Arlington (AGMR 2) - Naval Cruise Book

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SAIPAN was decommissioned at Bayonne, New Jersey on 3 October 1957, and was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She entered the yard of the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company at Mobile, Alabama on 30 March 1963 for conversion to a command ship UCC-35. After consideration of the more urgent need for a mobile communications relay ship, SAIPAN was redesignated a Major Communication Relay CAGMR-29 while still in the conversion yard 1 September 1964. Her name was changed to ARLINGTON CAGMR-25, effective 8 April 1965, commemorating Arlington County, Virginia, one of the Navy's first sites for wireless test stations. Radio ARLINGTON was commissioned 13 February 1913, having been built on a portion of Fort Myers which had been transferred to the Navy for this purpose in 1910.

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The year of 1954 also saw helicopters launched from the SAIPAN's flight deck. During Hurricane Hazel which practically leveled Haiti, she launched the first of many helos on reconnaissance flights over the hurricane disaster area. From 14 October to 21 October, helos from SAIPAN helped avert famine, epidemics, and other disorders by flying in vast amounts of food, medical supplies and medical teams to assist hurricane victims. Her mercy mis- sion brought her the singular honor from the Haitian Government which voted her a Member of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Haiti. After another tour of training student aviators at Pensacola, she was to render like aid to other hurricane disaster areas of Tampico and Vera Cruz. 1 SAIPAN commenced the launch of helicopters the afternoon of 1 October 1955 when Rear Admiral M. E. Miles, Commander Panama Sector, Caribbean Sea Frontier, broke his flag in SAIPAN to direct the naval disaster relief operations. In eight days her helicopters flew over 3,000 individual missions. They delivered more than a half million pounds of food and medical supplies, transported 81 medical teams and rescued 6,171 persons. In addition to her helicopter operations, some 200 officers and men of SAIPAN formed a SAIPAN River Flotilla to oper- ate in the City of Tampico where they rescued un- told numbers of persons. f W ..

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HER INSIGNIA The ARLINGTON Crest takes its form and design from the ancient symbols of heraldry which through the ages have represented particular acts of valor, hereditary honors, and other notable distinctions of nobility. Historically, the basic design of these shields has been any of a variety of shapes: round, square, oval, triangular, or the traditional heart- shaped shield. This last design has long beenxmost favored and has been selected as the,basic1crestfor the ARLINGTON. The placement of descriptive de- vices upon the shield is symbolic of specific charac- teristics of the bearer. In the ARLINGTON Crest, the placement of the United States Naval Communi- cations Emblem in the center of the shield refers to the head of the bearer and implies that the achieve- ment represented is one of great intelligence and wisdom. The metals and colors used to emblazon shield of arms also have specific symbolic refer- ences. Gold was selected for the ARLINGTON Crest as it exceeds all other metals in value, pur- ity, and fineness. It is aspired that the ARLINGTON can approach these standards of professional ex- cellence in the performance of its mission. The colors refer to personal qualities. Red has tradi- tionally represented blood, shed in defense of one's country, Blue symbolizes men worthy of trust and confidence, and finally, Black depicts men of con- stant and faithful character. It is expected that the crew of the ARLINGTON will demonstrate these personal qualities in pursuit of their mission. The broad V on the shield, historically known as the Pile , is a traditional emblem of stability, of a sure foundation, and of firm and unwavering support. Finally, the Latin inscription, UBI ACTIO EST fWhere there is Action or Where the Action ish iS taken from teletype Reperforator tape where it is commonly inscribed. It is appropriately symbolic of our mission. , I