USS Electra History

Don Ravey

The vessel was laid down at Tampa Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Tampa, FL, as a commercial freighter named SS Meteor, but as World War II commenced, she was converted to a naval cargo ship and as such was launched on Nov. 18, 1941 as USS Electra (AK 21) and commissioned March 17, 1942. This accounts for some of the unusual (for a US naval vessel) features, such as a direct drive diesel (no reduction gears) power plant, and the frame numbering from stern to bow.

The Electra we are remembering here was the second USS Electra, the first having been a sailing vessel commissioned in the mid 19th century.

Electra saw combat service in WW II and received six battle stars. She was redesignated as AKA 4 in the newly formed Amphibious fleet in March 1942. Electra was bombarded from the North African shore and torpedoed and beached near Casablanca on Sept. 15, 1942 by the German submarine U-173, which was, in turn, sunk the following day with the loss of all on board the U-boat. For a description of the U-173 and the record of her attack on USS Electra, see this page. After extensive repairs in Charlestown, Electra sailed for the Pacific and took part in the assault landings on Saipan in June 1944. In 1944 and 1945 she was engaged in the Phillipines and pacific islands. She was decommissioned in March 1946 at San Francisco and became part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet.

With the opening of the Korean conflict, she was reactivated in October 1951 and recommissioned on May 3, 1952, finally to be decommissioned again on May 13, 1955. In the summer of 1953, Electra took part in the annual resupply mission to Point Barrow, Alaska. And in the summer of 1954, she was assigned the same mission to the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.

For a more complete history, see Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships