Stentor APL-26

Stentor

(APL-26: dp. 3,960 (tl.); 1. 328'0"; b. 50'0; dr. 11'2" (lim.); s. 11.6 k. (tl.), cpl. 254; a. 1 3", 8 40 mm.; cl. Achelous)

Originally projected as a tank landing ship, LST-858, Stentor was redesignated a landing craft repair ship on 14 August 1944; laid down at Seneca, Ill.,
on 21 September 1944 by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.; launched on 11 November 1944; and commissioned on 22 December 1944, Lt. Charles J. Miller in command.

Stentor moved down the Mississippi River after commissioning and arrived at New Orleans on Christmas Eve. She departed the South Pass on 2 January 1945 and arrived in Mobile, Ala., on the following day. Stentor decommissioned at Mobile on 9 January and began conversion to a landing craft repair ship. She recommissioned on 28 April and completed fitting out and shakedown training in May. On 4 June, she reported for duty with the Pacific Fleet at Coco Solo, the western terminus of the Panama Canal. Three days later Stentor headed for the California coast. She 1oaded pontoons at Port Hueneme near Los Angeles, between 20 and 25 June, then sailed for San Francisco. She stopped there on the 27th and headed for Hawaii. The landing craft repair ship reached Pearl Harbor on 16 July and there she remained through the waning days of World War II and into the fall of 1945.

On 20 October, she departed the harbor and shaped a course for the Far East. Stentor stopped at Guam in the Marianas on 3 November and arrived in Shanghai China, three days before Christmas. She served in China until 6 October 1946, when she departed Tsingtao for the United States. One month later, she entered port at San Pedro, Calif.

For a little more than a year, she operated on the west coast, but spent most of her time in port at San Diego, where she was decommissioned and placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in December 1947. Stentor remained out of commission, in reserve, until 1 July 1960 when her name was struck from the Navy list On 23 January 1961, her hulk was sold to the Diesel Parts Corp., New York City, for scrapping.