A BIT OF HISTORY: "...USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38), 1944-1967..." WebSite: DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-d/avp38.htm [30MAR2006]

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38), 1944-1967

USS Duxbury Bay, a 1,766-ton Barnegat class small seaplane tender, was built at Houghton, Washington, and was commissioned in December 1944. Departing the West Coast in March 1945, she called at Pearl Harbor and tended seaplanes at Eniwetok and Ulithi before arriving at Kerama Retto near Okinawa in April. For the remainder of the war she served the Third Fleet as seadrome control tender, mail ship, movie exchange, and gasoline supply ship for small craft.

After the end of the war, Duxbury Bay moved to the China Coast and tended patrol squadrons at Shanghai and Tsingtao, China; Jinsen, Korea; and Hong Kong until returning to San Francisco in October 1946. She performed two more tours in the Far East, one in 1947 and one in 1948. In March 1949 she sailed from Long Beach, Calif., on a round-the-world cruise during which she spent a month as flagship for Commander, Persian Gulf. She arrived at Norfolk in July 1949 and in November participated in cold weather exercises at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Between January 1950 and early 1966 Duxbury Bay performed 15 tours of duty in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean as flagship for Commander, Middle East Force. On average, she performed one cruise per year, spending the intervening periods in upkeep at her home port of Norfolk and undergoing refresher training at Guantanamo Bay. During most of this period the Middle East flagship duty rotated between three AVPs, all eventually painted white and specially fitted for the purpose: Duxbury Bay, Greenwich Bay (AVP-41), and Valcour (AVP-55).

This largely diplomatic and ceremonial duty had high points, such as a visit to Duxbury Bay in 1953 by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. It also had breaks in the routine, such as acting as a contingent recovery ship for Project Mercury in May 1963. For the most part, however, it involved incessent shuttling between numerous ports in this large region broken by periods inport at her base at Bahrain.

Duxbury Bay was decommissioned in April 1966, only a few months after returning from her last deployment. She was sold for scrap in July 1967.

"USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) Summary Page"

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