USS Arctic ( AF - 7 ) USS " Arctic " ( AF - 7 ) was an " Arctic " - class stores ship acquired by the United States Navy for use in World War II . She served in the dangerous Pacific Ocean , delivering food and household items to ships and bases . Early career . " Yamhill " — a steel - hulled , single - screw freighter built in 1919 at Oakland , California , by the Moore Shipbuilding Co . under a United States Shipping Board contract — was acquired by the navy from the Shipping Board on 4 November 1921 for use as a store ship . Renamed " Arctic " ( AF - 7 ) on 2 November 1921 , she was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 7 November 1921 , Lieutenant Commander Charles H . Bullock in command . Assigned to the Base Force , Pacific Fleet , " Arctic " arrived at San Diego , California on 24 July 1922 . For almost 20 years , she served chiefly in the Pacific , operating with the fleet ' s train . During the second of her two voyages to Hawaiian waters in 1925 , she accompanied the fleet on its Australasia n cruise to New Zealand and Samoa . Assigned to Train Squadron 2 ( TrainRon 2 ) , her yearly operations varied little , with the ship issuing provisions to the Battle Fleet wherever it was operating . Her cruises along the western seaboard of the United States took her to San Diego , San Pedro and San Francisco , California , Portland , Oregon , and Seattle , Washington . During the winter of 1936 / 1937 , " Arctic " found herself busier than ever . A maritime strike , which paralyzed American flag merchant shipping during this period , meant a revision in the storeship ' s operating schedule . As Commander , Base Force , reported after the end of the fiscal year , the shipping strike emphasized the limitations of the train , since " Arctic " had to be withdrawn from servicing the fleet to provision the far - flung naval stations at Pearl Harbor and Samoa . Since the fleet operated in Hawaiian waters with increasing frequency , starting with the Hawaiian Detachment in the fall of 1939 and continuing through the assignment of the Fleet there in the spring of 1940 , " Arctic " s schedule was altered to include five or six round trips a year between San Francisco and Pearl Harbor . The outbreak of hostilities with Japan on 7 December 1941 found " Arctic " one day out of Hawaiian waters , " en route " to San Francisco . World War II . For the first five months of 1942 , a time punctuated with yard periods at the Mare Island Navy Yard , " Arctic " operated between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco . She then deployed briefly to Alaskan waters , to supply the ships of Task Force 8 ( TF 8 ) and shore facilities at Kodiak from 3 – 13 July . Returning thence to the west coast , she arrived at San Francisco on 24 July and soon thereafter sailed for the South Pacific . After touching " en route " at Pearl Harbor and at Tongatapu , " Arctic " commenced a routine of supplying ships and shore stations at New Caledonia and in the New Hebrides . Before 1942 was over , the storeship visited Noumea twice and Espiritu Santo once . During the following year , 1943 , she voyaged twice to Nouméa , thrice to Espiritu Santo , and once to Efate , usually stopping at Samoa " en route " from the Hawaiian Islands . An overhaul at Alameda , California and at Oakland from 4 July - 27 September broke this period of operations . Following her third call at Espiritu Santo from 23 October - 5 November , " Arctic " returned again to the U . S . West Coast for engine repairs , reaching San Francisco on 29 November and remaining there into the following year . Departing the west coast on 29 January 1944 , the storeship arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 February . Assigned thence to Service Squadron 8 ( ServRon 8 ) over the next six months , " Arctic " made five round - trip voyages to the Marshall Islands , provisioning ships at Majuro , Kwajalein , and Eniwetok . Shifting to Seeadler Harbor — at Manus — on 20 September , the auxiliary ship spent the next month issuing supplies to various units afloat before she proceeded to Ulithi on 24 October . Remaining at Ulithi , temporarily attached to ServRon 10 , until a week before Christmas , 1944 , " Arctic " provided working parties for various merchant ships and took on board supplies for issue to the fleet until she commenced a series of round - trip voyages from Ulithi to the Palau Islands ; she conducted four such voyages from 18 December 1944 – 1 April 1945 to provision ships and shore installations at Kossol Roads , Peleliu , and Angaur . Touching at Saipan on 5 April , " Arctic " proceeded to Iwo Jima , where — from 9 – 12 April — she provisioned island forces , various units of the Pacific Fleet , and small craft . Returning to Guam on 15 April , the " beef boat " then sailed for the United States . A severe tropical storm enlivened her passage home before she arrived at San Francisco on 12 May . Sailing for the west again on 2 July , " Arctic " arrived at Ulithi on the 26th before she proceeded , in convoy UOK - 43 , for Okinawa , where — from 5 – 21 August — she issued fresh , frozen and dry provisions to fleet units . After Japan capitulated , she returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 September for repairs and reloading , before sailing for Japanese waters on 24 October . While " en route " to Tokyo , she sank a mine with gunfire on 12 November . From 21 November - 13 December , " Arctic " provisioned fleet units off Yokosuka before she returned to Hawaiian waters — again sinking a mine " en route " — on 20 December . She departed Pearl Harbor on 2 January 1946 and arrived at San Diego on the 16th , where she remained for a little over a month . She left the west coast of the United States for the last time on 18 February , bound for the Gulf of Mexico . Material defects having rendered continued operation of the venerable " Arctic " " impracticable , " the veteran " beef boat " was on her last voyage . Transiting the Panama Canal on 7 March , " Arctic " arrived at New Orleans , Louisiana on the 15th . There , at Pendleton Shipyards , she was decommissioned on 3 April . Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 May . Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposition on 3 July , the ship was then sold on 19 August 1947 to the Southern Shipwrecking Corp . and met her end under the scrapper ' s torch .