USS Zeus (ARB-4) was planned as a United States Navy , but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Zeus (in Greek mythology, the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus, and god of the sky and thunder), she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
Construction The ship was laid down as LST-132 on 17 June 1943, at Seneca, Illinois, by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company; launched on 26 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. C. A. Brown, wife of Lieutenant C. A. Brown, USNR, who was assigned to the shipyard. With the reallocation of the ship to carry out battle damage repairs, the ship was named Zeus on 4 November 1943, and reclassified as ARB-4. The Maryland Drydock Co., Baltimore, Maryland, carried out the conversion work, and Zeus was commissioned at her conversion yard on 11 April 1944.
Service history Shifting to Port Covington, Baltimore, on 16 April 1944, to take on supplies and fuel, Zeus reported to Commander Amphibious Training, Atlantic Fleet, on 23 April, for shakedown. She sailed for the Naval Operating Base (NOB), Norfolk, on 24 April, and calibrated her radio direction finder en route. After taking on ammunition and supplies at NOB Norfolk (26 April), the ship departed at Lambert's Point, Norfolk, the following day (27 April), then began her shakedown on 28 April, conducting an eight-hour full power run on 29 April.
Anchoring off Cove Point, Solomons Island, Maryland, on 30 April 1944, Zeus carried out short range battle practice in Chesapeake Bay, firing at a moored sled target, her gun crews putting the weapons through their structural tests on 3 May, and conducted anti-aircraft warfare practice the next day. She then proceeded to the Norfolk Navy Yard on 5 May, for scheduled work.
Underway once more on 11 May 1944, Zeus fueled at Craney Island, Virginia, the following day, and the following morning received ammunition from a lighter moored alongside. She returned to NOB Norfolk and moored later that day. She took on board supplies and provisioned from the Naval Supply Depot, Norfolk, then reported to the Commander Service Force, Atlantic Fleet, for duty and for onward routing, on 14 May.
A little over a half hour after the start of the afternoon watch on 16 May 1944, Zeus got underway in company with the internal combustion engine repair ship , and the submarine chaser , their escort. The ships joined convoy 435, encountering a moderate sea on the beam that caused Zeus to roll quickly to 30 degrees. The convoy reached Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, without incident at 17:43 on 22 May, then sailed less than 24 hours later with convoy GZ-62, setting course for Panama.
Zeus made arrival at Cristóbal, Colón, Canal Zone, late on the morning of 27 May 1944, then transited the Panama Canal. The next day, she reported to Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet for duty and Commander Panama Sea Frontier for onward routing. On the morning of 29 May, Zeus sailed for San Diego, California, in company with Oahu. During the passage, a moderate sea on the beam again prompted the battle damage repair ship to roll – on this occasion to 35 degrees. On 5 June, Zeus fired an antiaircraft practice at balloons released by Oahu, then released balloons so that her consort could conduct firing later that same afternoon.
Reaching her destination on 10 June 1944, Zeus reported to Commandant Eleventh Naval District for onward routing. She fueled the next day, then shifted moorings the next morning, taking on fresh water and stores. She got underway on the morning of 14 June, sailing in company with Oahu, with the latter's captain, senior to Zeuss, becoming officer in tactical command (OTC). The next afternoon, the latter's reversing course left Zeus to proceed independently, but Oahu rejoined Zeus on the afternoon of 19 June, and the two ships proceeded together to their destination.
Arriving at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, early on the afternoon on 23 June 1944, Zeus reported to Commander Service Force, Pacific Fleet (ComServPac), for duty, and received assignment to Service Squadron (ServRon) 2. Shifting to Ten-Ten Dock during the first dog watch the following day to begin a 48-hour availability, the battle damage repair ship loaded stores and provisions during that period, and received fresh water, ultimately sailing in convoy 4032A late in the afternoon watch on 27 June, setting course for the Marshall Islands. The ships proceeded toward Eniwetok, zig-zagging for an hour (16:00-17:00) on 1 July, and crossed the International Date Line at midnight on 3 July, advancing the calendar date to 4 July. The assemblage steered zig-zag courses again, beginning at 08:00 on 4 July, and ending at 19:00 the following day, then began zig-zagging again one hour later (20:00) on 5 July.
During the forenoon watch on 6 July 1944, however, an escort on the port side of the convoy obtained a sound contact, the alarm prompting the ships to make an emergency 45 degree turn to starboard at 10:53. Zeus went to general quarters at 10:56, after which time an escort dropped depth charges at 10:57. The battle damage repair ship resumed her original base course at 11:13, then secured from general quarters seven minutes later. The convoy resumed zig-zagging (11:30-15:30), suspended steering those courses for a brief period while one escort and two ships from the group left on duty assigned (15:40), then again began steering zig-zag courses twenty minutes later, with Zeus being ordered to assume a new position at 16:15. The passage proceeded uneventfully for a little over an hour, before an escort ahead of the disposition made a sound contact at 17:16, with general quarters being sounded again, with the convoy steering another emergency 45 degree turn to starboard. Subsequently, the disposition resumed steering zig-zag courses at 17:30, with Zeus standing down from general quarters two minutes later. The convoy continued its zig-zagging until noon on 8 July, then reached Eniwetok a little less than four hours later. Steering various courses and speeds to conform to the channel, Zeus anchored in berth 526 in the central anchorage at 18:45.
The following day, 9 July 1944, in compliance with orders received from ComServPac, Zeus reported to Commander ServRon 10 for duty. She shifted berths within the central anchorage that afternoon, dropping anchor in berth 562, then on 15 July, set about her work, carrying out repair work for her first three vessels: the infantry landing craft , the motor minesweeper , and the tank landing ship . Zeus shifted her berth to M-8 on 16 July, doing repairs for the escort carriers and , then moved back to the central anchorage (berth 563) on 18 July, where she soon began repairs on the old tug and a landing craft (vehicle and personnel) (LCV(P)). For the remainder of the month, the ship carried out work on a variety of vessels ranging from two submarine chasers ( and ) to three pontoon barges and a pair of target rafts.
Zeuss first full month of work at Eniwetok (August 1944) found her interrupted by Flash Red alerts that sent the ship to general quarters twice (04:05-04:28 on 5 August, and a fortnight later, on 19 August, from 22:25-22:50). The rest of her time that month continued to be occupied with repairs to 42 ships and small craft that ranged from the heavy cruiser , the destroyer escorts , , and , and the minesweeper , to four LCV(P)s and five target rafts. During September, from her anchorage in berth 563 during the first half of the month, Zeuss work encompassed not only a tank landing ship, , but one of that ship's LCV(P)s as well, and ranged from 110-foot submarine chasers and , 136-foot submarine chaser and the 173-foot submarine chasers and , to the big harbor tug , the water barge and the garbage lighter . Zeus shifted to berth 579, still in the waters of Eniwetok's central anchorage, where, outside of a Flash Red that sent her to general quarters (15:53-16:04) on 21 September, she continued her toil, her customers ranging from the minesweeper and salvage vessel to 12 LCV(P)s and three medium landing craft (LCM), one of which belonged to the cargo ship .
Remaining anchored in berth 579 into the month of October 1944, as the fleet prepared for the return to the Philippine Islands in the invasion of Leyte, Zeus provided repairs to ships and craft that ranged from minesweeper , fleet ocean tug , and net-laying ship to small coastal transports and , the seaplane wrecking derrick and US Army Crash Boat 20989. Shifting to Eniwetok's south anchorage (berth K-1) at the end of the afternoon watch on 14 October, the battle damage repair ship conducted work on 26 vessels ranging from six 173-foot submarine chasers and three 110-footers, the miscellaneous auxiliary and big harbor tug to two US Army crash boats and the Army small tug LT-392, during the second half of the month.
The first half of November 1944 proceeded without incident, Zeus continuing her vital repair work to units of the fleet – three dozen all told—from large to small, including six motor minesweepers and eight 173-foot submarine chasers. On 17 November, however, an hour before the end of the mid watch, the wind increased in velocity to – the ship would clock those during the rest of the day but occasionally reached for brief periods of time – and by the end of the morning watch (08:00) Zeus, with , old ocean tug , transport , and non-self-propelled covered lighter moored alongside to starboard at the time—was dragging her anchor. PC-600 got underway and cast off immediately. Zeus employed her engines "to ease [the] strain on the chain" until Geminis black gang lit off her propulsion plant, permitting her to get underway, too. Zeus shifted back to K-1, anchoring at 13:50.
Zeuss clientele expanded to include the steel-hulled floating dry dock – the type suitable for docking minesweepers (AM) and net-laying ships (AN) – as well as to the concrete-hulled storage barge , during the first week of December 1944. At the end of that period, the battle damage repair ship got underway for the first extended period of time – albeit brief – since her arrival at Eniwetok. She upped anchor and fired antiaircraft practices, her gunners on all of her battery, from to weapons, firing at towed sleeves twice on 7 December, and once the following day, before she returned to K-1 at 10:59 on 8 December. Her customers ranged from the destroyer , seven destroyer escorts of various types and classes, to miscellaneous auxiliaries (IX), four 173-foot submarine chasers, motor minesweepers, floating dry dock AFD-19, and the War Shipping Administration EC2-S-C1 type cargo vessel , a total of 37 vessels.
The ship's workload clearly reflected the pace of the war, such as the invasion of Luzon, and of the many types and classes of naval vessels involved as the New Year 1945 began. During January 1945, Zeuss skilled specialists forged ahead through work on 77 ships of 21 different types and classes, the most numerous being destroyer escorts (11), followed by tank landing ships (9) and 173-foot submarine chasers (PCs) (8). Small craft serviced included 11 LCMs. She also provided repairs to three War Shipping Administration (WSA) Victory Ships, and the WSA, US-registry troop ship Cape Newenham.
During February 1945, Zeus serviced 108 naval vessels of 34 different types, including battleship and aircraft carrier , the most numerous vessels needing repairs being destroyer escorts (17), wooden-hulled motor minesweepers (14), 173-foot submarine chasers (13) and tank landing ships (8). Some 18 WSA ships required varying degrees of work as well. Toward the end of that month, Lt. Groves, Zeuss commanding officer, assumed the duties of ComServRon 10 representative and administrative senior officer present afloat (SOPA) at Eniwetok, relieving Oahus commanding officer of those responsibilities, on 24 February.