Motor torpedo boat tender is a type of ship used by the U.S. Navy during World War II and Vietnam War. The motor torpedo boat tender's task was to act as a tender in remote areas for patrol boats (PT-boats) and to provide the necessary fuel and provisions for the torpedo boats she was responsible for. The type finds its root in the torpedo boat tender, developed in the 19th century.
This type of ship was classified as "AGP" and is sometimes called a "patrol craft tender."
USS Cyrene (AGP-13) was a motor torpedo boat tender for the United States Navy. She was laid down as Cape Farewell, a Maritime Commission type (C1-A) hull under a Maritime Commission contract, at Pusey and Jones Corp., Wilmington, Delaware. Cyrene served in the Pacific from New Guinea to the Philippines from December 1944 to December 1945. The ship was decommissioned and placed in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in July 1946 then withdrawn from the reserve fleet after sale to American Ship Dismantlers in December 1976.
USAS Report (AGP-289) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II as USS Report (AM-289). Although completed in July 1945, before the end of hostilities, she was placed in reserve and never commissioned into the U.S. Navy. She was reclassified as MSF-289 in February 1955, but remained in reserve until she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1963. She was transferred to the United States Army and served U.S. Army Intelligence from 1963 to 1967 as a motor torpedo boat tender. Report was returned to U.S. Navy custody and loaned to South Korea. As ROKS Kojin (PCE-50) in Republic of Korea Navy service, she served through 1970 and was scrapped in 1973.
USS Hilo (AGP-2) was a converted yacht that saw service as a motor torpedo boat tender in the United States Navy during World War II. It was originally the yacht Caroline built for Eldridge R. Johnson and launched 18 July 1931. Caroline was at the time the second largest yacht and largest American built Diesel yacht. It was built with a laboratory as well as palatial quarters and was loaned and equipped by Johnson for the Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition of 1933 that explored the Puerto Rico Trench. The yacht was sold in 1938 to William B. Leeds and renamed Moana replacing an earlier Leeds yacht of the same name.
USS Jamestown (PG-55) was a patrol gunboat and after 13 January 1943 a Jamestown-class motor torpedo boat tender acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her task in her final classification was to provide a "home base" for torpedo boats in remote parts of the ocean during the war, and to provide them with necessary services, such as fuel, food, and repairs.
USS Portunus (AGP-4) was an LST-1-class tank landing ship acquired by the U.S. Navy for use during World War II as a motor torpedo boat (MTB) tender. She was named after a Roman god of the sea, who had jurisdiction over ports and the shores.
USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6), originally and later AVP-28, was a United States Navy motor torpedo boat tender in commission from 1943 to 1946. She saw service in World War II.
The seventh USS Niagara (CMc-2/PG-52/AGP-1) was an auxiliary ship of the United States Navy during World War II.
USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) was a motor torpedo boat tender in commission in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946, seeing service in the latter part of World War II. After her Navy decommissioning, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard from 1946 to 1972 as the cutter USCGC McCulloch (WAVP-386), later WHEC-386, the fourth ship of the U.S. Coast Guard or its predecessor, the United States Revenue Cutter Service, to bear the name. In 1972 she was transferred to South Vietnam and served in the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Ngô Quyền (HQ-17). Upon the collapse of South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, she fled to the Philippines, and she served in the Philippine Navy from 1977 to 1985 as the frigate RPSGregorio del Pilar (PF-8) and from 1987 to 1990 as BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-12).
The second USS Willoughby (AGP-9) was a motor torpedo boat tender that served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946, seeing service in the later stages of World War II. Transferred to the United States Coast Guard in 1946, she was in commission as the cutter USCGC Gresham (WAVP-387), later WHEC-387 and WAGW-387, from 1947 to 1969 and from 1970 to 1973, seeing service in the Vietnam War during her Coast Guard career.
USS Willoughby has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to:
USS Orestes (AGP-10) was a motor torpedo boat tender that served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946.
The torpedo boat tender was a type of warship developed at the end of the 19th century to help bring small torpedo boats to the high seas, and launch them for attack.
USS Varuna (AGP-5) was a Portunus-class motor torpedo boat tender of the United States Navy during World War II.
USS Callisto (AGP-15) was a Portunus-class motor torpedo boat tender built for the United States Navy during World War II. It was originally ordered as USS LST-966 an LST-542-class tank landing ship, but renamed and re-designated in August 1944.
The Casco class was a large class of United States Coast Guard cutters in commission from the late 1940s through the late 1980s. They saw service as weather reporting ships in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans until the early 1970s, and some saw combat service during the Vietnam War.
USS Acontius (AGP-12) was a motor torpedo boat tender in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1965.
USS Alecto (AGP-14) was a Portunus-class motor torpedo boat tender built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally ordered as USS LST-977 an LST-542-class tank landing ship, but renamed and re-designated on 12 June 1944.
USS Silenus (AGP-11) was a Motor Torpedo Boat Tender in service with the United States Navy during World War II. She was laid down by Chicago Bridge and Iron on 28 October 1943 as LST-519. She was redesignated LST-604 on 18 December 1943 and launched on 20 March 1944. She was commissioned on 8 April 1944. LST-604 was decommissioned on 29 April 1944, at Maryland Drydock Co., Baltimore MD. for conversion to a Motor Torpedo Boat Tender. It lasted 104 days, the now USS Silenus, was recommissioned on 9 August 1944. On 14 March 1947 she was decommissioned and on 25 July 1947, she was scrapped. During World War II, USS Silenus was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater.
USS Antigone was a Portunus-class Motor Torpedo Boat Tender in service with the United States Navy during World War II. Authorized originally as LST-773, She was reclassified Motor Torpedo Boat Tender, and laid down the next day at Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., Seneca, IL. On 27 October 1944, she was launched, and put into reduced commission for conversion to a Motor Torpedo Boat Tender. On 5 December 1944, she was decommissioned for the conversion at Maryland Drydock Co., Baltimore, MD. 160 days later, on 14 May 1945, Antigone was put into full commission. After serving in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater for a year, Antigone was decommissioned on 27 May 1946, at San Francisco. On 10 June 1947, she was struck from the Naval Register, and sold to the Maritime Administration for final disposal on 6 February 1948 and simultaneously sold to Kaiser & Co., for scrapping.
USS Chiron (AGP-18) was a Portunus-class motor torpedo boat tender which saw brief service with the United States Navy during and just after World War II. She then served as the Argentinian merchant ship MV Altamar until she sank in 1960.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .
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