Jump to content

A Vietnam era Seaplane Tender Patch


Patchcollector
 Share

Recommended Posts

Patchcollector

Here is a patch from my collection that I am REALLY happy about having in my collection!

I saw this on eBay,bid on it,and if I remember right,paid under 10 bucks for it,I could hardly believe it!!

It is Vietnam wartime incountry handmade,and is for the Seaplane Tender USS Pine Island AV12.

This grand old girl was commissioned during WW2,and participated in action during that war,then in the Korean war,and finally in the Vietnam war!

She has been to wartime Japan tending Air Sea Rescue seaplanes,helped explore Antarctica,tended seaplanes that flew missions over enemy-held territory in Korea,

saw China service(was at Kaohsiung Taiwan during Communist bombardment of Quemoy and Matsu!),and helped scientists in the Galapagos before going to Vietnam to assist in

Operation Market Time!

I feel fortunate to be able to add this beauty to my collection,as Seaplane Tender patches are hard to come by,especially wartime theatre made ones.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Here is some info on her that I gleaned from the web:

 

NOV 1942 Keel Date: 16 NOV 1942

at Todd Pacific Shipyards

FEB 1944 Launch Date: 26 FEB 1944

APR 1945 Commissioned: 26 APR 1945

MAY 1946 - - - Shellback Initiation - 12 MAY 1946 - Indian Ocean

DEC 1946 - MAR 1947 Antartic Circle

AUG 1947 - FEB 1948 China Cruise

SEP 1949 - NOV 1949 Sea Trials

MAY 1950 - JUN 1950 Decommisioning

JAN 1954 - AUG 1954 West Pac

FEB 1963 - - - Shellback Initiation - 14 FEB 1963 - Pacific Ocean

JAN 1964 Shellback Initiation - 5 JAN 1964 - Atlantic Ocean

JAN 1964 Shellback Initiation - 20 JAN 1964 - Pacific Ocean

JAN 1964 - FEB 1964 Galapagos Island's

JUN 1967 Decommissioned: 16 JUN 1967

AV-12 GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

Class: Currituck-class seaplane tender

Named for: Pine Island

Complement: 684 Officers and Enlisted

Displacement: 14000 tons

Length: 540 feet 5 inches

Beam: 69 feet 3 inches

Flank Speed: 18 knots

Final Disposition: Sold 7 February 1972

 

 

USS PINE ISLAND (AV-12)

 

 

From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

Pine Island (AV-12) was laid down 16 November 1942 by Todd Shipyards Corp. San Pedro Calif.; launched 26 February 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Knefler McGinnis and commissioned 26 April 1945 Comdr. Henry Titus Hodgskin in command.

 

Departing California 16 June 1945 Pine Island (AV-12) steamed to Okinawa. There she tended seaplanes engaged in air-sea rescue operations during the final phases of World War II. At the end of the war she entered Tokyo Bay and contributed seaplane flight operations to the occupation of Japan in 1945. Following occupation duty in Japan she conducted seaplane flight operations in the Whangpoo River near Shanghai China. She left the Pacific in 1946 and steamed via the Suez Canal to Norfolk Va.

 

Departing Norfolk in December she arrived in the Antarctic area in January 1947. She contributed to the aerial exploration of Antarctica in Operation Highjump and saved several downed aviators from the hostile climate. Departing the Antarctic in March she traveled from Rio de Janeiro via the Panama Canal to San Diego arriving in April.

 

Leaving California for the Far East in August 1947 she spent the winter at Tsingtao China and the summer of 1948 in the Northern Pacific. Awaiting a major overhaul in 1949 she decommissioned 1 May 1950.

 

Recommissioned 7 October 1950 at Alameda Calif. in response to the Korean War she departed for the Western Pacific in December. She tended seaplanes that flew missions over enemy-held territory in Korea before returning to San Diego in September 1951. She was away from California on WestPac deployments January to September 1952 February to September 1953 January to August 1954 and February to August 1955. Deployed to WestPac in June 1956 she visited Brunei Borneo in August before returning to San Diego in December. From April to December 1957 she operated in WestPac.

 

Sailing for WestPac in May 1958 she visited Bangkok Thailand and was at Kaohsiung Taiwan during Communist bombardment of Quemoy and Matsu. She returned to San Diego in December and departed for WestPac in June 1959. During 1960 and 1961 she continued her Pacific duties.

 

Deployed to WestPac from January to June 1962 she embarked news media personnel from several countries in March in connection with the SEATO exercise "Tulungan." Steaming for WestPac in March 1963 she operated out of Okinawa received visitors at Chinhae Korea in June and delivered fresh water to Hong Kong in August before returning to San Diego in September. In January 1964 she departed San Diego for the Galapagos Islands where she provided assistance to scientists before returning to San Diego in February.

 

Deployed to WestPac in June 1964 she served at Da Nang South Vietnam in August. In September 1965 she returned to WestPac conducted seaplane operations in Cam Ranh Bay South Vietnam and participated in the 1966 Coral Sea anniversary festivities in Australia and New Zealand before returning to San Diego in June.

 

Decommissioned 16 June 1967 Pine Island entered the Maritime Administration's National Defense Reserve Fleet where she remains into 1970.

 

Pine Island received one battle star for World War II service and service medals for Korea and Vietnam.

 

[Note: The above USS PINE ISLAND (AV-12) history may or may not contain text provided by crew members of the USS PINE ISLAND (AV-12) or by other non-crew members and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]

post-13386-1315008916.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patchcollector
Great find! What a grand gal. :thumbsup:

 

Thanks! :) Yes she was,and what a rich history too!It's too bad she was scrapped,she would have made a great floating museum!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice patch! The Pine Island was a frequent visitor here at NAS Whidbey Island back in the day. I'm curator at the base museum and here are a few items we have from Pine Island.

The signboard shown is about ten feet long.

 

~Will

post-1949-1315108946.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like the signboard, this knotboard was made on the Pine Island and was a decoration for the vessel. Not sure where this hung in the ship - one former crewman said it was in the ship's wardroom.

post-1949-1315109306.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patchcollector
Nice patch! The Pine Island was a frequent visitor here at NAS Whidbey Island back in the day. I'm curator at the base museum and here are a few items we have from Pine Island.

The signboard shown is about ten feet long.

 

~Will

 

Thanks Will!Wow!I'm happy that some relics from this amazing ship still survive,and better yet,are on display for everyone to view! :bravo:

Thanks for sharing those with us! :)

When I started researching her history,I was blown away at all the amazing achievements that this ship helped to make happen!

The Ship must have been huge,I would have loved to tour her,especially if she had Seaplanes aboard!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Dad had a buddy who was an EMC on the Curituk (AV-7) in the early '60s. I remember seeing it in San Diego. I operated with the Norton Sound (AV-11/AVM-1) several times in the 70s when she was the missle/weapons test platform out of Pt. Magu Calif. They were pretty good sized ships in their day. They were built along the same lines as the Repair ships Ajax, Jason and I think Hecter. Cool ships either way with the sea planes. I remember seeing them at North Island and flying around over SD when I was a kid. At the time, they were just some more air planes from the base. Would love to see them again.

 

Steve Hesson

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patchcollector
My Dad had a buddy who was an EMC on the Curituk (AV-7) in the early '60s. I remember seeing it in San Diego. I operated with the Norton Sound (AV-11/AVM-1) several times in the 70s when she was the missle/weapons test platform out of Pt. Magu Calif. They were pretty good sized ships in their day. They were built along the same lines as the Repair ships Ajax, Jason and I think Hecter. Cool ships either way with the sea planes. I remember seeing them at North Island and flying around over SD when I was a kid. At the time, they were just some more air planes from the base. Would love to see them again.

 

Steve Hesson

 

Hi Steve,I looked up some info on the Seaplane Tenders,alot of them had very long,interesting service lives.The Norton Sound was active until the 80's!

They were grand ships,and the Seaplanes were a great part of US military aviation history;I would have loved seeing them flying around!

I found a site that lists all of the Seaplane related ships,I had no idea there were so many! :w00t:

It would be neat to have all the Seaplane related ship patches,just collecting them would be a major undertaking!

Here is the site I found with all the ships listed,their info,and some have photos as well!

Seaplane Tender list

 

BTW,here is the dimensions and other stats for her class:

 

Displacement: 14,300 tons trial

Dimensions: 540.5 x 69 x 22 feet/164.7 x 21 x 6.7 meters

Propulsion: Steam turbines, 4 boilers, 2 shafts, 12,000 hp, 19.2 knots

Crew: 1247

Armor: none

Armament: 4 single 5/38 DP, 4 quad 40 mm AA

Aircraft: Large seaplane working deck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Steve,I looked up some info on the Seaplane Tenders,alot of them had very long,interesting service lives.The Norton Sound was active until the 80's!

They were grand ships,and the Seaplanes were a great part of US military aviation history;I would have loved seeing them flying around!

I found a site that lists all of the Seaplane related ships,I had no idea there were so many! :w00t:

It would be neat to have all the Seaplane related ship patches,just collecting them would be a major undertaking!

Here is the site I found with all the ships listed,their info,and some have photos as well!

Seaplane Tender list

 

BTW,here is the dimensions and other stats for her class:

 

Displacement: 14,300 tons trial

Dimensions: 540.5 x 69 x 22 feet/164.7 x 21 x 6.7 meters

Propulsion: Steam turbines, 4 boilers, 2 shafts, 12,000 hp, 19.2 knots

Crew: 1247

Armor: none

Armament: 4 single 5/38 DP, 4 quad 40 mm AA

Aircraft: Large seaplane working deck

As I look at the list, I was looking at photos of the Barnegat class. I remember seeing the wones that were sold to Viet Nam after they escaped to the Phillipenes. They wer beached at the Subic Naval base with other former SVN Navy ships. All WW2 vets. Later, I operated in exercises with them. Funny how things turn.

 

Steve Hesson

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...