USS Ajax (AR-6), in service 1943 to 1986, was the second Vulcan-class repair ship and the fourth ship in the United States Navy to bear the name.

Laid down in 1941, launched in 1942 and commissioned in 1943, she was decommissioned in 1986 and finally sold for scrap.

Ajax received four battle stars for Korean War service and five campaign stars for service in Vietnam.

1941–1945

Ajax was laid down on 7 May 1941 at Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, San Pedro, California, launched on 22 August 1942. She was sponsored by Mrs. Isaac C. Johnson and commissioned on 30 October 1943.

The repair ship departed San Pedro on 9 December 1943, arrived at Pearl Harbor on 16 December, and began preparing small craft to be used as control vessels in the Marshall Islands campaign by installing radar, sound detection equipment, and antiaircraft guns. On 8 January 1944, an oil fire in her blacksmith shop threatened the entire ship, but was extinguished. Nevertheless, Ajax spent part of January repairing her own damage. Following the tests, she returned to San Diego on 8 October. For the next few years, she tended ships primarily at San Diego.

On her 1953-1954 cruise to the Far East, Ajax, in addition to her operations out of Sasebo and Yokosuka, participated in the two-month operation "Passage to Freedom", providing support for a group of U.S. Navy ships sent to carry refugees from the Hanoi/Haiphong area of Communist North Vietnam, down to Saigon. During this operation Ajax was stationed at Touraine Indochina, a French port that later became DaNang, South Vietnam.

She returned to San Diego on 21 November 1954, along with several attack transports.

1960–1964

thumb|Ajax with destroyers at Sasebo, c.1962.

Ajax returned from the United States to Japan in February 1960 and in June received orders changing her home port from San Diego to Sasebo. She then became the permanent flagship of ServRon 3 in the Far East. She moved to Yokosuka in August to begin her first yard overhaul in the Orient. Among her alterations was the installation of flag office spaces for ServRon 3 staff. Following refresher training, underway replenishment, and towing exercises with , Ajax returned to Sasebo on 17 December.

Awards

  • Top Row – Navy Unit Commendation – Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation – Navy Battle "E" Ribbon
  • Second Row – Navy Expeditionary Medal (Iran/Indian Ocean) – American Campaign Medal – Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal