USS Domino (IX-208), an unclassified miscellaneous vessel

Unclassified miscellaneous vessel

The IX hull classification symbol is used for ships of the United States Navy that do not fit into one of the standard categories...

, was the only ship of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 to be named for the game piece

Dominoes

Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge...

. The freighter was acquired from the War Shipping Administration

War Shipping Administration

The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....

 in May 1945. The hull classification symbol

Hull classification symbol

The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...

 IX-208 was reserved for her, but she was never taken up on the list of naval vessels, and no classification was ever assigned to her. She was returned to the War Shipping Administration

War Shipping Administration

The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....

 (WSA) in February 1946.

Service history

The ship was built by Bethlehem Steel

Bethlehem Steel

The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...

 at Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

, laid down on 3 October 1918, and launched on 23 July 1919. She then served as a merchant ship under the name Delco.

By late 1944 the ship was laid up at Mobile, Alabama, under the control of the WSA. In November 1944 she was acquired by the Navy to transport Bureau of Yards and Docks

Bureau of Yards and Docks

The Bureau of Yards and Docks was the branch of the United States Navy responsible from 1842 to 1966 for building and maintaining navy yards, drydocks, and other facilities relating to ship construction, maintenance, and repair....

 equipment to the Pacific, and then to be sunk as a breakwater.

On arrival in the Pacific in early 1945 the ship was inspected and considered suitable for use as a mobile dry storage. On 28 January 1945 the Commander-in-Chief of Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA) was directed to commission her as an unclassified miscellaneous vessel

Unclassified miscellaneous vessel

The IX hull classification symbol is used for ships of the United States Navy that do not fit into one of the standard categories...

, assigned to ServPac. The name Domino and classification number "IX-208" were approved on 30 January 1945. However, on 23 April 1945, a Board of Inspection and Survey

Board of Inspection and Survey

The Board of Inspection and Survey is a U.S. Navy organization whose purpose is to inspect and assess material condition of Naval vessels.The Board is currently headquartered at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia.- INSURV teams :...

 at Hawaii reported that the vessel was in poor condition throughout, and her acquisition was then cancelled.

The hull number IX-208 was subsequently listed as "not acquired" as of 25 June 1945. The ship remained at Pearl Harbor, but was not used. She was towed back to the West Coast in January 1946 and delivered to the Maritime Commission reserve fleet at Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay is a shallow tidal estuary at in northern California, USA. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, forming the entrance to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta...

on 13 February 1946, and sold for scrap on 25 July 1947.