Geoanna (IX-61)

Geoanna was a steel auxiliary schooner built in 1934 by Craig Shipbuilding Company in Long Beach, California. On 1 February 1942 the vessel  was acquired by the U.S. Navy from the Maritime Commission and placed in service 19 February 1942 as the unclassified miscellaneous vessel Geoanna (IX-61). Geoanna was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation. The vessel was assigned to the 11th Naval District performing miscellaneous duties for Port Director, San Pedro, California. On 2 July 1943 Geoanna was turned over to the United States Coast Guard for service as a Coast Guard operational training ship until being redelivered to the Maritime Commission by the Navy 28 August 1943.

The U.S. Army acquired Geoanna on 3 September 1943 for service in the Southwest Pacific Area. That command modified the vessel as a communications ship for use by the Signal Corps. On 12 December 1943 the ship became part of the Army operated radio communication fleet joining the other sailing ships Volador and the previously operating, Australian registered vessels, Harold and Argosy Lamal. A crew of mixed Army, Navy and Australian civilian personnel operated these predecessors of the CP, or Command Post, ships in the Port Moresby, Woodlark and Laee-Salamau areas. Geoanna was given the Army designation of TP-249. The ship served as a communications relay during operations of the Western New Guinea campaign into the Moluccas through landings at Tacloban in the Philippines.