Seaplane Tender: Barnegat Class

[Brian James]

Kerama Retto, April, 1945. This lagoon (20 miles SW of Okinawa) was a refuge for many of the ships which were damaged by Kamikazes off Okinawa. It was also a base for a number of Flying Boat Squadrons. The ship in the foreground is the Barnegat Class Small Seaplane Tender USS Bering Strait, which served as the "mother ship" to VH-3, an Air Sea Rescue Squadron which operated Martin PBM Mariner Flying Boats, some of which can be seen anchored nearby. Their task was to rescue downed airmen, off the coast of Japan, which they frequently accomplished under fire from enemy aircraft or shore batteries. VH-3 rescued a total of 181 airmen.

[Brian James]

Barnegat Class Small Seaplane Tender USS Casco pictured as she enters the dry dock at Navy Yard Puget Sound, for repair of battle damage,September 27th 1942.
While lying at anchor in Nazan Bay on August 30th 1942, Casco was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine RO-61. The resulting explosion killed five of her men and wounded 20, but prompt and clearheaded action brought flooding to a halt and got the ship underway so that she could be beached and later salvaged. Casco was refloated on September 12th 1942, and, after emergency repairs at Dutch Harbor and Kodiak, she received a thorough overhaul at Puget Sound Navy Yard.

[Brian James]

Barnegat Class Small Seaplane Tender USS Floyds Bay pictured in 1948.

[Brian James]

Lead Ship,Seaplane Tender USS Barnegat pictured at Puget Sound in 1941.

[Brian James]

Barnegat Class Small Sea-Plane Tender USS Unimak pictured at Seattle on January 31st 1944.

[Brian James]

Barnegat Class Small Seaplane Tender USS Shelikof pictured sporting her Measure 32 Design 2Ax camouflage livery, off Lake Washington Shipyards at Houghton, Washington on April 26th 1944.

[Brian James]

Barnegat Class Small Seaplane Tenders USS Casco and sister USS Mackinac pictured being cold moved, post launch to Berth 6A at Puget Sound Navy Yard on November 15th 1941.

[Brian James]

Unsung workhorses, Barnegat Class Small Seaplane Tender USS Chincoteague pictured in 1945.....She was in commission from 1943 to 1946 and saw service in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Chincoteague (WAVP-375), later WHEC-375, from 1949 to 1972. She was transferred to South Vietnam in 1972 and was commissioned into service with the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the Frigate RVNS Lý Thường Kiệt (HQ-16), seeing combat in the Battle of the Paracel Islands in 1974. When South Vietnam collapsed at the conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975, she fled to the Philippines, where she was commissioned into the Philippine Navy, serving as the Frigate RPS (later BRP) Andrés Bonifacio (PF-7) from 1976 to 1985.