USS Triana (IX-223)

History
United States
Name	Elinor Wylie
Namesake	Elinor Wylie
Owner	War Shipping Administration (WSA)
Operator	McCormick Steamship Lines
Ordered	as a Type EC2-S-C1 hull, MCE hull 2559[1]
Builder	California Shipbuilding Corporation, Terminal Island, Los Angeles, California
Yard number	290[1]
Way number	6[1]
Laid down	27 December 1943
Launched	24 January 1944
In service	10 February 1944
Fate	transferred to the US Navy, 24 May 1945
United States
Name	Triana
Namesake	Rodrigo de Triana
Acquired	24 May 1945
Commissioned	24 May 1945
Decommissioned	20 February 1946
Renamed	Triana, on 21 May 1945
Stricken	12 March 1946
Identification	Hull symbol: IX-223
Fate	Returned to MARCOM 20 February 1946, sold for scrapping 12 September 1958
General characteristics [2]
Class and type	Triana-class miscellaneous unclassified
Type	Type EC2-S-C1
Displacement	14,230 long tons (14,460 t)
Length	441 ft 6 in (134.57 m)
Beam	56 ft 11 in (17.35 m)
Draught	27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)
Installed power	2 × Babcock & Wilcox header-type boilers, 250psi 450° 2,500 shp (1,900 kW)
Propulsion	1 × vertical triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine 1 × propeller
Speed	12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Complement	98 officers and men
Armament	2 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber dual purpose (DP) guns

USS Triana (IX-223), an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rodrigo de Triana, the discoverer of the Americas.

Triana was laid down on 27 December 1943, under a Maritime Commission contract, MC hull No. 2559, as the Liberty ship SS Elinor Wylie, by California Shipbuilding Corporation, Terminal Island, Los Angeles, California, for the McCormick Steamship Lines; launched on 24 January 1944; sponsored by Mrs. William O'Brien; renamed Triana on 21 May 1945; acquired by the Navy from the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on a "bare-boat" basis on 24 May 194; and commissioned at Pearl Harbor the same day.^[3]

The ship had been severely damaged by an underwater explosion in 1944, and was not considered seaworthy when fully loaded. Nevertheless, during the period 24 May to 29 July, she was patched up, strengthened, and converted into a floating storage ship by the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard.^[3]

On 30 July, Triana got underway for the Marshall Islands and arrived at Eniwetok on 11 August. One of her holds was consigned to fleet freight, and the remaining cargo space was utilized for drum storage. On 24 September, after the vessel had taken on some 4,500 long tons (4,600 t) of cargo, her Number 2 hold began leaking, and further loading operations were cancelled. The leaks were temporarily stopped, and the ship continued to receive and discharge fleet freight and drum lubricating oil until 30 November.^[3]

On 1 December, Triana got underway for Guam to unload 8,896 drums of lubricating oil. She arrived at Apra Harbor on 5 December, and departed for the United States on 24 December 1945. The cargo ship arrived at San Francisco, California, on 15 January 1946, to prepare for inactivation. Triana was decommissioned and returned to the War Shipping Administration on 21 February 1946 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 March 1946.^[3]

She was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay Group. In a 17 October 1951, Fleet Report it was recommended that she be scrapped because of the torpedo damage she had incurred during the war, it was estimated that it would cost less than $100,000 to repair her. She was purchased by the Lerner Company, on 12 September 1958, for $73,640. She was physically removed from the Reserve Fleet on 1 October 1958.^[4]

Citations

• Photo gallery of USS Triana (IX-223) at NavSource Naval History