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Kopara (New Zealand Cargo Ship, 1938)

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Kopara, a 679-ton cargo ship, was built at Napier, New Zealand, in 1938. She was purchased by the U.S. Navy in August 1942 and placed in commission as USS Kopara (AK-62) a month later. A few days after commissioning, she was reclassified as a miscellanous auxiliary and given the new hull number AG-50. During the rest of 1942, she regularly carried supplies to the embattled U.S. forces on Guadalcanal, at times narrowly escaping damage from Japanese guns and aircraft.

For the remainder of her Navy service, Kopara continued supply operations in the south Pacific, voyaging from New Zealand northward into the Solomons and eastward to American Samoa and the Ellice Islands. After two years of this important, if unexciting, employment, Kopara was decommissioned in January 1945 and ultimately returned to civilian ownership.


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