Pine Island (AV 12) - Naval Cruise Book

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HI ORY USS PINE ISLAND was built at the Los Angeles Drydock Shipbuilding Corporation, San Pedro, California, by the Todd Shipbuilding Company. On 26 February 1944, she slid down the ways, she was commissioned on the 26th of April 1945. Shortly after commissioning, PINE ISLAND was headed for WESTPAC where she was destined to serve most of the rest of World War II in advance base seaplane tender operations. She was 'assigned to a Task Group engaged in Air-Sea Rescue Operations. At the end of the war, PINE ISLAND put in at Tokyo Bay until occupation of Japan was completed. In April of 1946, the long awaited and Lmusual cruise home began, a trip around the world. Enroute to the U, S, East Coast, the ship made calls at Sasebo, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo, Ceylon, Aden, Alexandria, Egypt, Naples, Italy, Algiers, through the Straits of Gibraltar, thence to Praia Terceira, in the Azores, finally arriving at Norfolk, Virginia. In December of 1946, Rear Admiral Richard E, BYRD assumed command of PINE ISLAND, a unit of Operation HIGH-JUMP. The ship sailed to the frigid operating area of the Antarctic and remained there for two months conducting extensive experiments with military equipment in the extreme cold. These were initial opera- tions in preparation for the Antarctic Operations of the International Geophysical Year. The ship returned to the States via Rio de Janeiro and the Panama Canal to her new home port, San Diego. From 1947 until she was decommissioned in May of 1950, she was deployed to the Far East off the China mainland. After hostilities broke out in Korea, PINE ISLAND was put back into commission on 7 October 1950 and manned almost entirely by a reserve crew. Almost immediately she departed for Yokosuka and Iwakuni for seaplane operations under Commander Fleet Air Wing SIX, Later that year, a change of command switched operational control to Commander Fleet Air Wing ONE. During this time, patrol planes were making reconnaissance patrols over enemy waters, obtaining valuable data. After a tour of nine months, PINE ISLAND returned to the States. In recent cruises, PINE ISLAND has been the flagship of Commander Patrol Force, SEVENTH Fleet, who also commands the Taiwan Patrol Force made up of the seaplane tender, the deployed patrol squadrons and the assigned destroyers.

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