In the constellation Perseus there is the star, Algol, from which our ship gets its name. Algol, the "Demon Star", represents the head of Medusa, who in Greek mythology was a fearsome creature with the power to turn any who looked upon her into stone, and whose head was topped with coiling snakes instead of hair. The USS Algol crew dubbed their ship the Steamin' Demon and although the ship saw action, she was fortunately never called upon to display any tendencies which the "Demon" in her name would imply.

The U.S.S. ALGOL was built by the Moore Dry Dock Company in Oakland, California, and christened the S.S. JAMES BAINES. Some time later at the Willamette Shipyard at Portland, Oregon, she was converted into an auxiliary cargo attack. On Friday, July 21, 1944 the U.S.S. ALGOL (AKA-54) was placed in full commission by the Commandant of the 13th Naval District under the command of Axton T. Jones, Lt. Comdr., (DM) USNR. The next few months she spent being outfitted for sea, going through maneuvers and went through two weeks training under the Amphibious Training Command at San Diego, California.

The Steamin' Demon is an "Attack Cargo Ship," her mission being to assist in an amphibious invasion by: (1) carrying heavy cargo and vehicles for the attacking force; (2) unloading the cargo and attendant personnel into its 24 landing craft and delivering the load to the beach; (3) evacuating wounded men and material from the invasion area. Her armament consists of: One 5" mount - four double 40mm mounts - six double 20mm mounts. In addition, each of her 14 LCVP boats is equipped with two 30 caliber machine guns and the 8 LCM boats carry two 50 caliber machine guns.

The Steamin' Demon braved weather and war through WWII, Korea and Vietnam, logging more hours on the Pacific ocean than any other ship like her of that time period. And during her three decade tour of duty, she and her crew received 8 battle stars and 8 war commendations for WWII and the Korean War. The Algol was retired in 1970 and floated with the "Dead Fleet" on the James River in Virginia for almost twenty years.

In November of 1991, she was sunk off the New Jersey Coast to become an artificial reef. She rests on the Shark River Reef, 12 miles off the coast of Belmar, NJ. Fishermen bring Blue fish and other local catches off the site. Scuba divers enjoy visiting the site for lobster, artifacts and easy penetration dives on her top decks. The top of the wreck is 70 feet below the water and she hits bottom at about 110 feet below water.

Archival still photos courtesy James Cole. Archival film courtesy National Archives

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