USS Titania (AKA-13) USS Titania (AKA-13) USS "Titania" (AK-55/AKA-13) was an named after Titania, one of the moons of the planet Uranus. She served as a commissioned ship for 13 years, beginning in 1942. "Titania" was laid down as "Harry Culbreath" under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 132) on 25 October 1941 at Kearny, N.J., by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; renamed "Titania" and designated AK-55 on 16 February 1942; launched on 28 February 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Bennett Champ Clark; acquired by the United States Navy on 27 March 1942; and commissioned on 27 May 1942, Lieutenant Commander Dale E. Collins
Solar System in fiction close to the Sun and its surface was exposed to extremes of temperature. The asteroids were too tiny and airless. By the early 20th century, prospects for life in the Solar System focused on Venus, the larger moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and especially Mars. With the onset of the Space Age, planetary probes cast increasing doubt on the likelihood of extraterrestrial life in the Solar System, at least life of any magnitude greater than organisms such as bacteria. By the mid-1960s, it was firmly established that life could have no foothold on the hostile surfaces of Mercury or Venus,