Created on March. 7 2009 by
Marie E. Velardi
Last update: September 2, 2010
Antares: A star in the Scorpio Constellation. A class of U.S. Navy supply and cargo ships.
In July 1943, the U.S.S. Antares (AKS-3), a 401-foot long supply ship of the Pacific Fleet, sailed from New Caledonia to California, arriving in San Francisco on August 1st. While in port, she replenished her stores, underwent repairs and received new crewmen, including one Nicholas Carmen Velardi, an 18-year old from New York City who boarded on August 17, 1943. The ship was not modern, to say the least. She had been built in 1922 and was destined for the scrap heap at War's end. A few weeks later, on September 10th, the old ship and her new crewman sailed out to Espiritu Santo, an island airbase in the the New Hebrides archipelago. She was to return to San Francisco later that year before shoving off again to the deep Pacific for the duration of World War II. New Year's Day 1944 was celebrated on the volcano island of Efate, half a world away from home.
Coxswain Badge - World War II EraFACTS:
Name: Nicholas Carmen Velardi
Born: January 2, 1925 in Rockaway Beach, Queens County NY.
Enlistment Date: April 30, 1943 in New York City (age 18).
Branch: USN-I (Regular Navy Inductee).
Service Number: 810 73 209
Boarded Antares: August 17, 1943 in San Francisco
Initial Rating: S2c (Seaman 2nd Class) SV6 (Selective Volunteer, guaranteed discharge within 6 months of war's end.)
Rating Changes: To S1c (Seaman 1st Class) on September 30, 1944.
To Coxswain (T) on August 1, 1945.
Disembarked Antares: November 4, 1945 for the U.S.S. Sarasota.
Discharged: December 16, 1945 at Sampson Naval base, Seneca County NY.
Length of Service: 2 years, 8 months.Most of 1944 was spent zigzagging across the South Pacific, issuing and replenishing supplies without major incident. Among the numerous destinations the Antares visited while young Nicholas was on board were Guadalcanal, the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands, Auckland, New Zealand, Okinawa, Saipan, and the ship's home base, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On July 30, 1944, he received a telegram from Washington D.C. informing him of the death of his older brother Joseph, a fireman on the aircraft cruiser, U.S.S. Oakland, who had been lost at sea 15 days earlier. Nicholas was probably the last family member to see Joseph alive -- the two young men had hooked up in California the previous year, taken a photo together (see below) and recorded a voice message to their mother. Nicholas was offered leave to join his grieving family at home, but he declined. The round trip would have taken months, and he believed the best way to honor Joe was to remain on duty for the duration. In September of that year, Nicholas was promoted to Seaman 1st Class (S1c). In August 1945 he was made Coxswain (pronounced cox-sin), the crewman who helms and maintains a ship's smaller, auxiliary craft.
Selected Records of the U.S.S. Antares
(Pearl Harbor Muster Rolls)
September 30, 1943
First Muster Roll Listing
of Nicholas C. Velardi
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Nicholas C. Velardi
promoted to Seaman
First Class (S1c)
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Nicholas C. Velardi
promoted to Coxswain
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November 4, 1945
Nicholas C. Velardi
transferred to the U.S.S.
Sarasota for discharge
Click to EnlargeOther Documents & Images
Nicky with fellow crewmen,
Barry, Jack and Steve.
Click to EnlargeA photograph he didn't mail home to Mama
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Ditto
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Nicky and "Louie"
Click to EnlargeA postcard to Joey Di Resta
September 9, 1944
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Fellow crewmen George L "Wally" Waaland
and Saul "Speed" Spivak
September 4, 1944
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Hand-drawn Christmas Card
from the Antares
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The Antares earned two battle stars for her World War II service despite her advanced age and humble status as a stores vessel. In fact she was involved in the very first naval engagement of the War. In the early morning hours of December 7, 1941, as the Antares entered the mouth of Pearl Harbor towing a scow, her crew sighted a midget submarine. The unarmed Antares signaled the destroyer, U.S.S. Ward, which sank the sub at 6:55 a.m., about one hour before the infamous Japanese bombing attack that all but decimated Pearl Harbor and took more than 2,400 American lives. Miraculously, Antares escaped serious damage and was augmented a few months later with two 5-inch guns, four 3-inch guns and eight 20-millimeter antiaircraft machine guns. She put these weapons to good use on June 28, 1945. Nicholas C. Velardi was on board that day and took part in a perilous encounter with an enemy submarine and a kaiten, a Japanese human torpedo capable of sinking a battleship."Antares sailed singly from Saipan on 25 June 1945, bound for Pearl Harbor. At 1329 on the 28th, Antares' lookouts reported a periscope and wake 100 yards on her starboard quarter. Going to general quarters, the stores issue ship increased speed; her captain, Lt. Comdr. N. A. Gansa [sic, Nicholas Terrence Gansa], USNR, took the conn and maneuvered the ship hard right; the torpedo missed astern, but a close-range battle soon ensued.
Simultaneously, lookouts observed what looked like a human-controlled torpedo (kaiten) in the port wake, turning to the right. At 1331, the ship commenced firing at a periscope wake while she commenced an erratic zig-zag maneuver to avoid the kaiten on the port quarter, close at hand. While Antares' stern swung to starboard, the number two 3-inch gun, firing down the side of the ship, scored a hit on the kaiten and it disappeared.
Another periscope soon appeared at 1344; Antares' after 5-inch gun opened fire, the concussion dazing the crew of one of the 3-inch guns nearby (a severed phone connection had prevented them from getting the word to secure) and ripping open the ready-use boxes for the 3-inch guns. Simultaneously, the stores issue ship's call for help was being answered; YMS-468 and the destroyer Sproston (DD-577) closed the scene of the battle to lend a hand. At 1414, Antares sighted what appeared to be a large submarine commencing to surface; her 5-inch gunfire, however, or the timely arrival of help, soon forced what looked like a quick dive. At 1418 Antares' captain ordered "cease fire," but maintained the evasive action he had begun at the outset of the action.
During the action, Antares expended 11 rounds of 5-inch, 35 rounds 6f 3-inch, and 130 rounds of 20-millimeter. She suffered four men wounded when a 20-millimeter shell hit a splinter shield; seven men suffered broken ear drums from the concussion of the 5-inch gun going off directly over the 3-inch gun they manned.
Postwar records reveal Antares' assailants to be I-36, whose torpedoes missed their target, and the kaiten-carrying I-165, which had departed Hikari on 15 June 1945 for the waters east of the Marianas as part of the "Todoroki" squadrons special kaiten attack unit. Navy planes flying out of Saipan subsequently sank the latter on 29 June."
(Source: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships)Nicholas Velardi, recalling the attack years later, said he believed the Antares and her crew were goners as he watched the kaiten racing towards the ship. But thanks to the courage and competence of its men, the ship and all its hands survived to celebrate the Fourth of July, 1945. A booklet was issued for the holiday festivities which contained the menu du jour and a complete roster of officers, crewmen and passengers.
Fourth of July (1945) Booklet
Including Crew Roster
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Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge The War in the Pacific officially came to an end five weeks later on August 15, 1945. On November 4th Nicholas left the vessel he had called home for more than two years and boarded the U.S.S. Sarasota (APA-204) on route to the United States. One of his traveling companions was Saul Spivak, a baker on the Antares. Discharged in Los Angeles, Saul later moved to Far Rockaway near St. Mary's Star of the Sea (I went to school with one of his daughters). Nicholas was officially discharged on December 16, 1945 at Sampson Naval Base in upstate New York, a few weeks before his 21st birthday. The discipline and work ethic he learned as a crewman of the Antares was to stay with him the rest of his life.
Epilogue
The original Antares (AG-10/AKS-3) was decommissioned after 24 years of service on August 2, 1946. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 25 September 1946. The following year she was sold for scrap.
Her successor, U.S.S Antares (AK-258/AKS-33) served from 1952 to 1964.
The third Antares (AK-294/AKR-294/T-AKR-294) is an Algol class vehicle cargo ship that served as a U.S.. Navy vessel from 1984 to 2007. She took part in the Gulf War in 1990, On October 1, 2007, she was transferred to the civilian United States Martime Administration. She is currently part of the Ready Reserve Force, waiting to be reactivated by the Military Sealift Command.
The S.S. Antares (NC-501) is a fictional United Federation Starfleet survey and supply vessel in the 23rd century. She made her first and only on-screen appearance in the 2007 re-mastered version of the 1966 Star Trek episode "Charlie X." (See image at right.)
Selected Sources and Resources:
1. Wikipedia
- USS Antares (AG-10/AKS-3): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Antares
- SS Antares (T-AKR-294): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Antares_(T-AKR-294)
2. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
- U.S.S. Antares I: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a9/antares-i.htm
- U.S.S. Antares II: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a9/antares-ii.htm
- U.S.S. Antares III: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a9/antares-iii.htm
3. FootNote.Com. Pearl Harbor Muster Rolls: muster rolls and reports of changes, 1939-47
www.footnote.com/page/2678_pearl_harbor_muster_rolls/4. Kaiten - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiten4. NavSource: Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - AG-10 / AKS-3 Antares
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/49/49010.htm
