Duxbury Bay (AVP 38) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 7 text:

r1v' B Y AVP-33 on 3 May 1949. On this cruise she visited Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Manila, Singapore, Colombo and numerous ports in the Persian Gulf where she paused for a month to serve as flagship for Com- mander Persian Gulf Area. In October of 1949 she took part in cold weather exercises acting as a seaplane base at Halifax, Nova Scotia. In January 1950 she began her present duty as flagship for Commander Middle East Force and has visited such places in the Middle East as Karachi, Pakistan, Colombo, Ceylon, Madras, India Trincomalle, Ceylon, Cochin, India and Various por turn trips she has been to Port Suez, Port Said, E gyptg Naples , Gibralter, Athens , Greece and other Med iterranean ports. The DUXBURY BAY is painted white due to the extreme temperatures in which she Works, and is air conditioned for the comfort of her crew. She is a proud ship and has served well in demon- strating the American way of life to the world. ts in the Persian Gulf itself. On her re-

Page 6 text:

. S. S. DUXBURY The U.S,S, DUXBURY BAY QAVP-385 is a small seaplane tender 310 feet long and 42 feet wide. When fully manned 'she has a compliment of 250 men. As a seaplane tender her primary mis- sion entails providing fuel, oil, maintenance, and all other services required by the seaplane she tends, However, for the past 7 years she has acted periodically as flagship for Commander Middle East Force. The Dux startedher career on 2 October 1944 when she was launched at the Lake Washing' ton Shipyard, Kirkland, Washington receiving her name from Duxbury Bay Massachusetts. She WHS commissioned at' the same shipyard on 31 December 1944, and saw her first action during an air at- tack in Okinawa on May 1945 suffering minor damage and losing one man - her only fatality during World War II. In 1946, 1947 and 1948 she made three Far East cruises and in March of 1949 was underway for around-the-world cruise whichbegan in San Diego, California and terminated in Norfolk, Virginia

Page 8 text:

WE THE CREW AND OFFICERS OF THE U. S. S. DUXBURY BAY CAVP-385, having set sail on the Third of October, Nineteen Hundred and Fifty-seven for our annual cruise to the Persian Gulf, do present to our families and friends this cruise book to be a lasting memory of our experiences and life during our time spent in the Middle East.