USS Wright (AV-1)
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba , April 1927
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Wright |
Namesake | Orville Wright |
Builder | American International Shipbuilding Corporation, Hog Island, Pennsylvania |
Yard number | 680 |
Laid down | 5 February 1919 as Skaneateles |
Launched | 28 April 1920 |
Completed | 16 December 1921 |
Commissioned | 16 December 1921, as AZ-1 |
Decommissioned | 21 June 1946 |
Renamed | San Clemente (AG-79), 1 February 1945 |
Reclassified |
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Stricken | 1 July 1946 |
Honours and awards | 2 battle stars (World War II) |
Fate |
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General characteristics | |
Type | Seaplane tender |
Displacement | 11,500 long tons (11,685 t) full load |
Length | 448 ft (137 m) |
Beam | 58 ft (18 m) |
Draft | 23 ft (7.0 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 15.3 knots (28.3 km/h; 17.6 mph) |
Complement | 228 officers and men |
Armament |
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Aircraft carried | F5L and Curtiss NC-10 seaplanes |
USS Wright (AZ-1/AV-1) was a one-of-a-kind auxiliary ship in the
Construction and commissioning
Originally the unnamed "hull no. 680", the ship was laid down at
Service history
1922
From the New York Navy Yard, Wright sailed for the
Wright, fitted out with a unique "balloon well" built into the ship's hull, aft, to enable her to tend a kite balloon assigned to the ship for experimental operations, departed Guantanamo Bay on 10 April and (while en route back to Key West) conducted maneuvers to experiment with the kite observation balloon. A few weeks after Wright reached her destination, the NC-10 flying boat had her bottom sucked out while she attempted to take off and began to sink in seven feet (2.1 m) of water. A rescue and repair party salvaged the hull and other parts of the seaplane and brought them on board the tender. Two days later, Wright sailed for the Philadelphia Navy Yard and, after brief stops at Norfolk, Virginia and Charleston en route, arrived there on 8 May. Following repairs and alterations at Philadelphia between 8 May and 21 June, Wright headed south and conducted tending operations from Norfolk to Pensacola, Florida, and back. While in Hampton Roads on 16 July, Wright sent up her kite balloon for the last time before transferring it ashore to be based at the Hampton Roads Naval Air Station (NAS).
Later that summer, Wright visited
1923–1924
On 28 January 1923, Wright departed Florida waters in company with the converted minesweepers USS Sandpiper and USS Teal and supported the 18 patrol planes of Scouting Squadron 1 in combined fleet tactics in waters ranging from Cuba and Honduras to the Panama Canal.
Between 18 and 22 February, Wright's planes participated in
After returning to Key West on 11 April, Wright spent the next two years off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, operating out of Hampton Roads and Newport in waters that ranged from the Virginia Capes to the Virgin Islands.
1925–1932
Wright ultimately departed Hampton Roads on 21 January 1925 as flagship for Captain Harry E. Yarnell, Commander, Air Squadrons, Scouting Fleet, bound for the Pacific Ocean. After transiting the Panama Canal, the tender reached Pearl Harbor on 25 February and operated in the Hawaiian area until 8 June when she proceeded back to the East Coast of the United States, reaching Norfolk on 18 July. Soon after Wright' return to the Eastern Seaboard, work began to convert the ship to a "heavier-than-air aircraft tender" and, by 1 December, the work was complete.
Reclassified AV-1, the tender continued to support the seaplanes of the Scouting Fleet, operating out of Hampton Roads and Newport, to ports of Florida, Cuba, and Panama. As flagship for Commander, Aircraft Squadrons, Scouting Force reclassified to Commander, Aircraft, Scouting Force in 1932, Wright usually spent four months of each winter in operations out of Guantanamo Bay in waters reaching from Panama to the Virgin Islands. For the remainder of the year, she worked in the Narragansett Bay and Chesapeake Bay areas, operating, as before, out of Hampton Roads and Newport with periodic cruises to the warmer climes of Florida or port visits to New York City. Wright's tending duties along the Eastern Seaboard and into the Caribbean continued until 3 February 1932. Varying her duties as tender were several assignments for special service.
Special services, 1927–1929
When the
Meanwhile, Wright had been detached from the operation two days after Christmas 1927 and returned to Norfolk. The following year, the ship's routine was broken by transporting building materials to the hurricane-devastated island of
.1932–1935
Wright stood out of Hampton Roads on 5 January 1932 and supported air patrol squadron tactical evolutions ranging from Cuba and
From the time of her arrival at NAS North Island, on 20 February 1932 until 10 September 1939, Wright made 14 extended cruises in support of naval seaplane squadrons. The first of those began when she departed San Diego on 1 May 1933 for an aviation transport run that included an inspection by Rear Admiral
1935–1938
On 4 January 1935, Wright departed San Diego for tender operations off Panama;
Returning to San Diego from her planeguard station on 17 October, Wright spent only a short period in port and sailed again four days later, for Palmyra Island. Reaching that point on the last day of October, Wright supported the planes photographing the island and served as "home" for the survey party sent ashore. Setting course for Pearl Harbor on 2 November, she later embarked men of VP-6F for transport to French Frigate Shoals. She then tended three squadrons of seaplanes off East Island while her diving party engaged in reef-blasting operations for the seaplane base being established there. Terminating that support duty on 12 November, Wright headed for the West Coast, reaching San Diego on 28 November. For the remainder of 1935, Wright operated locally. Her coastwise duties were interrupted between 16 January and 28 February 1936 by an aviation support cruise to Post Office Bay, Galápagos Islands; Santa Elena, Ecuador; and Balboa, Canal Zone. Wright then participated in fleet problems off Lower California and cruised to Sitka Sound, Alaska, where she tended a utility plane wing (two squadrons) and a patrol wing of five squadrons, between 22 August and 28 September.
After repairs at the
Wright made a cruise to
1939–1941
The tender departed San Diego on 2 January 1939 to participate in winter maneuvers in the Caribbean with her aviation units and took part in
World War II, 1941
Wright departed Pearl Harbor on 20 November, bound for Wake Island, arrived at that advanced base on the 28th, and landed Comdr. "Spiv" Winfield S. Cunningham, who took command of the naval activities on the vulnerable isle, Major James "Jimmy" Patrick Sinnot Deveraux, USMC and Lt. Col Walter L. J. Bayler, USMC. Other passengers who went ashore from the seaplane tender included asphalt technicians, other construction workers, and other Marine Corps officers. The ship also delivered 63,000 gallons of gasoline to Wake's storage tanks before setting course for Midway. There, she delivered a cargo that included ammunition and disembarked passengers that included men reporting for duty at the NAS and with other Marine Corps ground units. Then, with military and civilian passengers embarked, Wright departed Midway on 4 December and headed for Pearl Harbor.
During the night of 6/7 December 1941, while sailing toward Pearl Harbor at night, the crew spotted an aircraft carrier that overtook it as it sailed toward Hawaii. Whether Wright radioed a report of the sighting or not is unclear, but even if they had, the report was not recognized for what it was—an actual sighting of one of the Japanese aircraft carriers just hours prior to the attack, and the only such sighting made by an American Naval asset. The sighting was recalled by a former member of the crew serving on Wright named Sherwin Callander. As an elderly gentleman in 2019, while being interviewed for a video, unexpectedly he recalled, "A carrier passed us, going in the same direction. We were headin' back to Pearl and they were headin' towards Pearl too. And we knew it was a carrier -- it was at night -- but we didn't know what nationality it was. Then the next morning, we heard over the news broadcast that they attacked Pearl Harbor. When we pulled into Pearl Harbor, I'd never seen such a mess in my life. I even had to pull bodies out of the water."[2]
The following morning, while en route to Pearl Harbor, the received the electrifying news that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor that morning 7 December 1941. Word of the attack arrived shortly after 0800 that day, and Wright cleared for action and manned her battle stations. Fortunately for her, she did not cross the path of the returning Japanese striking force. After reaching Pearl Harbor the day after the Japanese attack, Wright got underway on 19 December to transport 126 Marines of the 4th Defense Battalion, with their gear, to Midway. She returned to Pearl Harbor on the day after Christmas with 205 civilians embarked.
1942
Wright then underwent voyage repairs, loaded stores and cargo, embarked passengers, and set sail for the South Seas. Departing Pearl Harbor on 2 April, Wright touched at
1943
The seaplane tender debarked the personnel from VMSB-233 at Espiritu Santo and those from VMSB-234 at Nouméa before she returned to Pearl Harbor on 17 January 1943. She sailed thence to Midway, transporting a group of passengers that included 205 Marines, and from there shifted to the Fiji Islands where she disembarked the 7 officers and 254 enlisted men of FAB Unit 13 who were put ashore with their gear and logistic cargo.
Departing the Fijis on 9 March, Wright sailed by way of Pearl Harbor, reaching
1944
She then shifted to
Rear Admiral
1945
Proceeding from Brisbane via New Guinea, Wright reached Seeadler Harbor on 5 January 1945, for repairs that lasted until 14 January. She then proceeded via Humboldt Bay to
1946
She departed Manila on 3 January 1946, bound for the China coast; reached Shanghai soon thereafter; and became flagship for Service Division 101 – Commodore E. E. Duval, commanding – on 5 February. San Clemente remained at Shanghai in support of the Navy occupation forces there until 7 April, when she was relieved by Holland as flagship of ServRon 101. With hundreds of troops embarked as passengers, San Clemente departed Chinese waters on 8 April, bound – via Yokosuka, Japan, and Pearl Harbor – for home.
Decommissioning and sale
Reaching San Francisco on 2 May, San Clemente got underway again eight days later and headed for the East Coast of the United States. Reaching the New York Naval Shipyard (the old New York Navy Yard) on 29 May, she commenced inactivation proceedings and was decommissioned on 21 June 1946. Struck from the
Awards
- American Defense Service Medal with "FLEET" clasp
- battle stars
- World War II Victory Medal
- Navy Occupation Medalwith "ASIA" clasp
- China Service Medal
References
- ^ a b NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center AFSC Historical Corner: Brant, Flagship of the Alaska Patrol Fleet
- YouTube. Retrieved 4 Apr 2021
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
- "Wright". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- "Wright AZ-1 / Wright AV-1 / San Clemente AG-79". Service Ship Photo Archive. Retrieved 6 March 2007.
External links
- The USS Wright Alumni Association Archived 3 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine