USS Duxbury Bay

Last updated

Ussduxburybay-avp38.jpg
USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) off Houghton, Washington on 28 December 1944
History
US flag 48 stars.svg Naval jack of the United States (1908-1912).svg United States
NameUSS Duxbury Bay
Namesake Duxbury Bay, on the coast of Massachusetts
Builder Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington
Laid down17 January 1944
Launched2 October 1944
Sponsored byMrs. R. E. Torkelson
Commissioned31 December 1944
Decommissioned30 April 1966
Stricken1 May 1966
FateSold for scrapping July 1967
General characteristics
Class and type Barnegat-class small seaplane tender
Displacement
  • 1,766 tons (light)
  • 2,750 tons (full load)
Length310 ft 9 in (94.72 m)
Beam41 ft 1 in (12.52 m)
Draft13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Installed power6,000 horsepower (4.48 megawatts)
Propulsion Diesel engines, two shafts
Speed18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement
  • 215 (ship's company)
  • 367 (including aviation unit)
Sensors and
processing systems		 Radar; sonar
Armament
Aviation facilitiesSupplies, spare parts, repairs, and berthing for one seaplane squadron; 80,000 US gallons (300,000 L) aviation fuel

USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1966.

Contents

Construction and commissioning

Duxbury Bay was launched on 2 October 1944 by Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington, sponsored by Mrs R. E. Torkelson. Duxbury Bay was commissioned on 31 December 1944.

World War II operations

Duxbury Bay departed San Diego, California, on 12 March 1945, called at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and tended seaplanes at Eniwetok and Ulithi Atoll before arriving at Kerama Retto off Okinawa on 29 April 1945. She supported the United States Third Fleet through service as seadrome control tender, mail ship, movie exchange, and gasoline supply ship for small craft until cessation of hostilities with Japan and the end of World War II on 15 August 1945.

Operations in the Far East 1945–1948

After the end of World War II, Duxbury Bay served in the Far East, tending patrol squadrons at Shanghai and Tsingtao in China, Jinsen in Korea, and Hong Kong. She then returned to the United States, arriving at San Francisco, California, on 20 October 1946.

Duxbury Bay served another tour of duty in the Far East from 25 February 1947 to 8 September 1947, operating out of Yokosuka, Japan, and Okinawa. She returned to the Far East for another tour from 2 February 1948 to 27 July 1948, tending seaplanes patrolling over Chinese territory during the expansion of Communist control in China.

Around-the-world cruise 1949

Departing Long Beach, California, on 17 March 1949, Duxbury Bay headed west on the first leg of a round-the-world cruise. She spent one month as flagship for Commander, Persian Gulf, then moved on to arrive at Norfolk, Virginia, on 3 July 1949.

Exercises in Nova Scotia 1949

Between 29 October 1949 and 21 November 1949, Duxbury Bay operated as a seaplane tender at Halifax, Nova Scotia, during cold-weather exercises.

Middle Eastern and Indian Ocean service 1950–1966

Between 4 January 1950 and early 1966, Duxbury Bay served 15 tours of duty in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean as flagship for Commander, United States Middle East Force. On average, she made one cruise per year, based in Bahrain, spending the intervening periods in upkeep at her home port of Norfolk and undergoing refresher training at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. During most of this period the Middle East flagship duty rotated between Duxbury Bay and two other Barnegat-class ships, USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) and USS Valcour (AVP-55), all eventually painted white and specially fitted for the purpose.

Duxbury Bay's Middle East service was highlighted by a number of important diplomatic missions. During her 1951 tour, her crew members served on security patrol and as messengers for the Southeast Asia Treaty Conference at Ceylon at which Commander, Middle East Force, represented the United States Department of Defense. She was visited by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in February 1953 and transported him to French Somaliland. Homeward bound during her 1954–1955 tour, she sailed by way of Mombasa, Kenya; Durban, Union of South Africa; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for good-will visits.

Duxbury Bay as Middle East Force flagship ca. 1959. USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) 1959.jpg
Duxbury Bay as Middle East Force flagship ca. 1959.

Duxbury Bay departed Norfolk on 3 October 1956 and was headed for her regular assignment when the 1956 Suez Crisis broke out. With the Suez Canal blocked, she was stationed on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern end of Crete assisting in the operation of the Souda Bay airfield for aircraft of the United Nations Emergency Force. She also carried underwater demolition teams to Saros Bay, Turkey, for survey operations in February 1957 before returning to Norfolk on 11 March 1957.

During her next cruise, in January 1958, Duxbury Bay joined in flood relief at Ceylon.

Duxbury Bay paid a special call to Karachi, Pakistan, in December 1959 on the occasion of the visit of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to India and Pakistan.

During the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Duxbury Bay participated in the evacuation of civilians from the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. [1]

During May 1963 Duxbury Bay participated in Project Mercury as a recovery ship for the final Mercury space mission, the Mercury-Atlas 9 mission flown by Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr.

Decommissioning and disposal

Duxbury Bay was decommissioned on 30 April 1966, only a few months after returning from her last deployment, and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 May 1966. She was sold for scrap in July 1967.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Greenwich Bay</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41), was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1945 to 1966.

USS <i>Suisun</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Suisun (AVP-53) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1955. It was named for northern California's Suisun Bay, which takes its name from the Native American Suisun tribe.

USS <i>San Pablo</i> (AVP-30) Tender of the United States Navy

USS San Pablo (AVP-30) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender which was in commission as such from 1943 to 1947 and then served as a commissioned hydrographic survey ship, redesignated AGS-30, from 1948 to 1969. Thus far, she has been the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for San Pablo Bay, a shallow northern extension of San Francisco Bay in California.

USS <i>Biscayne</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Biscayne (AVP-11), later AGC-18, was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission as a seaplane tender from 1941 to 1943 and as an amphibious force flagship from 1943 to 1946. She saw service during World War II. Transferred to the United States Coast Guard after the war, she was in commission as the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Dexter (WAGC-385), later WAVP-385 and WHEC-385, from 1946 to 1952 and from 1958 to 1968.

USS <i>Onslow</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Onslow (AVP-48) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1947 and from 1951 to 1960.

USS <i>Yakutat</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Yakutat (AVP-32) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946. Yakutat tended seaplanes in combat areas in the Pacific during the latter stages of World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard from 1948 to 1971 as the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Yakutat (WAVP-380), later WHEC-380, seeing service in the Vietnam War during her Coast Guard career. Transferred to South Vietnam in 1971, she was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Trần Nhật Duật (HQ-03). When South Vietnam collapsed in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War, she fled to the Philippines, where the Philippine Navy took custody of her and cannibalized her for spare parts until discarding her in 1982.

USS <i>Cook Inlet</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Cook Inlet (AVP-36) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946. She tended seaplanes during World War II in the Pacific and earned one battle star for her service. After the war, she was transferred to the United States Coast Guard, and was in commission as the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Cook Inlet (WAVP-384), later WHEC-384, from 1949 to 1971. She saw service in the Vietnam War during her Coast Guard career, receiving two campaign stars for her operations during the conflict. Transferred to South Vietnam in 1971, she operated as the Republic of Vietnam Navy frigate RVNS Trần Quốc Toản (HQ-06) until South Vietnam's collapse in April 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War. She fled to the Philippines and in 1976 was transferred to the Philippine Navy, which never commissioned her, instead using her as a source of spare parts for her sister ships, the Andrés Bonifacio-class frigates, before discarding her in 1982.

USS <i>Unimak</i> Barnegat-class small seaplane tender

USS Unimak (AVP-31) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1946 that saw service in World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Unimak (WAVP-379), later WHEC-379, WTR-379, and again WHEC-379, from 1949 to 1975 and from 1977 to 1988.

USS <i>Corson</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Corson (AVP-37) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1956.

USS <i>Humboldt</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Humboldt (AVP-21) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1941 to 1947 that served in the Atlantic during World War II. She was briefly reclassified as a miscellaneous auxiliary and redesignated AG-121 during 1945. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Humboldt (WAVP-372), later WHEC-372, from 1949 to 1969.

USS <i>Matagorda</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Matagorda (AVP-22/AG-122) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1941 to 1946 that saw service in World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Matagorda (WAVP-373), later WHEC-373, from 1949 to 1967.

USS <i>Rockaway</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Rockaway (AVP-29), later AG-123, was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1946. She served in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean during World War II. In 1948, she was loaned to the United States Coast Guard, in which she served as the cutter USCGC Rockaway (WAVP-377), later WAGO-377, WHEC-377, and WOLE-377, from 1949 to 1972.

USS <i>Barnegat</i> (AVP-10) Tender of the United States Navy

The second USS Barnegat (AVP-10), in commission from 1941 to 1946, was the lead ship of her class of small seaplane tenders built for the United States Navy just before and during World War II. She was the second U.S. Navy ship to bear that name.

USS <i>Half Moon</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Half Moon (AVP-26) was a seaplane tender that in commission in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 that saw service in the latter half of World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Half Moon (WAVP-378), later WHEC-378, from 1948 to 1969, seeing service in the Vietnam War during her Coast Guard career.

USS <i>Barataria</i> (AVP-33) Tender of the United States Navy

The second USS Barataria (AVP-33) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946. She saw service in the later stages of World War II and was decommissioned postwar. She then was transferred to the United States Coast Guard and was in commission as the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Barataria (WAVP-381), later WHEC-381 from 1949 to 1969, serving in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War during her lengthy Coast Guard career.

USS <i>Gardiners Bay</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Gardiners Bay (AVP-39) was a United States Navy seaplane tender in commission from 1945 to 1958 that saw service in the latter stages of World War II and in the Korean War. After her decommissioning, she was transferred to Norway, and she served in the Royal Norwegian Navy as the training ship HNoMS Haakon VII (A537) from 1958 to 1974.

<i>Barnegat</i>-class seaplane tender

The Barnegat class was a large class of United States Navy small seaplane tenders (AVP) built during World War II. Thirty were completed as seaplane tenders, four as motor torpedo boat tenders, and one as a catapult training ship.

USS <i>Timbalier</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Timbalier (AVP-54) was a Barnegat-class seaplane tender of the United States Navy. She was commissioned shortly after the end of World War II, and served between 1946 and her decommissioning in 1954. She later saw commercial service as the Greek cruise ship MV Ródos.

USS <i>Valcour</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Valcour (AVP-55), later AGF-1, was a Barnegat-class seaplane tender of the United States Navy, in commission as a seaplane tender from 1946 to 1965 and as a flagship from 1965 to 1973.

<i>Casco</i>-class cutter Class of United States Coast Guard cutter

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.

References

  1. ↑ Wiltrout, Kate (5 November 2012). "Guantanamo Bay Evacuation Order, Oct. 22, 1962". The Virginian Pilot. Pilot Media. Retrieved 31 May 2016. Following the Upshur to dock in Norfolk that night were three more ships – Hyades, Duxbury Bay and Desoto County – carrying an additional 729 evacuees.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.