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History | |
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Name | USS Half Moon (AVP-26) |
Namesake | Half Moon Bay, on the coast of California south of San Francisco |
Builder | Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington |
Laid down | 10 March 1942 |
Launched | 12 July 1942 |
Sponsored by | Mrs. T. A. Gray |
Reclassified | From seaplane tender, AVP-26, to motor torpedo boat tender, AGP-6, in March 1943, then back to seaplane tender, AVP-26, on 1 May 1943 |
Commissioned | 15 June 1943 |
Decommissioned | 4 September 1946 |
Reclassified | From seaplane tender, AVP-26, to motor torpedo boat tender, AGP-6, in March 1943, then back to seaplane tender, AVP-26, on 1 May 1943 |
Honors and awards | Two battle stars for her World War II service |
Fate |
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Name | USCGC Half Moon (WAVP-378) |
Namesake | Previous name retained |
Acquired |
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Commissioned | 14 September 1948 |
Reclassified | High endurance cutter, WHEC-378, 1 May 1966 |
Decommissioned | 15 July 1969 |
Honors and awards | See note[note 1] |
Fate | Sold for scrapping 29 April 1970 |
General characteristics (seaplane tender) | |
Class and type | Barnegat-class seaplane tender, converted during construction from a motor torpedo boat tender |
Displacement |
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Length | 310 ft 9 in (94.72 m) |
Beam | 41 ft 2 in (12.55 m) |
Draft | 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) |
Installed power | 6,000 horsepower (4.48 megawatts) |
Propulsion | Diesel engines, two shafts |
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h)s |
Complement |
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Sensors and processing systems | Radar; sonar |
Armament |
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Aviation facilities | Supplies, spare parts, repairs, and berthing for one seaplane squadron; 80,000 US gallons (300,000 L) aviation fuel |
General characteristics (Coast Guard cutter) | |
Class and type | Casco-class cutter |
Displacement | 2,498 tons (full load) in 1967 |
Length | 310 ft 9.5 in (94.729 m) overall; 300 ft 0 in (91.44 m) between perpendiculars |
Beam | 41 ft 0 in (12.50 m) maximum |
Draft | 12 ft 4 in (3.76 m) full load aft in 1967 |
Installed power | 6,400 bhp (4,800 kW) |
Propulsion | Fairbanks-Morse geared diesel engines, (2.677:1), Model 38RD8-1/8 O.P.; two shafts; 171,851 US gallons (650,530 L) of fuel |
Speed |
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Range |
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Complement | 151 (10 officers, 3 warrant officers, 138 enlisted personnel) in 1966 |
Sensors and processing systems | |
Armament |
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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.
Half Moon was laid down as a small seaplane tender (AVP-26) on 10 March 1942 by Lake Washington Shipyards, Houghton, Washington, and was launched as such on 12 July 1942, sponsored by Mrs. T. A. Gray. In March 1943 she was selected for conversion into a motor torpedo boat tender and redesignated AGP-6, but she was so close to completion as a seaplane tender that it soon was decided to convert the seaplane tender USS Oyster Bay (AVP-28) into a motor torpedo boat tender instead; Oyster Bay was designated AGP-6 and became USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6). Half Moon, meanwhile, was again classified as a seaplane tender, again designated AVP-26 on 1 May 1943, and commissioned as such on 15 June 1943.
Barnegat-class ships were very reliable and seaworthy and had good habitability, and the Coast Guard viewed them as ideal for ocean station duty, in which they would perform weather reporting and search and rescue tasks, once they were modified by having a balloon shelter added aft and having oceanographic equipment, an oceanographic winch, and a hydrographic winch installed. After World War II, the U.S. Navy transferred 18 of the ships to the Coast Guard, in which they were known as the Casco-class cutters.
The U.S. Navy loaned Half Moon to the United States Coast Guard on 30 July 1948. After undergoing conversion for Coast Guard use, she was commissioned into the Coast Guard on 14 September 1948 as USCGC Half Moon (WAVP-378).
Half Moon was stationed at Staten Island and Governors Island in New York City throughout her Coast Guard career. Her 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 she engaged in law enforcement operations.
On 24 and 25 August 1951, Half Moon assisted the merchant ship Castello Guadalest in the North Atlantic at 39°30′00″N 058°32′00″W / 39.50000°N 58.53333°W.
While in Bermuda on a United States Coast Guard Reserve training cruise, Half Moon helped civil authorities in fight a fire aboard the merchant ship Coastal Service at Ordnance Wharf in St. George's, on 14 August 1963.
Half Moon was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC-378 on 1 May 1966. Her loan period from the U.S. Navy came to an end on 26 September 1966, when she was transferred permanently from the Navy to the Coast Guard.
On 11 January 1967, Half Moon seized four American fishing vessels seven nautical miles (13 kilometers) northwest of Dog Rocks following a shooting incident in which one person was killed and another wounded.
Half Moon sailed from New York Harbor on 1 April 1967 under the command of Commander Emmett G. McCarthy, bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and an assignment to Coast Guard Squadron Three. The squadron, which was designated Task Unit 70.8.6, was activated at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 24 April 1967 when its commander, Captain John E. Day, hoisted his flag aboard his flagship, the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Gresham.
Coast Guard Squadron Three was tasked to operate in the South China Sea 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. Serving in the squadron with Gresham and Half Moon were the cutters USCGC Yakutat, USCGC Barataria and USCGC Bering Strait; like Half Moon and Gresham, they all were former Navy Barnegat-class ships. They departed Pearl Harbor on 26 April 1967 and reported to Commander, United States Seventh Fleet, for Market Time duty on 4 May 1967. They were joined by Navy radar picket destroyer escorts (DERs) of Escort Squadrons 5 and 7.
The ten Market Time ships arrived at Subic Bay in the Philippines on 10 May 1967. The five Coast Guard cutters and five Navy destroyer escorts continuously manned four Market Time stations off Vietnam, while only Navy warships served on two Taiwan patrol stations. One ship rotated duty as the station ship in Hong Kong.
During her tour, Half Moon conducted nine naval gunfire missions along the coast of South Vietnam in support of forces ashore. On 12 September 1967 she was ordered to fire on a Viet Cong (VC) build-up in An Xugen Province; her gunfire killed at least one VC soldier and destroyed three fortifications on that occasion. During her tour, she was credited with killing at least 13 VC soldiers, destroying 64 military emplacements and structures, and sinking four sampans. Half Moon also served as a home base for 50-foot (15.25 m) U.S. Navy Patrol Craft Fast and participated in search and rescue operations.
Half Moon concluded her Vietnam War tour on 29 December 1967.
See note.[note 1]
Half Moon returned from Vietnam to her home port at New York City on 22 January 1968 and resumed her routine Coast Guard operations in the Atlantic. On 11 July 1968 she helped to evacuate an injured crewman from the West German merchant ship Brunsdeich.
The Coast Guard decommissioned Half Moon on 15 July 1969. She was sold for scrapping on 29 April 1970 to Cantieri Navali, Genoa, Italy, for a bid price of $66,000 (USD).