View source for USS Mona Island

{{Short description|US Navy internal combustion engine repair ship}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Mona Island (ARG-9) at anchor off Okinawa, Japan, in 1945.jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''Mona Island'' (ARG-9) in 1945
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1947}}
|Ship name= USS ''Mona Island''
|Ship namesake=[[Mona Island]], Puerto Rico
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder= 
|Ship laid down= 10 April 1944
|Ship launched= 11 May 1944
|Ship acquired=20 May 1944
|Ship commissioned= 17 October 1944
|Ship decommissioned= June 1947
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|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship struck= 1 September 1962
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=
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|Ship fate=[[Scuttling|Scuttled]] as an [[artificial reef]] 20 August 1975
|Ship notes=
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship class=''Luzon''-class internal combustion engine [[Auxiliary ship|repair ship]]
|Ship type=[[Type C2 ship|EC2-S-C1]]
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|5159|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} light
*{{convert|8700|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full
|Ship length={{convert|442|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|57|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft= {{convert|23|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=[[General Machinery Corporation]] reciprocating steam engine, single shaft, {{convert|1950|hp|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship speed= {{convert|13|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range= 
|Ship complement=574 officers and enlisted
|Ship armament=*1 × [[5"/38 caliber gun]]
*2 × [[3"/50 caliber gun]]s
*4 × [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm]] guns
*12 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm]] guns
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'''USS ''Mona Island'' (ARG-9)''' was ''Luzon''-class [[internal combustion engine]] [[repair ship]] in service with the [[United States Navy]] from 1944 to 1947. She was sunk as an [[artificial reef]] in 1975.

==History==
''Mona Island'' was laid down on 10 April 1944, as a [[United States Maritime Commission]] type ([[Liberty ship|EC2-S-C1]]) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 2634) at [[Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard]], Inc., [[Baltimore]], Maryland. Launched on 11 May 1944. Acquired by the [[United States Navy]] from the Maritime Commission and converted to [[Internal Combustion Engine]] Repair Ship (ARG-9) at [[Maryland Drydock]] Co, Baltimore, Maryland, and commissioned USS ''Mona Island'' (ARG-9), on 17 October 1944.

=== World War II Pacific Theatre operations ===
Following [[shakedown cruise|shakedown]] in [[Chesapeake Bay]], USS ''Mona Island'' departed [[Norfolk, Virginia]], 2 December en route to the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]]. Six days out of [[Pearl Harbor]], on 18 January 1945, she effected the rescue of survivors of a crashed Army [[C-47 Skytrain|C 47 transport]], en route to [[Hawaii]] from the mainland. On the 24th, she arrived at Pearl Harbor, debarked her passengers, and reported to ComServForce, [[U.S. Pacific Fleet]] for duty and onward routing.

Underway on the 27th, she steamed via the [[Marshall Islands|Marshalls]] to [[Ulithi]], arriving 18 February to become the [[flagship]] for [[MinRon]] 10. Between 19 February and 4 April she remained at Ulithi making repairs on vessels in that harbor. On the 5th, she got underway for [[Naval Base Okinawa]] at [[Kerama Retto]], [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]], arriving the 10th to commence repairs on the craft which had entered the shallow waters off the prospective invasion beaches to render them safe for the landing forces.

Between 11 April and 7 July repair work on ships alongside and in the harbor was interrupted by 180 air attacks on the harbor. On the latter date ''Mona Island'' shifted to the island of Okinawa itself, anchoring in [[Buckner Bay]]. There, during the remainder of July, work was interrupted by the approach of one [[typhoon]] and 21 air attacks; while the last two weeks of the war brought only air raid alerts.

''Mona Island'' continued her valuable repair services at Buckner Bay until grounded on a [[reef]] during a typhoon on 9 October. Ten days later she got underway, towed by the tug {{USS|Cahuilla|ATF-152|3}}, for [[Guam]] where temporary repairs to her [[rudder]] and [[Propeller|screw]] enabled her to steam, independently, to [[San Diego]], California, 19 November to 11 December. Continuing on from [[California]] she transited the [[Panama Canal]] once again and headed for [[New York City]] where repairs were completed. Cornelius Taft Cone, father of author Carl T Cone was a crew member. Cone wrote Pacific Letters, an epistle-based story that features letters his father wrote while aboard Mona Island during World War II.

=== Decommissioning and fate ===
On 19 March 1946 she steamed down the coast to Norfolk, Virginia, where she decommissioned in June 1947. She remained at Norfolk as a unit of the [[Atlantic Reserve Fleet]] until struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy List]] on 1 September 1962. She was transferred in 1962 to the [[Maritime Administration]] for lay up in the [[National Defense Reserve Fleet]], [[James River]], [[Fort Eustis]], Virginia. The ship was scuttled as an [[artificial reef]] off [[Wachapreague, Virginia|Wachapreague]], [[Virginia]], at
{{coord|37.532667|N|75.441833|W|region:US-VA_type:landmark|display=title|notes=<ref name=parramoreGrid>{{cite web|title=Parramore Artificial Reef|url=http://www.mrc.virginia.gov/vsrfdf/pdf/parramore_reef_grid.pdf|publisher=Virginia Marine Resources Commission|access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref> }} on 20 August 1975.<ref>[http://www.navsource.net/archives/09/29/2909.htm NavSource USS Mona Island (ARG-9)]</ref>

== References ==
{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mona-island.html}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|USS Mona Island (ARG-9)}}
* {{navsource|09/29/2909|Mona Island}}
* [http://ussthomasjgary.org/mother_nature.htm Account of Typhoon Louise, 9 October 1945]

{{Luzon class repair ships}}
{{Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards}}
{{Internal Combustion Engine Repair Ships}}
{{1975 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mona Island (ARG-9)}}
[[Category:Luzon-class repair ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Baltimore]]
[[Category:1944 ships]]
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Virginia coast]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as artificial reefs]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1975]]