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) USS Cinchona (AN-12) USS "Cinchona" (AN-12/YN-7) was an "Aloe"-class net laying ship which was assigned to serve the U.S. Navy during World War II with her protective anti-submarine nets. "Cinchona" (YN-7) was launched 2 July 1941 by Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon; sponsored by Mrs. W. Casey; outfitted by Puget Sound Navy Yard; and placed in service 15 August 1941, Lieutenant H. H. Breed, USNR, in charge. Assigned to the 14th Naval District, she arrived at Pearl Harbor 17 October where she took up duty in net repair and replacement, salvage of gear lost or adrift, and maintenance of net