USN & USCG Seaplane Tenders AV, AVP, AVB, AVM, WAVP

[Salvage Sailor]

SEAPLANE TENDERS

 

The first USN seaplane tenders in service were the converted Lapwing class Minesweepers (AM to AVP) followed by the conversion of the USS LANGLEY (CV-1) the first aircraft carrier. These were followed by the Currituck, Kenneth Whiting and Barnegat seaplane tenders and some miscellaneous conversions (DD to AVD, LST to AVB, etc) Many of the Barnegat class tenders ultimately ended up in USCG service as (WAVP) tenders and then (WHEC) High Endurance Cutters on Market Time and Arctic patrols. Some of the WHEC cutters were transferred to the VNN and 'lost' in the fall of Saigon in 1975, the fortunate ones having escaped to the Philippines where they were interned and transferred to the BRP.

 

Feel free to post any items from USN and USCG Seaplane Tenders you have in your collections

 

 

Photos:   USS PELICAN (AVP-6) Lapwing class converted minesweeper

 

USS TIMBALIER (AVP-54) Barnegat class seaplane tender with PBM Mariners

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USS CURRITUCK (AV-7) Class leader in service 1944 to 1976

 

 

While operating with the Mobile Riverine Force in Vietnam USS Currituck’s call sign was "Flying Goose"

 

 

USS CURRITUCK (AV-7) Class leader in service 1944 to 1976

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Nice topic on USS PINE ISLAND (AV-12) Currituck class seaplane tender by member Patchcollector

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/120383-a-vietnam-era-seaplane-tender-patch/

[Salvage Sailor]

USS SALISBURY SOUND (AV-13) "The Sally Sound", Currituck class in service 1945 to 1967

 

 

Flagship of the Korean War Formosa Patrol and Cold War Taiwan Straits Patrol

 

 

Taiwan Patrol flagship patch circa 1958

 

 

 

Vietnam Market Time Black Cat patch, Japanese made - nice good luck-bad luck symbology on their crest

 

 

 

[MastersMate]

An interesting bit of information captured in the photo of Currituck hoisting the seaplane over the stern. The small craft approaching the port quarter, is a USN version of the USCG 40' Utility Boat that was an icon of Coast Guard small boat operations in the 1950's, 1960's and to the mid 1970's. I have seen one other photo from the MCAS at Iwakuni, Japan showing the same type boat rigged to assist seaplanes.

 

There are also other photos out there of the same class boat that was built for the French for use for patrol on the rivers and canals of Viet Nam during the 1950's.

 

The fore runner of the USN Viet Nam War PBRs and SWIFTS was a Coast Guard utility boat..

[Salvage Sailor]

USS NORTON SOUND (AV-11/AVM-1) Currituck class in service 1945 to 1986. Utilized as a guided missile test platform since 1948 and redesignated as AVM-1 in 1951. She tested Viking, Terrier and Tartar missiles in the 1950's and then launched three low yield atomic rockets over the Falkland islands during Project Argus in 1958

 

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USS NORTON SOUND (AV-11/AVM-1) Currituck class in service 1945 to 1986. Utilized as a guided missile test platform since 1948 and redesignated as AVM-1 in 1951

 

 

1960's cut edge patch depicting Tartar and Terrier missiles.

She was also developing the Sea Sparrow missile system during the 1960's

 

 

 

In the 1970's she was tasked to develop the AEGIS weapons system for the US Navy

 

 

 

1970's AEGIS Weapons System

 

 

 

 

1970's patch

 

 

 

In 1973 she received the first ship-borne installation of the Aegis Combat System, which later became the primary combat system in U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers.

 

 

In the spring of 1981, the pre-production model of the Vertical Launching System (VLS) was installed at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. During the next two years the VLS underwent extensive testing. The Norton Sound was the only AT-SEA Testing Platform for the AEGIS Weapon System, later installed on Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The summer of 1983 saw the installation of an advanced VLS which underwent testing until the end of Norton Sound's active service.

 

 

 

In 1978 Ensign Charlene Albright was assigned to the USS NORTON SOUND, one of the first women assigned to shipboard duty in the US Navy

 

 

The historic vessel Norton Sound was decommissioned 11 December 1986, and struck from the Naval Register 26 January 1987. One of her anchors is on display in WestSound Viewpoint at the end of McCall Blvd in Bremerton, WA, overlooking Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Dyes Inlet.

 

 

 

 

 

[CUBUSMC]

Has anyone ever seen a patch for the USS St. George, AV-16? My father in law was on the St. George through out WWII until it was decommissioned. Thanks - Jeff

[Salvage Sailor]

USS ORCA (AVP-49) Barnegat class WWII "Black Cat" mother ship, in service 1944 to 1960. Later served in Korean War and as Hong Kong Station ship for the Formosan/Taiwan Straits Patrol.  Also involved in the Atomic tests at Bikini Atoll

 

 

 

[Bearmon]

Very nice ORCA patch.. good looking

[Salvage Sailor]

USS VALCOUR (AVP-55) In service 1946 to 1973. She was the last of the 35 Barnegat class ships to commission

 

PG - Persian Gulf 1954, Flagship of Commander Middle East Force (COMMIDEASTFOR)

 

 

 

[condor]

USCGC UNIMAK patch. The UNIMAK was a Barnegat class ship, formerly the USS UNIMAK AVP-31.

[Salvage Sailor]

USS TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY (AVB-2) On 3 February 1962 her conversion was completed to an Advance Aviation Base Ship (one of two ships of the steam-powered LST-1153-class) and redesignated USS Tallahatchie County (AVB-2.) Her aft superstructure was extended forward and her forecastle built up; electronic antennas and a heavy king post were mounted amidships. As an AVB, Tallahatchie County was designed to provide command and logistic facilities to a squadron of P-2 Neptune or P-3 Orion antisubmarine patrol planes operating from an improvised land base in Souda Bay, Crete. Squadron equipment was carried in mobile vans, transported in Tallahatchie County's tank deck, and landed over her bow ramp.

 

For the remainder of her career, Tallahatchie County provided support to aviation units in the Mediterranean. She was decommissioned on 3 January 1970 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 July 1970. Tallahatchie County was sold for scrapping to Contieri Navali Santa Maria of Genoa, Italy in July 1970.

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USS TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY LST and AVB patches

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USS San Pablo (AVP-30), Barnegat class redesignated (AGS-30)

 

San Pablo was in commission from 1943 to 1947 as a seaplane tender, performing her World War II service in the Pacific, where she saw action in the Southwest Pacific, the New Guinea campaign, the Central Pacific, and the Philippines campaign. She recommissioned in 1948 after conversion to a hydrographic survey ship, redesignated AGS-30, and served in this capacity until 1969

 

 

 

Different Version

 

 

USS San Pablo (AVP-30), Barnegat class redesignated (AGS-30)

 

 

[Bearmon]

Here is a USS Greenwich Bay AVP 41 in commission fro 1945 to 1966

Front

Back

[Salvage Sailor]

USS REHOBOTH (AVP/AGS-50) Barnegat class Seaplane Tender in service 1944 to 1970

 

Rehoboth was in commission from 1944 to 1947, performing her World War II service in the United Kingdom and Brazil. She was recommissioned in 1948 after conversion to an oceanographic survey vessel. Redesignated AGS-50 in 1949, she saw service in this role from 1948 to 1970

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Another converted USN Barnegat class small seaplane tender (ex-AVP-36) In service 1944 to 1971

 

USCGC COOK INLET (WHEC-384) High endurance cutter and Market Time veteran of Coast Guard Squadron Three in Vietnam with two campaign stars.

 

 

In 1971 she was transferred to the South Vietnamese Navy. Escaping the fall in 1975, she fled to the Philippines but was never transferred to the Philippine Navy.

 

On 21 December 1971 – the day the Coast Guard decommissioned her – Cook Inlet was transferred to South Vietnam, which commissioned her into the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Trần Quốc Toản (HQ-06). By mid-1972, six other former Casco-class cutters – known in the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the Trần Quang Khải-class frigates – also were in South Vietnamese service. They were the largest warships in the South Vietnamese inventory, and their 5-inch (127-millimeter) guns were South Vietnam's largest naval guns. Trần Quốc Toản and her sisters fought alongside U.S. Navy ships during the final years of the Vietnam War, patrolling the South Vietnamese coast and providing gunfire support to South Vietnamese forces ashore.

 

When South Vietnam collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War in late April 1975, Trần Quốc Toản became a ship without a country. She fled to Subic Bay in the Philippines, packed with South Vietnamese refugees. On 22 and 23 May 1975, a U.S. Coast Guard team inspected Trần Quốc Toản and five of her sister ships, which also had fled to the Philippines in April 1975. One of the inspectors noted: "These vessels brought in several hundred refugees and are generally rat-infested. They are in a filthy, deplorable condition. Below decks generally would compare with a garbage scow."

 

The Republic of the Philippines took custody of Trần Quốc Toản after her arrival in 1975, and the United States formally transferred her to the Philippines on 5 April 1976. She did not enter Philippine Navy service; instead she and her sister ship RVNS Trần Nhật Duật (HQ-03) were cannibalized for spare parts to allow the Philippines to keep four other sister ships – all former South Vietnamese ships known in the Philippine Navy as the Andrés Bonifacio-class frigates – in commission in the Philippine Navy.

 

The former Trần Quốc Toản was discarded in 1982 and probably scrapped.

 

 

[mmerc20]

I know it's not a patch but this is a small grouping I got a few years ago from the daughter of the USS Unimak's first Captain. I also have his boat cloak.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/149360-wwii-usn-commander-of-uss-unimak-grouping/

[Salvage Sailor]

USCGC HUMBOLDT (WAVP-372) ex-Barnegat class seaplane tender (AVP-21)

 

USS HUMBOLDT (AVP-21) was in commission from 1941 to 1947, performing her World War II service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, where during the Natal Conference, she flew the Commander-in-Chief's flag. She was among three Barnegat-class ships selected in 1945 for conversion to a press information ship, redesignated AG-121, for the projected invasion of Japan in 1945–1946, but the war ended before the invasion could take place and she was converted back into a seaplane tender.She was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard postwar as USCGC Humboldt (WAVP-372), later WHEC-372, and was in commissioned Coast Guard service from 1949 to 1969

 

 

During her Coast Guard career, Humboldt's primary duty was to serve on ocean stations in the Atlantic Ocean to gather meteorological data. While on duty in one of these stations, she was required to patrol a 210-square-mile (544-square-kilometer) area for three weeks at a time, leaving the area only when physically relieved by another Coast Guard cutter or in the case of a dire emergency. While on station, she acted as an aircraft check point at the point of no return, a relay point for messages from ships and aircraft, as a source of the latest weather information for passing aircraft, as a floating oceanographic laboratory, and as a search-and-rescue ship for downed aircraft and vessels in distress, and performed law enforcement operations.

 

Humboldt was stationed at Boston, Massachusetts, from 29 March 1949 to September 1966. She was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC-372 on 1 May 1966. On 26 September 1966, her long-term loan from the Navy to the Coast Guard came to an end when she was transferred outright to the Coast Guard. In September 1966, Humboldt shifted her home port to Portland, Maine. On 29 October 1968, she rescued the crew of the sailing ship Atlantic II. The Coast Guard decommissioned Humboldt on 30 September 1969 and transferred her to the U.S. Navy. The Navy struck her from the Naval Vessel Register in 1970

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

On 2/20/2018 at 3:36 PM, condor said:

USCGC UNIMAK patch. The UNIMAK was a Barnegat class ship, formerly the USS UNIMAK AVP-31.

 

Nice patch Condor,

 

Here's another version of USCGC Unimak (WAVP-379, WHEC-379, WTR-379, WHEC-379)

 

 

Unimak served as the U.S. Navy seaplane tender USS Unimak (AVP-31) from 1943 to 1946. She was loaned to the U.S. Coast Guard in 1948 and commissioned in 1949. She was stationed at Boston, Massachusetts, from 1949 to 1954; at Cape May, New Jersey, New Jersey, from 1954 to 1972; and at Yorktown, Virginia, from 1972 to 1975, her main duty being to serve on ocean station patrols in the North Atlantic. Redesignated WHEC-379 and permanently transferred to the Coast Guard in 1966, she reclassified as a training ship and redesignated again as WTR-379 in 1969. She was decommissioned in 1975. Recommissioned in 1977 and again designated WHEC-379, she was stationed at New Bedford, Massachusetts, for the remainder of her Coast Guard career, focusing primarily on fisheries patrols in the Atlantic and law enforcement operations in the Caribbean. She was decommissioned in 1988 and scuttled to form an artificial reef.

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USCGC COOS BAY (W-376) Barnegat class seaplane tender ex-USS Coos Bay (AVP-25) http://www.jacksjoint.com/coosbay2.htm

 

Coos Bay was in commission from 1943 to 1946, performing her World War II service in the Pacific. She was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard postwar as USCGC Coos Bay (WAVP-376), later WHEC-376, and was in commissioned Coast Guard service from 1949 to 1966.

 

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USS ONSLOW (AVP-48) Barnegat class seaplane tender in service 1943 to 1960

 

Four battle stars for World War II service

One battle star for Korean War service

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USCGC CASTLE ROCK (WHEC-383) Coast Guard Squadron Three Vietnam - Barnegat class seaplane tender, High Endurance Cutter Market Time

 

 

Castle Rock was in commission from 1944 to 1946, performing her World War II service in the Pacific. She was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard postwar as USCGC Castle Rock (WAVP-383), later WHEC-383, and was in commissioned Coast Guard service from 1948 to 1971. Castle Rock was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three in South Vietnam in 1971. While on an R & R visit from South Vietnam, she suffered an engineering casualty and sank at her pier in Singapore, but returned to duty with the squadron upon completion of repairs. Castle Rock arrived in Vietnam on 30 July 1971. Coast Guard Squadron Three was tasked to operate in conjunction with U.S. Navy forces in Operation Market Time, the interdiction of North Vietnamese arms and munitions traffic along the coastline of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The squadron's other Vietnam War duties included fire support for ground forces, resupplying Coast Guard and Navy patrol boats, and search-and-rescue operations. Castle Rock served in this capacity until 21 December 1971.

 

She was transferred to South Vietnam in 1971 and served in the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Trần Bình Trọng (HQ-05). Upon the collapse of the South Vietnamese government at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, she fled to the Philippines, and served in the Philippine Navy until 1985 as the frigate RPS (later BRP) Francisco Dagohoy (PF-10).

 

 

[firefighter]

The WHEC designation is one I've had for a bit.

WAVP is one I picked up at the SOS.

 

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