USS ''Nestor'' (ARB-6) was planned as a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, but was redesignated as one of twelve ''Aristaeus''-class battle damage repair ships built for the

during World War II. Named for Nestor (in

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, the son of

Neleus Neleus (; ) was a mythological king of Pylos. In some accounts, he was also counted as an Argonaut instead of his son, Nestor. Family Neleus was the son of Poseidon and Tyro, and brother of Pelias. According to Pausanias, Neleus was the son o ...

, the King of

Pylos Pylos (, ; ), historically also known as Navarino, is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of ...

and

Chloris In Greek mythology, the name Chloris (; Greek Χλωρίς ''Chlōrís'', from χλωρός ''chlōrós'', meaning "greenish-yellow", "pale green", "pale", "pallid", or "fresh") appears in a variety of contexts. Some clearly refer to different ch ...

), she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.

Construction

Laid down as ''LST-518'' on 13 September 1943, by the

Chicago Bridge and Iron Company Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los ...

Seneca, Illinois Seneca is a village in LaSalle and Grundy counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 2,353 at the 2020 census, down from 2,371 at the 2010 census. The LaSalle County portion of Seneca is part of the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan St ...

; launched 20 January 1944; sponsored by Miss Rita Jenkins; converted by the

Maryland Drydock Company The Maryland Drydock Company was a shipbuilding company that operated in Baltimore, Maryland during the 20th century. The company started life in 1920 as the Globe Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Maryland. Its president at this time was B. ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland; and commissioned 24 June 1944.

Service history

Designed to make emergency repairs in forward areas to battle-damaged ships, ''Nestor'' left

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

4 August 1944, for Guantanamo Bay, the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

, and

Ulithi Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap, within Yap State. Name The name of the island goes back to Chuukic languages, Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diw ...

, arriving 21 October, to take up her primary mission. During the next five and a half months she acted as tender to small craft and repaired all types of naval vessels from

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s to LCIs. ''Nestor'' left Ulithi 19 April 1945, for

Kerama Retto The are a subtropical island group southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Geography Four islands are inhabited: Tokashiki Island, Zamami Island, Aka Island, and Geruma Island. The islands are administered as Tokashiki Village and Zamami Vil ...

, seized in the initial phase of the

Okinawa campaign The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa Island, Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War, Impe ...

Naval Base Okinawa Naval Base Okinawa, now Naval Facility Okinawa, encompasses a number of bases built after the Battle of Okinawa by United States Navy on Okinawa Island, Japan. The naval bases were built to support the landings on Okinawa on April 1, 1945, and the ...

, to serve as a base for the ships engaged in the main assault.

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

air attacks, often by suicide plane, inflicted heavy damage on the fleet, and ''Nestor'' worked round-the-clock, often under fire herself, to help keep the fighting ships in action. As

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

itself became secure, ''Nestor'' entered

Buckner Bay is a bay on the southern coast of Okinawa Island on the Pacific Ocean in Japan. The bay covers and ranges between to deep. The bay is surrounded by the municipalities of Uruma, Kitanakagusuku, Nakagusuku, Nishihara, Yonabaru, Nanjō, all ...

10 July, and continued her vital services, which here included the tremendous task of building a

cofferdam A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out or drained. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for constru ...

. ''Nestor'' was driven aground by wind and heavy seas in the devastating Typhoon "Louise" of 9 October, and had to be abandoned. She decommissioned on 29 November, was stricken on 3 January 1946, and her hulk was sold for scrap on 1 May 1947. In November 1945 the CNO directed that the hulk be sunk or destroyed, but this was not done and she became one of around 15 Okinawa typhoon wrecks that were finally sold for scrap in two batches in May and November 1947 by the State Department's Foreign Liquidations Commission. ''Nestor'' along with , , three floating docks, and some smaller craft, were included in the May batch and were purchased by the Oklahoma-Philippines Company in what was referred to as the "Berry sale". The date of her scrapping is not known.

Awards

''Nestor'' earned one

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period. T ...

for World War II service.

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Online resources * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nestor (Arb-6) Aristaeus-class repair ships Aristaeus-class repair ships converted from LST-491-class ships Ships built in Seneca, Illinois 1943 ships World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Maritime incidents in October 1945 Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean