USS Etamin
AK-93
A star in the constellation Draco.
Builder: ??
Length: 441' 6"
Beam: 57'
Draft: 28'
Displacement: 10,500 tons
Top speed: 11 knots
Complement: 13 officers, 179 enlisted
Armament: 1 x 5"
HISTORY:
Etamin (AK-93), formerly Isaac Babbitt, was acquired by the Navy on 8 May 1943, and commissioned on 24 May of that year, under the command of Lieutenant Commander G. W. Stedman, Jr., USCGR.
She was assigned to the Naval Transportation Service, 12th Naval District with operational control given to Commander, 7th Fleet Service Force. At 2328 on the night of 27 April 1944, while at anchor in Aitape Road, New Guinea, she came under attack from one and possibly two Japanese aircraft. She was struck by a torpedo on her starboard side into the number 5 hatch. LCDR Stedman ordered the crew to abandon ship and she settled by the stern to the bottom of the harbor. Stedman and the executive officer stayed on board the Etamin.
She was later towed to Cairns, Australia, and was decommissioned on 26 June 1944. Her Coast Guard crew returned to the United States for reassignment. Etamin was placed in service as IX-173 on 12 August 1944 and continued while under tow to issue stores to the fleet. She was placed out of service on 9 July 1946 and stricken from the Navy List on 31 July.
Etamin received two battle stars for World War II service.
PHOTOGRAPHS:
"USS ETAMIN (AK-93)."; photo circa 1943-44; Photo No. NH-84961; courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1976; U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph -- RELEASED.
SOURCES:
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
Etamin file, USCG Historian's Office.