USS Auburn (AGC-10)

USS Auburn (AGC-10) was a Mount McKinley-class amphibious force command ship, named after Mount Auburn, northwest of Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was designed as an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations.

Commissioning

Laid down as Katkay under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1351) on 14 August 1943 at Wilmington, N.C., by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company; launched on 19 October 1943; sponsored by Miss Julia Raney; acquired by the Navy on 31 January 1944; converted at Hoboken, New Jersey, New Jersey, N.J., by the Bethlehem Steel Co., for naval service as an amphibious force flagship; renamed Auburn and designated AGC-10; and placed in commission at Hoboken, New Jersey on 20 July 1944, Capt. Ralph Orsen Myers in command.

1944

After conducting shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay, the command ship left Norfolk, Va., on 17 August and shaped a course for the Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal on the 23d and continued on to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where she arrived on 6 September. Three days later, Auburn became the flagship for Commander, Amphibious Group 2, Pacific Fleet. On 29 September, she entered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for an availability. During this time, major alterations were made to her flag bridge, additional evaporators were installed, and other...
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