USS Serapis (IX-213)

History
United States
Name	USS Serapis
Namesake	Serapis
Builder	Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Corp., Baltimore, Maryland
Launched	18 December 1920, as SS District of Columbia
Acquired	February 1945
Commissioned	3 August 1945
Decommissioned	19 October 1945
Renamed	Serapis (IX-213), 9 March 1945
Stricken	1 November 1945
Fate	Sold for scrapping, May 1947
General characteristics
Type	Mobile floating storage tanker
Tonnage	7,641 long tons (7,764 t)
Length	450 ft (140 m)
Beam	59 ft (18 m)
Propulsion	Single screw
Speed	9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph)
Complement	71
Armament	1 × 4 in (100 mm) gun 1 × 3 in (76 mm) gun 8 × 20 mm guns

USS Serapis (IX-213) was a single-screw tanker that served for a short time as a floating storage tanker for the United States Navy at the end of World War II.

Built in 1921 for the United States Shipping Board by Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding, Baltimore, Maryland, the ship was originally named SS District of Columbia. Allocated to the Navy by the Maritime Commission in February 1945, renamed Serapis, and designated IX-213 on 9 March 1945, she was partially converted at San Francisco and delivered to the Navy at Pearl Harbor. The ship was commissioned on 3 August 1945.

Acquired for temporary wartime use as a mobile floating storage unit for gasoline and diesel oil at Pearl Harbor and in the Trust Territories, Serapis was declared surplus after the cessation of hostilities in the Pacific. She remained at Pearl Harbor until 16 September when she was taken in tow by the Keosanqua (ATA-198) for her return to California.

On 2 October, she arrived at San Francisco where she was decommissioned and returned to the Maritime Commission on 19 October. Her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 November 1945, and she was sold in May 1947 to the American Iron and Metal Company for scrapping.

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

• Photo gallery at navsource.org