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NAVSOURCE ONLINE: SERVICE SHIP PHOTO ARCHIVE


USS DAWN (IX-186)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - India - Uniform
NAIU

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Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal -
Philippine Liberation Medal


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Dawn Class Mobile Floating Fuel Storage Ship: Built in 1920 as SS Vacuum, an
Emergency Fleet Corp design 1041 tanker, at Moore Shipbuilding Co., Oakland, CA.
Assigned Registry Number (ID-4501) by US Navy Acquired by the Navy from the War
Shipping Administration, 25 December 1944, at Brisbane, Australia Commissioned
Miscellaneous Unclassified USS Dawn (IX-186), 26 December 1944, LCDR. H. V.
Perron in command Decommissioned, 12 April 1946, at Norfolk, VA. Struck from the
Naval Register, date unknown Returned to the War Shipping Administration for
disposal, 12 April 1946 Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 4 December 1946,
to Patapsco Scrap Metal Corp., Baltimore, MD. for $22,571.00 (PD-X-237),
delivered, 17 December 1947

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Specifications:
Displacement 15,381 t.(fl)
Length 438' 5"
Beam 57'
Draft27' 6"
Speed 9 kts.
Complement 107
Armament one single 4" gun mount one single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount eight
single 20mm AA gun mounts Propulsion single triple expansion steam engine oil
fired boilers single screw

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Click On Image
For Full Size ImageSize Image Description Source Post WWII Merchant Service
Vaccaro Brothers SS Co.

094618607 97k SS Vacuum wearing the colors of Vaccaro Brothers SS Co., underway,
date and location unknown .
Auke Visser's MOBIL Tankers & Tugs Site Robert Hurst
094618608 43k Vaccaro Brothers tanker SS Vacuum moored pierside, date and
location unknown.
Auke Visser's MOBIL Tankers & Tugs Site Robert Hurst USS Dawn (IX-186)
126k USS Dawn (IX-186) discharging AVGAS at the Diloma Gas Jetty at Subic Bay,
circa 1 April to 19 July 1945. Forwarded by John Clingman for Daniel Wilmes to
honor his father Robert K. Wilmes MM/3c USS Dawn 211k Two of USS Dawn (IX-186)'s
crew playing cards in a raft, near the fantail, while underway. date and
location unknown. Forwarded by John Clingman for Daniel Wilmes to honor his
father Robert K. Wilmes MM/3c USS Dawn 338k USS Dawn (IX-186) moored pierside at
Naval Station Norfolk, VA. awaiting decommissioning, circa 8 February to 12
April 1946. Forwarded by John Clingman for Daniel Wilmes to honor his father
Robert K. Wilmes MM/3c USS Dawn 573k USS Dawn (IX-186) moored pierside at Naval
Station Norfolk, VA. awaiting decommissioning, circa 8 February to 12 April
1946. Forwarded by John Clingman for Daniel Wilmes to honor his father Robert K.
Wilmes MM/3c USS Dawn 658k USS Dawn (IX-186) moored pierside at Naval Station
Norfolk, VA. awaiting decommissioning, circa 8 February to 12 April 1946.
Forwarded by John Clingman for Daniel Wilmes to honor his father Robert K.
Wilmes MM/3c USS Dawn 89k Authorization for USS Dawn (IX-186)'s boat crew to
enter the Olongapo area to repair the ships boat.
Click here to get the story behind the memo Daniel Wilmes to honor his father
Robert K. Wilmes MM/3c USS Dawn

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USS Dawn (IX-186)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log


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Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
MARAD Vessel History Database
Robert Kenneth Wilmes, US Navy, USS Dawn

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo


Last Updated 18 August 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An antidote to the history ofUSS Dawn contributed by Daniel Wilmes in honor of
his father Robert K. Wilmes MM/3c



"When my father's tanker was in Hollandia, they were given an LCVP to use to
travel in the harbor, he said this was standard practice for ships which didn't
have motorized craft of their own. Upon leaving in a convoy to the Phil. on Jan
24, 1945, they enlisted the aid of a Liberty ship to hoist the LCVP on deck
(Dawn had cranes capable of lifting nothing heavier than hoses and drums). This
"stolen" craft they used from then on, there is reference in his journal of
being alongside another Liberty ship to unload the LCVP when they got to the
Phil. At one point they had to cross to another island when no helpful freighter
was around, and so it was towed a few hundred miles with my father and a
cox[swain] aboard in case the towline parted. My father said it was the most
miserable "cruise" he had ever been on, being dragged through rather than over
waves... The manual for the Greymarine engine is in his sea chest still, he was
responsible for The manual for the Greymarine engine is in his sea chest still,
he was responsible for keeping it running. At one point it did break down, and I
have an order giving permission for him to travel to Olongapo to get the LCVP
"belonging to Dawn" repaired."