Currituck (AV 7) - Naval Cruise Book

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After months of hard work, the CURRITUCK shed its moth balls and emerged from its cocoon in an impressive recommissioning ceremony at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 1 August 1951. A large crowd turned out on a very hot day. Guest and crew alike felt a thrill as the Stars and Stripes once more waved over the CURRITUCK. After the ceremony, dependents and dignitaries looked the ship over, and helped the ship ' s company eat several cakes. When it was all over, the Navy had gained a new sea-plane tender and many new friends. eoMt ia tut Captain reports aboard Colors Welcome Mayor Samuels Commissioning Orders read Behind the scene

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History One of the Navy ' s most unusual auxiliaries, the CURRI- TUCK was built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, with her keel laid in December of 1942. Named after Currituck Sound, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the vessel is 540 feet long and 71 feet wide with two giant airplane cranes. She has many of the facilities of a large aircraft carrier, except that the tender uses the surrounding water to launch and recover her planes. Seaplanes are designed primarily for patrol and anti- submarine warfare, with Navy ships like the CURRITUCK equipped to repair and service as many as 18 long range, radar equipped aircraft. During the last half of 1944, the 14,000 ton vessel was the Flagship for the Commander Aircraft, Seventh Fleet, serving in the New Guinea area as a combination tender and troop transport. She soon established a reputation as the Navy ' s floating hotel after 1700 battle-weary GI ' s sampled the ship ' s excellent food and spacious quarters. On the morning of 14 November the ship was attacked by Jap fighters and her gunners succeeded in shooting down one plane. Later on, in the Lingayen invasion, she was perilled by a combination of Jap bombers, midget subs, and suicide swimmers. But her closest call came from three Japanese prisoners of war who were brought on board. A careful search by their sailor guards revealed that each man was concealing a deadly charge of explosive, enough to blow the gasoline laden ship sky high! Successfully weathering the Okinawan typhoon, the CURRITUCK completed its first and only war- time cruise by returning to the United States after sixteen months overseas. During the winter of 1946-47, the seaplane tender partici- pated in Operation High Jump, Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd ' s second Antarctic expedition. She covered over three- quarters of the coastline of Antarctica, much of it uncharted territory, and continuously serviced three patrol bombers in the open sea. These hardy PBM ' s were used for photographic missions and the extreme cold necessitated a high degree of cooperation between ship and plane personnel. On her return from the scientific expedition, the CURRITUCK joined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Base on 30 April 1947, and was taken out of commission on 7 August 1947. With the outbreak of the Korean War, many ships of the reserve fleet were called back to active duty. The U.S.S. CURRITUCK (AV-7) was re-commissioned 1 August 1951, af the Philadelphia Naval Base.

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