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Under the Southern Cross
A Petty Officer's Chronicle of the USS Octans, Banana Boat Become World War II Supply Ship for the Southern Pacific Fleet
• 1995 • 316 pages
During World War II, the U.S. Navy took over 35 refrigerated cargo ships from civilian importers to augment the supply fleet, including the United Fruit Company's S.S. Ulna. Renamed the U.S.S. Octans, the ship became part of the Seventh Fleet Service Force, carrying food and supplies as General Douglas MacArthur leapfrogged from his base in Australia to the Philippines. Petty Officer Kenneth G. Oliver here chronicles the ship's service during World War II, from the dangerous journeys to the Paci...