A BIT OF HISTORY: "...Rehoboth Seaplane Tender - A city on Delaware's Atlantic Coast. The first Rehoboth retained her former name...(Squadrons Mentioned: FAW-7, VH-1, VH-6, VPB-20, VPB-26 and ZP-14)..." WebSite: Naval History Center http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r4/rehoboth-ii.htm [23DEC2005]

Rehoboth

A city on Delaware's Atlantic Coast. The first Rehoboth retained her former name.

II

(AVP - 50: displacement 2,800 (full load); length 310'9"; beam 41'2"; draft 13'6"; speed 18 knots; complement 215; troop 152; armament 2 5", 8 40mm., 8 20mm., 2 depth charge tracks; class Barnegat)

The second Rehoboth (AVP-50) was laid down 3 August 1942 by Lake Washington Shipyards, Houghton, Wash.; launched 8 November 1942; sponsored by Mrs. R. P. McConnell; and commissioned 23 February 1944, Comdr. Robert Crawford Warrack in command.

Following shakedown off San Diego, Rehoboth transited the Panama Canal 25 April 1944 and reached Norfolk 14 May. Three days later she sailed for Casablanca carrying men and cargo of ZP-14. Returning to Norfolk 9 June, she carried cargo and personnel for FAW-7 in Britain, 8 July to 9 August, then sailed south to Recife reporting to ComFAirWing 16 for duty 31 August. She transported passengers and cargo between various Brazilian ports until 15 January 1945 when she departed Natal for Bristol, England, carrying personnel and cargo for ComFAirWing 7. On 14 February she returned to Norfolk, whence, until mid-June, she carried men and equipment to Bristol and Avonmouth in England.

Rehoboth retransited the Panama Canal 18 August, and after calls at San Diego and Pearl Harbor she arrived off Okinawa 2 October. There for 2 weeks she tended planes of air-sea rescue squadron 6 (VH-6), then steamed to Jinsen, Korea, where she took command of a seadrome, and tended planes of VPB-20. In mid-November she crossed the Yellow Sea, and from 18 November-21 December tended a detachment of VH-6. On Christmas Day she arrived at Shanghai to tend VH-1 and VPB-26 planes. On 25 January Rehoboth got underway for Nagoya, Japan, thence proceeded to Kobe 17 February where she set up an auxiliary seadrome area. On 24 March she arrived at Sasebo where she assumed seadrome control.

Rehoboth continued to serve in Japanese waters until August when she returned briefly to the Chinese coast, then operated off Australia and in the Philippines. In November she returned to Japan whence she sailed east in 1947. Arriving at San Diego 18 March, she continued on, transited the Panama Canal at the end of the month, and reached Philadelphia, 9 April. Decommissioned 30 June 1947, she commenced conversion to a survey ship the following year.

Reclassified AGS-50, she recommissioned 2 September 1948, and commenced oceanographic survey work under the direction of the Hydrographic Office. Equipped with a small laboratory and machinery to take Nansen casts, which provide the oceanographer with the temperature and samples of sea water at different depths, and drill for core samples, she traveled over 300,000 miles in the North Atlantic and adjacent seas during her first 6 years of operation.

In February 1952, while crossing the Atlantic, she discovered and accurately positioned an underwater mountain range with heights up to 12,000 feet above the ocean floor. In March 1952 she discovered and charted a 7,000-foot mountain near Bermuda and in August 1953 Rehoboth became the first ship to anchor in over 2½ miles of water.

Employed on special projects in 1953 and 1954, she returned to oceanographic survey work in the Atlantic and Caribbean in 1953. Transferred to the Pacific in 1956, she departed Philadelphia 15 February. Transiting the Panama Canal 22 February, she was diverted to an area northwest of the Galapagos Islands to search for the raft "Cantuta" which she found after 4 days. On 9 March Rehoboth reached San Francisco, and for the next year operated off the west coast. On 4 March 1957 she proceeded to Pearl Harbor for 3 months work in Hawaiian waters. For the next 9 months she operated in the eastern Pacific. In April 1958 she extended her range to the Marshalls and in 1960 to the western Pacific. In October 1960 she also added operations off the South American coast. For the next 4 years her missions spanned the Pacific from equatorial to arctic climes.

In September 1965 Rehoboth completed operations in the northern Pacific and in November commenced survey operations in the South China Sea, conducting in December a hydrographic survey of the South Vietnamese coast from the Mekong Delta to Cape Padaran.

After completing survey operations in the South China Sea in February 1966, she sailed east, arriving at San Francisco 23 March. Overhaul and west coast operations followed. In 1967 she conducted operations in the northern and western Pacific. In California waters from December 1967 until 14 March 1968, she then departed San Francisco for Yokosuka. She undertook survey operations in the Philippine Sea until August, returning to San Francisco 26 September where she remained for the balance of the year. She operated off the California coast in early 1969 until deploying to the Far East in August, returning in December to San Francisco. She decommissioned and was struck from the Navy list 15 April 1970.

23 September 2005

A BIT OF HISTORY: APPENDIX 3 Submarines Sunk by Patrol Squadrons During World War II - Naval Historical Center http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/dictvol2.htm [04MAY2001]

Yu-2, 27 November 1944 (shared)
Type: Yu-1 Class Laid Down: July 1943, Kasado Iron Works, Kudamatsu
Commissioned: 1943
Commander: Unknown
Career: The Yu-1 class submarines were built by the Army without any assistance from Naval constructors. They were an attempt to build inexpensive, quickly manufactured, short-range (1,500 miles) transport submarines that could be used to resupply beleaguered Imperial Japanese Army garrisons cut off by rapidly advancing U.S. forces.

Fate: A PBM-3D Mariner from VPB-20 flown by Lieutenant (jg) John B. Muoio was providing air coverage for Destroyer Division 43 while it was engaged in bombarding positions at Ormoc Bay. Lieutenant (jg) Muoio and his crew made radar contact on a surface target, and when checking it out, spotted a submarine moving into Ormoc Bay. The sighting was reported to the destroyer flotilla and it was quickly sunk by gunfire from Waller (DD 446), Pringle (DD 477), Saufley (DD 465) and Renshaw (DD 499).

A BIT OF HISTORY: "...Squadron Awards..." Contributed by Mahlon K. Miller mkwsmiller@cox.net [23APR2001]

Navy Unit Commendation
01 Nov 44 – 01 Jun 45

A BIT OF HISTORY: "...24 December, 1944: Lt.(jg) Bonnet (VPB-54) located and rescued 12 men of PBM of VPB-20 which had been shot down by a Japanese fighter off the south end of Negros. By the time Lt.(jg) Bonnet arrived at the scene the PBM crew had finished destroying and sinking their plane and had landed on Negros and retreated into the hills with some Filipino guerrillas, Upon seeing the "Dumbo" arrive the survivors fired a Very Pistol and returned to the beach. Bonnet landed in the water and the Filipinos carried the PBM crew out to the plane in bancas. Lt.(jg) Bonnet took off without difficulty and returned the men to Leyte. He arrived after dark and was forced to land on Tacloban strip instead of in the seaplane area beside the U.S.S. ORCA...26-27 December, 1944: Three planes from Patrol Bombing Squadron FIFTY-FOUR were ordered to load with 500 pound bombs and attack the Japanese Task Force which was at that time shelling Allied positions on Mindoro. The force was reported to include one BB, one CA, and five destroyers. Comdr. Sanger, Lieut-Comdr. Geis and Lieut. Sharp flew their planes to Tacloban strip to have them bombed, fueled and readied for a night take-off. The take-off was made at 2345 -9 zone. At 0520 Comdr. Sanger and Lieut. Sharp located the Japanese force which was retiring to the Northwest of Mindoro. They attacked a cruiser at 0540. Comdr. Sanger obtained one direct hit on the bow and three near misses. Lieut. Sharp dropped four bombs after passing through heavy anti-aircraft fire which commenced during Commander Sanger's run. All four of Lieut. Sharp's bombs failed to arm. On returning from the attack W.J. Podhyski, AOM1c stationed in the blister of Comdr. Sanger's plane, observed eight men clinging to a floating gas tank which had torn loose from their plane. Comdr. Sanger landed and found eight men at the tank. Two more were located floating in their Mae West jackets about a mile from the tank, and two additional men were found some distance from the other groups. The twelve men, also from a PBM attached to VPB-20, were taken aboard. The rescue was effected about 15 miles west of San Jose airstrip on Mindoro. One man was fatally wounded and died before Comdr. Sanger was able to land at San Jose. At Mindoro the 11 men who survived were distributed between the three Catalinas and returned to Leyte. 27 December, 1944: Lieut. Johnson located a PBM of VPB-20 which had been forced down at sea northwest of Leyte. He orbited over the scene and directed a crash boat to the plane. He then flew to the U.S.S. CURRITUCK in Leyte Gulf, and picked up parts and technical personnel to effect repairs necessary to allow the PBM to return to its base..." [09DEC2000]

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Circa 1944 - 1946

A BIT OF HISTORY: Naval Historical Center, Department Of The Navy, Washington, D. C http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/dictvol2.htm [28APR2001]

VPB-20 85KB

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Circa 1941-1944

A BIT OF HISTORY: "...History of FAW-8 - History from 08JUL41-31DEC44 Submitted April 12th, 1945. Squadron's Assigned: VP-16, VP-18, VP-19, VP-20, VP-21, VP-22, VP-25, VP-26, VP-27, VP-28, VP-43, VP-61, VP-62, VP-63, VP-72, VP-81, VP-82, VP-83, VP-84, VP-92, VP-118, VP-123, VP-133, VP-137, VP-140, VP-142, VP-144, VP-148, VP-150, VP-153, VP-198, VP-205, VP-208 and VP-216..." Official U. S. Navy Records (National Archives and Records Administration) via Fold3 http://www.fold3.com/ [01DEC2012]

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"VP-20 History Summary Page"

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