Ring of Fire to the south is the famous Klyuchi volcanic group, comprising the twin volcanic cones of Kliuchevskoi and Kamen, the huge volcanic complexes of Tolbachik and Ushkovsky, and a number of other large stratovolcanoes. The only active volcano in the central belt is found west of here, the huge remote Ichinsky. Farther south, the eastern belt continues to the southern slope of Kamchatka, topped by loads of stratovolcanoes, continuing onto the Kuril Islands, and southwards into Japan. About 10% of the world's active volcanoes are found in Japan, which lies in a zone of extreme crustal instability. They are formed by
USS Merapi (AF-38) Galveston Dry Dock Co., "Merapi" hastened through shakedown and departed Mobile, Alabama, 11 April, for the Pacific Ocean war zone. Specializing in refrigerated stores, she sailed via Pearl Harbor to Kerama Retto, Okinawa where in the midst of numerous air alerts she unloaded 14 to 19 June. Having retired to Pearl Harbor for more supplies she got underway again on 20 July and spent the final month of the war at Eniwetok Atoll disbursing cargo. In the postwar period "Merapi" provided logistic support for U.S. occupation forces, initially using Auckland, New Zealand, as her supply base. Spending much of 1946