Cinchona ledgeriana" had a yield of 8 to 13 percent quinine in bark grown in Dutch Indonesia which effectively out-competed the British Indian production. It was only later that the English saw the value and sought to obtain the seeds of "C. ledgeriana" from the Dutch. During World War II, the Japanese conquered Java and the United States lost access to the cinchona plantations that supplied war-critical quinine medication. Botanical expeditions – called Cinchona Missions – were launched in 1942-1944 to explore promising areas of South America in an effort to locate cinchona species that contained quinine and could be harvested
USS Cinchona (AN-12) the States 27 July, she conducted net operations at Long Beach, California, and out of Mare Island Naval Shipyard until 24 August 1946 when she sailed for Astoria, Oregon. "Cinchona" was placed out of commission in reserve 6 November 1946 at Vancouver, Washington. "Cinchona" received two battle stars for World War II service. The first was for her performance at Pearl Harbor while under attack by Japanese planes. The second was for her operating under dangerous conditions during the Mariana Islands operation. USS Cinchona (AN-12) USS "Cinchona" (AN-12/YN-7) was an "Aloe"-class net laying ship which was assigned to serve the