Aircraft Repair Units (Floating) A classified program named
Operation Ivory Soap was conceived by the
Air Technical Service Command to service aircraft close to the front in the Pacific Theatre of Operations. Six
Liberty ships were converted at
Point Clear, Alabama, near Brookley Field, outside Mobile, Alabama. Conversion began in the spring of 1944. The ships were fitted with machine tools, cranes, and all the equipment necessary for a machine shop, including welding, radiator, tank, wood, patterns, blue print, electrical, fabric and dope, paint, air-conditioned instrument and camera shops, radio, battery, propeller, tires and fuel cells, armament and turrets, plating, radar, carburetor, and turbo-super-charger. They were supplied with a large inventory of steel, sheet metal, lumber, aluminum, and other materials to manufacture needed parts. Each ship was also provided with two motor launches and two
DUKWs or "ducks", amphibious trucks for carrying parts too heavy for the helicopters. Two personnel were trained as divers. Each was equipped with a steel deck to support helicopter operations. Each ship was assigned a complement of 344 soldiers who were trained for marine operations. Nicknamed
sailjers, They wore sailor dungarees on the ship, and Army uniforms on land. The ships were designated as Aircraft Repair Units, Floating (ARUs) and operated by the
Army Transport Service, all of whose officers and men were merchant mariners. The ships provided mobile depot support for
B-29 Superfortress and
P-51 Mustangs based on Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa beginning in December 1944. They were also fitted with landing platforms to accommodate four
R-4 helicopters, creating the first seagoing helicopter-equipped ships, and provided medical evacuation of combat casualties in both the Philippines and Okinawa. • 1st ARU(F)
Major General Robert Olds (ex-SS
Daniel E. Garrett) • 2d ARU(F)
Major General Herbert A. Dargue (ex-
SS Rebecca Lukens) • 3rd ARU(F)
Major General Walter R. Weaver (ex-
SS Thomas LeValley) • 4th ARU(F)
Brigadier General Asa N. Duncan (ex-SS ''Richard O'Brien'') • 5th ARU(F)
Brigadier General Clinton W. Russell (ex-SS
Robert W. Bingham • 6th ARU(F)
Brigadier General Alfred J. Lyon (ex-SS
SS Nathaniel Scudder)
Auxiliary Aircraft Repair Ship •
Design 427: Vessel, Supply, Aircraft Repair, Diesel, Steel, 180-foot 573 ton steel vessels built by Higgins; • FS-204
Col. Clifford P. Bradley • FS-205
Col. Richard E. Cobb • FS-206
Col. John D. Corkille (#1) and (#2) • FS-207
Col. Demas T. Craw • FS-208
Col. Everett S. Davis • FS-209
Col. Sam L. Ellis • FS-210
Col. Oliver S. Ferson • FS-211
Col. Percival E. Gabel • FS-212
Col. Donald M. Keiser • FS-213
Col. Douglas M. Kilpatrick •
FS-214 Col. Raymond T. Lester • FS-215
Col. Donald R. Lyon • FS-216
Col. William J. McKiernan • FS-217
Col. Armand Peterson (went to the Navy as ) • FS-218
Col. Charles T. Phillips • FS-219
Col. Edgar R. Todd • FS-220
Col. Harold B. Wright • FS-221
Col. Francis T. Ziegler ==Seacraft Repair Ship==