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THE CHINA PRESS, SHANGHAI, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1945
Orvetta, Glamour Girl Of Fleet, Was Onetime Ugly Duckling
An ugly duckling became the glamour girl of the fleet, but all her beauty was canned. However, her glamour was not her only attraction, for she was also a wealthy old lady. Her charms, though only celluloid and paper, daily drew hundreds of boats from all ships of the fleet to her as a candle draws moths.
The Orvetta, as fleet motion picture exchange, served an important part in maintaining the high morale of the fighting men of the Navy. She maintained and repaired a stock of hundreds of the newest movies, which enabled all ships to have a daily change of program. These movies brought Hollywood's glamour out to the men in the far away Pacific.
Fleet Disbursing Office
The fleet disbursing office aboard the Orvetta served as a bank for the fleet, through which many millions of dollars flowed for payrolls. She also supplied American invasion currency for the landings on Okinawa.
The Orvetta was the living quarters for the men of the vast water taxi service, called the boat pool, which was so essential in servicing and provisioning the many large and small fighting ships of the fleet which brought defeat to the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Along with these other services, the Orvetta maintained a fleet personnel replacement center. This office served as a distributing point for men newly arrived from the United States and Pearl Harbor. These men were to serve as replacements for casualties and men of the fleet with long tours of duty at sea.
The Orvetta performed many more services for the fleet. Among these were a fleet freight office, a legal office, an insurance office and a mail sorting room.
Still Rendering Services
She is still continuing to render many services to the Naval vessels now on the China coast and she is carrying out the extremely important work of starting Naval personnel back on the road to civilian life. The Orvetta, acting as a receiving ship, accomplishes this by berthing the men eligible for discharge during the short intervals between the sailings of transports for the United States.
The Orvetta was built in Tampa, Florida, for the Emergency Fleet Corporation and was launched in 1919 as the S. S. Tampa. She was too late to see service in World War I. Later she was converted to a motor vessel and served the purpose of providing American-made Diesels practical for large seagoing vessels. As the Motor Vessel Tampa, she was well-known in the Orient, making many voyages in round-the-world trade for the American Pioneer Line. During the early part of World War II, she was used to bring vital raw products from South America to East-coast ports of the United States, running the gantlet of submarines in the shark-infested waters of the Caribbean Sea with little protection.
Note: This is an article clipped from "The China Press" in Shanghai, China, November 15, 1945 by Fireman 1st Class David Whitt Dorsey, United States Navy, a member of the crew of the U.S.S. Orvetta (IX-157). To see the original article, click here.