Malabar AF-37

Malabar

One of the planetoids orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter. Too small to be seen with the naked eye, Malabar was discovered on a photograph in 1906 by Dr. A. Kopff of Heidelberg, Germany.

(AF-37: dp. 7,435 (lim.) ; 1. 338'6"; b. 50'0"; dr. 21'1" (lim.) ; s. 11.5 k.; cpl. M; a. 1.3", 6 20mm.; cl. Adria; T. RI-M-AVS)

Malabar (AF-37) was laid down under Maritime Commission contract by the Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc., Beaumont, Tex., 17 July 1944; launched 17 September 19"; sponsored by Mrs. W. R. Brennan; acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission 24 February 1945; converted by Tennessee Coal & Iron Dock, Houston, Tex., to a refrigeration ship; and commissioned 8 March 1945, Lt. Charles S. Rogers, USNR in command.

Following shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico, Malabar departed Galveston, Tex., for Pearl Harbor 28 March with

a stopover at Mobile, Ala., to embark food supplies for the Pacific Fleet, arriving Pearl Harbor 1 May. Assigned to Service Squadron 8, Service Force, the storeship sailed

the 11th for the Marianas, via Eniwetok, Marshalls, to unload half of her cargo at Saipan from 27 to 31 May.

She continued on to the Volcano Islands 1 June, arriving Iwo Jima 3 days later. Her task of issuing provisions to 53 ships was interrupted by a typhoon 6 June. After a day and a half of battling the storm, Malabar finally anchored and discharged the rest of her stores to an Army installation ashore.

On 12 June Malabar returned to Pearl Harbor, again via Saipan, for 12 days of repairs necessitated by the typhoon. She got underway 30 June for a second trip to Eniwetok and, returning to Pearl Harbor, was 1 day out when the Japanese surrendered 15 August.

She departed Pearl Harbor the 27th for Japan, via Eniwetok, arriving Tokyo Bay 17 September. Malabar then supplied a record total of 157 ships in 9 days. After upkeep at Pearl from 13 to 27 October, she returned to the central Pacific, sinking two mines en route. On 16 November she reached the Yangtze River and reported to CTU 67.2.3 for supply duty out of Shanghai until 4 December when she got underway for Seattle, Wash., arriving the 22d.

Malabar departed San Pedro, Calif., for the Philippines 21 February 1946, anchoring in Manila Bay 22 March for a month's service before steaming from Samar, 16 April, for the east coast, via San Francisco and the Canal Zone. She arrived Bayonne, N.J., 1 July to spend the rest of the year cruising Along the Atlantic coast and In the Caribbean from Argentia, Newfoundland, to Bermuda.

On 3 January 1947 Malabar departed Bermuda for Europe, arriving Casablanca, French Morocco, the 14th to unload her cargo. After a stop at Naples, Italy, she re

turned to the east coast later in the month to continue her service force operations between Guantanamo Bay,

Cuba; Norfolk; and Argentia, interspersed with annual supply trips to Europe through the next 8 years.

Malabar was placed, in reserve at Galveston, Tex., 20 June 1955 before decommissioning 26 September. She remained berthed there in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until struck from the Navy list 1 July 1960.