USS Mazama (AE‑9) was a US Navy ammunition ship laid down 14 April 1942 by the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Tampa, Fla.; launched 15 August 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Edward V. Rickenbacker; and commissioned 10 March 1944. She was named for Mount Mazama, a collapsed volcano in the Cascade Range in Oregon whose caldera is now occupied by Crater Lake. Service Mazama built as an ammunition ship using C‑2 hull plans, began her war service 6 May 1944. On that date, having filled her holds with high explosives, she departed Boston for the Pacific. Arriving at Majuro 4 June, she immediately assumed her dangerous, but extremely vital, mission of receiving and delivering ammunition to ships at sea and in port. She remained at Majuro through 12 June; thence proceeding via Eniwetok to Saipan, arriving 21 June, just after the Battle of the Philippine Sea. She continued on in support of Saipan‑Tinian operations, rearming units of the 5th Fleet, including renowned Fast Carrier Task Force 58, until 11 July. Mazama sailed for San Francisco 4 August, arriving on the 24th and departing again on 19 September for the combat area. Liberation of the Philippines Anchoring at Manus on 9 October, the ammunition ship prepared for the liberation of the Philippines. She steamed on the 15th for Kossol Roads, continuing on to Leyte Gulf, arriving 23 October 3 days after the Leyte landings. She remained in the gulf, in spite of intense and bitter air activity, through the battles off Samar and in Surigao Strait. Following these battles she rearmed the units of the 7th and 3rd Fleets. On 1 November, Mazama departed for Kossol Roads and Ulithi Atoll. While at anchor in the latter, 20 November, she witnessed the first successful attack of the kaiten. By 1 December she was beaded for Espiritu Santo to replenish her cargo; returning to Ulithi 5 January 1945. There, at 0650 12 January, a suspicious object was sighted off the starboard quarter. Four minutes later an explosion rocked the ship. She developed a 2° list to port and was down at the head. Pumps were immediately started to counteract flooding, later ballast was emptied to reduce the forward draft which had increased to 35 from 23 feet; the change in draft aft, from 25 to 21 feet. By midafternoon, having suffered the loss of eight men, one dead and seven seriously injured, she began to transfer