that afternoon . After discharging cargo brought from the Pacific and loading new cargo , " Alcona " got underway for Norfolk on the morning of 13 April and anchored in Hampton Roads the following morning . Underway at 1405 on the 19th , the ship reached Pier 4 , Berth 42 , Naval Operating Base ( NOB ) , Norfolk , Virginia , at 1445 to discharge cargo . Securing from alI cargo operations on the afternoon of the 24th , she steamed out into Hampton Roads and anchored until the morning of 1 May , when she got underway for Boston , Massachusetts . Exercise Nanook . Initially , it had been planned to decommission " Alcona " at Norfolk so that she might be returned to the War Shipping Administration and laid up in the James River to await further disposition . However , on 18 April 1946 , Capt . Richard H . Cruzen , prospective commanding officer of an Arctic exercise , code named " Nanook " requested that " Alcona " be assigned to his task force . The approval of his request prolonged the ship ' s naval career and , on 27 April the Chief of Naval Operations ordered her assigned to " Nanook . " " Alcona " arrived at Boston , Massachusetts , shortly before noon on 3 May and moored alongside the destroyer , " Willard Keith " ( DD - 775 ) . Five days later , Capt . Robert J . Esslinger ( who had won a Navy Cross in " Kearny " ( DD - 432 ) and a Silver Star for command of " Sproston " ( DD - 577 ) off Okinawa in 1945 ) relieved Lt . Comdr . H . D . Byington USNR , in command . Final decommissioning . " Alcona " was decommissioned 5 May 1955 and returned to the Maritime Commission ( date unknown ) . She was struck from the Naval Register on 1 April 1960 . Her final disposition : fate unknown .