USS ARL-6

USS ARL-6 was one of 39 Achelous class landing craft repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II.

History
United States
Name:	USS ARL-6
Builder:	Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Company, Jeffersonville, Indiana
Laid down:	25 March 1943, as LST-82
Launched:	9 June 1943
Commissioned:	26 July 1943
Decommissioned:	2 August 1943
Reclassified:	ARL-6, 20 July 1943
Stricken:	29 October 1946
Fate:	Transferred to the Royal Navy, 2 August 1943 Sold to Argentina, 20 August 1947
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS LSE-2
Acquired:	2 August 1943
Fate:	Returned to the US Navy, 21 May 1946
Argentina
Name:	ARA Ingeniero Gadda
Acquired:	20 August 1947
Decommissioned:	25 August 1960
Identification:	IMO number: 6621533
Fate:	Sold into merchant service, 1968
General characteristics
Class and type:	Achelous class repair ship
Displacement:	2,220 long tons (2,256 t) light 4,200 long tons (4,267 t) full
Length:	328 ft (100 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Draft:	11 ft 2 in (3.40 m)
Propulsion:	2 × General Motors 12-567 diesel engines, two shafts, twin rudders
Speed:	12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Complement:	255 officers and enlisted men
Armament:	2 × quad 40 mm w/Mk-51 directors 2 × twin 40 mm w/Mk-51 directors 6 × twin 20 mm

Originally laid down as LST-82 on 25 March 1943 at Jeffersonville, Indiana by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Company; launched on 9 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. G. D. Kellogg; redesignated ARL-6 on 20 July 1943; and commissioned on 26 July 1943.

On 2 August 1943, she was decommissioned and transferred to the United Kingdom as HM LSE-2. The tank landing ship never saw active service with the United States Navy. She was returned by the United Kingdom on 21 May 1946 and she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 October 1946.

On 20 August 1947 she was sold to Argentina as ARA Ingeniero Gadda (Q-22) and served that government until she was decommissioned on 25 August 1960. She was sold by the Argentine Navy in 1968 to Bottachi S. A. (Argentina), for trade between Argentina and Brazil, after which time she was renamed MV Tierra Del Fuego.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• "LST-82 / ARL-6". Amphibious Photo Archive. Retrieved 23 April 2007.