USS Aeolus (ARC-3)

USS Aeolus (ARC-3) began service as USS Turandot (AKA-47), an Artemis-class attack cargo ship built by the Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc. of Providence, Rhode Island. In the mid-1950s, she was converted into a cable repair ship to support the SOSUS program, as the lead ship of the Aeolus-class cable repair ship, and she performed cable duties for nearly thirty years.

Function
The Aeolus has principally been used to transport, deploy, retrieve and repair submarine cables, and to conduct acoustic, hydrographic, and bathymetric surveys.

Career
USS Turandot was decommissioned on 21 March 1946, struck from the Navy list on 17 April 1947, and placed in the reserve fleet.

In 1954, the former attack cargo ship was converted to be a cable repair ship, redesignated ARC-3, and renamed Aeolus. The conversion was performed at the Key Highway yard of the Bethlehem Steel Co. in Baltimore, Maryland. The ship was re-commissioned as ARC-3 on 14 May 1955.

Aeolus worked in the Atlantic and Caribbean during 1955–56; in the Pacific during 1956–59; and returned to the Atlantic and Caribbean during 1959–62. During 1962–73 she worked principally in the Atlantic, with occasional temporary assignments to the Pacific.

In 1973, Aeolus was transferred to the Military Sealift Command (MSC), designated T-ARC-3, and operated thereafter by a mostly civilian crew.

During her career, Aeolus received three Meritorious Unit Commendations (in 1970, 1971, and 1973). Aeolus continued performing cable installations and repairs until 1985, when she was decommissioned and placed in the James River reserve fleet near Ft. Eustis, VA. In 1987 she was transferred to the State of North Carolina, and in 1988 was sunk to form an artificial reef. The ex-Aeolus, located about 22 miles from Beaufort Inlet in 110 ft of water, is often visited by divers.