USS TYRRELL (AKA-80) by Jim Fleming

Some people might be interested to know that a United States Naval ship named for Tyrrell County once sailed the waters of the world. The North Carolina Shipbuilding Company launched a ship, July 10, named "Tyrrell" at Wilmington. This ship is an AKA (cargo ship - attack vessel) and is the first ship of this kind to be named in honor of a county in North Carolina. There had been five ships built in the past by this company named for counties in other states. The Tyrrell County commissioners were asked to send a 4-H girl and a 4-H boy to the launching ceremony. H.H. Harris, Paul Liverman, and R.L. Spencer also represented the county when the ship was christened. Christening of the USS Tyrrell was at Wilmington, NC on July 10, 1944 by Juanita Ogburn. She was president of the Cleveland 4-H Club of Johnston County, NC. She had the honor of christening the ship because her club had won the "Feed A Fighter" contest (a state contest that challenged 4-Hers to produce enough food to sustain a soldier for a year). The ship transferred to the Navy on 30 July and was towed to Baltimore on August 8th for conversion to an attack cargo ship and commissioned on December 4, 1944, Lt. Comdr. John L. McLean, USNR, in command. After shakedown training in the Virginia capes area, the attack cargo ship departed Hampton Roads on 5 January 1945 and steamed through the Panama Canal to Hawaii. The Tyrrell served the remainder of WWII in the Pacific Theater and was awarded one battle star. After WWII, Tyrrell reported to Norfolk, 5th Naval District, for disposition. She was decommissioned at Norfolk on 19 April, returned to the War Shipping Administration on 22 April, and struck from the Navy List on 1 May 1946. The Tyrrell was sold to a private firm in 1948 where it again sailed the oceans under several different names until about 1971 when it was salvaged.