USS Blount

History
United States
Name	Blount
Namesake	Blount County, Alabama, and Blount County, Tennessee
Ordered	as type (C1-M-AV1) hull, MC hull 2108[1]
Builder	Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Richmond, California
Yard number	65[1]
Laid down	7 August 1944
Launched	19 October 1944
Sponsored by	Mrs. R. E. St. Clair
Commissioned	26 January 1945
Decommissioned	18 April 1946
Stricken	1 May 1946
Identification	Hull symbol: AK-163 Code letters: NEGA
Fate	Sold, 5 April 1948, to Koninklijke Nederlandsche StoombootMattschappij N.V., Amsterdam
History
Netherlands
Name	Hecuba
Owner	Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Mattschappij, N.V.
Acquired	5 April 1948
Fate	Sold
History
Panama
Name	Anna
Owner	Afrodite Compania Maritima, Panama
Fate	Sold
History
Name	Panes
Fate	Scrapped April 1973
General characteristics [2]
Class and type	Alamosa-class cargo ship
Type	C1-M-AV1
Tonnage	5,032 long tons deadweight (DWT)[1]
Displacement	2,382 long tons (2,420 t) (standard) 7,450 long tons (7,570 t) (full load)
Length	388 ft 8 in (118.47 m)
Beam	50 ft (15 m)
Draft	21 ft 1 in (6.43 m)
Installed power	1 × Nordberg, TSM 6 diesel engine 1,750 shp (1,300 kW)
Propulsion	1 × propeller
Speed	11.5 kn (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Capacity	3,945 t (3,883 long tons) DWT 9,830 cu ft (278 m3) (refrigerated) 227,730 cu ft (6,449 m3) (non-refrigerated)
Complement	15 Officers 70 Enlisted
Armament	1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber dual-purpose gun (DP) 6 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft (AA) cannons

USS Blount (AK-163) was an Alamosa-class cargo ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.

Blount was laid down on 7 August 1944, at Richmond, California, by the Kaiser Cargo Co., Inc., under a Maritime Commission contract, MC hull 2108; launched on 19 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. R. E. St. Clair; delivered to the Navy on 26 January 1945; and placed in commission that same day.^[3]

Following a period of modifications and shakedown training, Blount loaded cargo and stood out of San Francisco, California, on 16 March. Three weeks later, on 8 April, she arrived at Manus in the Admiralty Islands. The ship spent three days there discharging cargo before returning to sea on the 11th, bound—via Biak Island—for Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies.^[3]

She stopped at Biak from 14 to 16 April and arrived at Morotai on the 19th. There, she issued provisions to ships staging for the assault on Tarakan, Borneo. On 29 May, Blount set sail for Borneo and, on 1 June, arrived at Tarakan where she dispensed emergency rations for Australian troops fighting for the island. Two days later, she headed for the Philippines. The cargo ship stopped off overnight on 7 and 8 June at Parang on Mindanao Island to unload supplies before heading back to Morotai. She reached Morotai on 10 June and remained there until the 28th. On that day, Blount stood out to sea and, on 3 July, reentered Seeadler Harbor at Manus.^[3]

Blount remained at Manus for over a month intermittently loading cargo and undergoing repairs for minor damage incurred in a collision with a civilian merchantman that occurred just before she entered the harbor. Blount returned to sea on 7 August, bound for the Philippines. Seven days later, she arrived in the harbor at Cebu City on Cebu Island in the southern Philippines.^[3]

On the morning of the 15th, while still at Cebu, Blount received word of the cessation of hostilities with Japan. The cargo ship departed Cebu on 17 August and entered port at Iloilo on Panay Island on the 18th to provision transports with Japan-bound occupation troops embarked. From there, she moved to Puerto Princesa on Palawan Island where she issued provisions to shore stations. Visits to Brunei Bay, Borneo; Tawi Tawi in the Sulu Archipelago; and Tarakan, Borneo, followed. Blount departed Tarakan on 8 September; transited the Makassar Strait; and reached Balikpapan, Borneo, on the 10th. Two days later, the ship stood out of Balikpapan, bound for the Philippines. She delivered provisions at Zamboanga on Mindanao and at Isabela on Basilan Island before leaving the Philippines on the 24th for the Admiralty Islands. The ship entered Seeadler Harbor, Manus, on 2 October and began voyage repairs.^[3]

Blount remained at Manus until mid-November. During her stay, her mission was changed from that of a fleet issue ship to that of a general cargo ship. She departed Manus on 16 November and arrived at Luzon on Christmas Day 1945.^[3]

On 5 January 1946, Blount began the long voyage back to the United States. She arrived in the Panama Canal Zone on 22 February and, after transiting the canal, got underway for Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 2 March. She remained at Norfolk, Virginia, until 8 April at which time she moved to Baltimore, Maryland.^[3]

Blount was decommissioned there on 18 April 1946. She was delivered to the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 24 April 1946, and her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 May 1946. By the spring of 1948, she had been sold to Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij N.V. which steamship line put her in service as SS Hecuba. She later served two other steamship lines as SS Anna and SS Panos before ending her merchant service sometime between January 1974 and January 1975.^[3]

Blount was sold to the Dutch shipping firm of Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij, N.V., on 5 April 1948, and renamed Hecuba.^[4]

In 1963 she was sold to Afrodite Compania Maritima, Panama, and renamed Anna.^[5] She was later sold twice and renamed Panos. She was scrapped in April 1973 in Shanghai.

The record does not indicate any battle stars for Blount. However, her crew was eligible for the following medals:

• American Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
• World War II Victory Medal
• Philippines Liberation Medal

Citations

• Photo gallery of USS Blount (AK-163) at NavSource Naval History