USS Varuna (AGP-5) was a Portunus-class motor torpedo boat tender of the United States Navy during World War II.
The ship was laid down on 23 August 1942 by the Dravo Corporation at Neville Island, Pennsylvania as the LST-14. Launched on 9 December 1942, sponsored by Mrs. R. J. Mitchell, the ship was renamed Varuna and redesignated AGP-5 on 13 January 1943, and completed as an LST by Dravo Corp. on 26 March 1943. Placed in reduced commission on that date, she was towed to Tampa, Florida, where she was converted to a motor torpedo boat tender (AGP), and commissioned on 31 August 1943.
Service history
1943
Following her shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico, Varuna sailed for the Pacific on 4 October and proceeded via Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Panama Canal which she transited on the 22nd. When two days out of Balboa, the ship left the convoy to receive an emergency appendectomy patient from LST-219. Following a successful transfer, and while steaming to rejoin the convoy, Varuna and LST-219 collided on 27 October. There were no casualties in either ship, but the damage sustained forced both vessels to return to Panama for repairs.
Drydocked at Balboa from 9 to 20 November, Varuna got underway on 3 December for the Society Islands and arrived at Bora Bora on Christmas Eve. She remained there until the 28th, when she got underway on the second leg of her passage, and arrived at Pago Pago, Samoa, on 2 January 1944.
1944
Varuna did not linger long in Samoan waters, for she pushed toward Suva, Fiji Islands, on 5 January and then proceeded via Nouméa, New Caledonia, and Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, to the Solomon Islands. She reached Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, on the 11th and then moved to Tulagi where she unloaded her cargo of motor torpedo boat (MTB) base equipment. Calling at Rendova Harbor, Rendova Island, and later at Blanche Harbor, Treasury Islands, Varuna conducted her first repair job on 17 February, when she repaired PT-105. She remained at the Blanche Harbor base through the remainder of the month of February — repairing an average of four PT-boats per day — before she shifted her operations to Nissan Harbor, Green Island.
Establishing the PT-boat base at Green Island, Varuna was now situated at the base perhaps nearest to Japanese territory. Located half-way between New Ireland and Bougainville — both occupied by the Japanese and both well north of the nearest Allied bases — Green Island served as a staging area for the five MTB squadrons attached to Varuna. These PT's were earmarked to harass the Japanese seaborne supply lane from New Britain, New Ireland, and the Shortland Islands, and to assist in the blockade of Rabaul.
The ship's historian later recorded that it was while at Green Island that "Tokyo Rose" first mentioned Varuna. The vessel had been cut off from vital supplies while at Green Island and had been unable to get any more — or so said "Rose". Several days later, as the historian recounted, a PC came alongside to offer Varuna a share of her own meager stores. "The Varuna declined with thanks", the historian wrote, saying that "she had plenty of everything."
Varuna operated out of Green Island until 31 July, when she returned to the Treasury Islands for a 20-day stay. Returning to Green, she loaded men and equipment of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron (MTBRon) 27, and departed her estwhile base on the 24th, reaching Manus in the Admiralties two days later. Although initially slated to stage from there, a change of plan routed Varuna and her PT boats to Mios Woendi on the northern tip of New Guinea. Departing Manus on 7 September, the MTB tender and her brood — MTB-Rons 27 and 28 — arrived at Mios Woendi. on the 13th, via Humboldt Bay, New Guinea.
For the next 17 days, Varuna took on stores, fuel, water, and gasoline in preparation for her next operations and, in company with MTBRon 27, departed for the Palaus. Arriving in Naval Base Kossol Roads on 1 October, the MTB tender set up shop providing support services for the PT's which had been assigned the task of patrolling the large fleet anchorage there. In addition, the "Peter Tares" (PT's) were to patrol and blockade the Japanese-held island of Babelthuap and other small islands of the group.