USS Valentine ( AF - 47 ) USS " Valentine " ( AF - 47 ) was an acquired by the U . S . Navy for service in World War II . Her task was to carry stores , refrigerated items , and equipment to ships in the fleet , and to remote stations and staging areas . " Valentine " was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 2339 ) at Beaumont , Texas , by the Pennsylvania Shipyards , Inc . Launched on 3 February 1945 and sponsored by Mrs . P . Blaschke , the ship was placed " in service " on 19 June 1945 for ferrying and departed Beaumont on 25 June , bound for Galveston , Texas . There , at the Todd - Galveston Shipyard , Inc . , " Valentine " underwent conversion to a refrigeration ship . She was commissioned at Galveston , Texas , on 19 July 1945 , Lt . John W . Perdue in command . World War II service . After shakedown and post - shakedown availability , " Valentine " departed Galveston on 2 August , bound for Mobile , Alabama . She loaded her first cargo of fleet supplies there and got underway on 10 August for the Pacific Ocean . While en route , the ship received word that Japan had surrendered on 14 August 1945 . " Valentine " transited the Panama Canal on the 16th and departed Balboa shortly after noon on the 17th for the Hawaiian Islands . Post - war activity . " Valentine " arrived at Pearl Harbor late in the morning of 5 September , discharged her first cargo , reloaded with fleet issue supplies over the ensuing days , and sailed for Okinawa on 21 September for onward routing . Riding out a typhoon . Two days out of Buckner Bay , on 7 October , the barometer began to plummet ; and , as " Valentine ' s " historian recorded , " all indications pointed to some pretty rough weather . " Aerology reports indicated that a typhoon was passing ahead of the ship , and it was expected , initially , to go up the China coast . However , late on the 8th , the storm ' s course changed . In view of that development , " Valentine " reversed course to stay out of its center . The ship rode out the typhoon ; winds drove waves and spray as high as the bridge . By the morning of the 9th , the wind and waves had calmed sufficiently to enable the ship to continue on to Okinawa . Although buffeted about in the heavy seas , " Valentine " had fared much better than other ships of the fleet that had been trapped at Okinawa as the center of the typhoon swirled destructively across Buckner Bay . Along the dangerous China coast . The refrigeration ship lingered at Buckner Bay from 1345 on the 11th to 1735 on the 12th before she got underway for the China coast . Arriving at Shanghai on the 16th , " Valentine " unloaded her cargo — part of which consisted of Thanksgiving dinners for American servicemen stationed at that port — before she eventually weighed anchor for Hong Kong shortly after noon on the 25th . While leaving Shanghai via a swept channel , " Valentine " encountered a mine that she sank with gunfire in the middle of that waterway . Later on in her voyage to the British Crown Colony , as the ship passed the southern tip of Formosa , her lookouts sighted another stray mine ahead ; a quick course change enabled the vessel to slip by within a narrow margin before she destroyed that mine , too , with gunfire to end its threat to shipping . " Valentine " arrived at Hong Kong at 0916 on 31 October , unloaded her cargo over the ensuing days , and sailed for home on 10 November . She arrived at San Francisco , California , on 8 December to take on another load of fleet issue supplies . All hands had hoped for a " stateside " Christmas , but this was not to be , as " Valentine " weighed anchor for the Far East on 22 December — three days before Christmas . Servicing the American occupation troops in Japan . After the ship tarried at Okinawa , she was routed on to Japan , her holds laden with supplies for the American occupation forces . She touched at the Japanese ports of Sasebo , Kure , and Kobe , in succession , into late February 1946 . She departed Kobe shortly before noon on 26 February and arrived back at San Francisco on 21 March . Loading cargo on a fleet issue basis , " Valentine " departed the west coast , one month later , on 21 April , bound again for the western Pacific . She remained at Pearl Harbor from 30 April to 5 May before she proceeded on toward the Marshalls and arrived at Majuro on the 13th . She provided fresh and frozen provisions to ships of the fleet at Kwajalein , Roi , Bikini Atoll , Eniwetok , and Wake Island before she returned via Pearl Harbor to the west coast , arriving at San Francisco on 16 July . During her brief service career , " Valentine " sailed and delivered 6 , 400 tons of cargo . Decommissioning . Decommissioned at San Francisco on 6 August 1946 , " Valentine " was transferred to the War Shipping Administration soon thereafter . She was struck from the Navy List on 8 October 1946 . Final Disposition : she was sold by the Maritime Administration in 1967 and converted to fish factory ship . Her fate is unknown . Military awards and honors . " Valentine ' s " crew was eligible for the following medals :