USS Pontiac (AF-20) was the Danish refrigerated cargo ship Australian Reefer that sought refuge in the neutral United States when Germany occupied Denmark in April 1940. In 1941 the United States seized 40 Danish ships idle in its ports with Australian Reefer being among those ships. The ship was turned over to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 12 July 1941 and put into operation with United States Lines as its agent. Australian Reefer operated under a United States Army Transportation Corps agreement until 11 May 1942 when the ship was transferred to the Navy under bareboat charter. After conversion and being renamed Pontiac the ship served as a refrigerator ship or reefer ship, and provided food to Allied forces in the North Atlantic Ocean. Pontiac was heavily damaged on 30 January 1945 by being holed by a paravane off Halifax, Nova Scotia causing the ship to sink. After being raised the ship was towed to Norfolk, Virginia and declared a total constructive loss on 13 April 1945. The actual title to the ship was requisitioned and the Danish owner paid compensation on 12 July 1945. Service career Australian Reefer, a refrigerator ship built as hull 79 by Nakskov Skibsværft A/C, Nakskov, Denmark was launched 6 February 1937. Registry as of 1940 was at the port of Esbjerg, Denmark for a motor ship owned and operated by J. Lauretzen, Esbjerg, of , , registry length, beam and hold depth of with signal OZKH. Australian Reefer was propelled by a 10 cylinder Burmeister & Wain diesel engine. The ship operated between Denmark, New York and South America until after the occupation of Denmark by German forces. The Danish ship was one of forty Danish merchant vessels, totaling , seized by the United States Coast Guard under the authority of Public Law 101, 77th Congress and Executive Order 8771, 6 June 1941. Most of the Danish ships were delivered to the War Shipping Administration (WSA), registered in Panama for diplomatic reasons, and operated under new names by commercial companies as WSA agents. Australian Reefer was delivered to the War Shipping Administration at New York 12 July 1941 for operation by its agent, United States Lines, under an Army Transportation Corps agreement between New York and Australia and New Zealand until 5 February 1942. After voyage repairs she was transferred to the Navy on a bareboat charter basis on 11 May 1942 and