USS Castle Rock (AVP-35)

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USS Castle Rock (AVP-35)
USS Castle Rock (AVP-35) off Houghton, Washington, on 6 October 1944, two days before commissioning.
Career (United States)
Name: USS Castle Rock
Namesake: Castle Rock, an island in Alaska
Builder: Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington
Laid down: 12 July 1943
Launched: 11 March 1944
Sponsored by: Mrs. R. W. Cooper
Commissioned: 8 October 1944
Decommissioned: 6 August 1946
Fate: Loaned to United States Coast Guard 16 September 1948
Permanently transferred to Coast Guard 26 September 1966
Notes: Served as Coast Guard cutter USCGC Castle Rock (WAVP-383), later WHEC-383, 1948-1971
Served in South Vietnamese Navy as patrol vessel RVNS Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05) 1971-1975
Served in Philippine Navy as patrol vessel BRP Francisco Dagohoy (PF-10) 1975-1985
Discarded March 1993
General characteristics
Class and type: Barnegat-class small seaplane tender
Displacement: 1,766 tons (light)
2,592 tons (trial)
Length: 310 ft 9 in (94.72 m)
Beam: 41 ft 2 in (12.55 m)
Draft: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) (lim.)
Installed power: 6,000 horsepower (4.48 megawatts)
Propulsion: Diesel engines, two shafts
Speed: 18.2 knots
Complement: 215 (ship's company)
367 (including aviation unit)
Sensors and
processing systems:
Radar; sonar
Armament: 1 x 5-inch (127-millimeter) gun
1 x quadruple 40-mm antiaircraft gun mount
2 x twin 40-mm gun mounts
6 x 20-mm antiaircraft guns
2 x depth charge tracks
Aviation facilities: Supplies, spare parts, repairs, and berthing for one seaplane squadron; 80,000 U.S. gallons (302,833 liters) aviation fuel

USS Castle Rock (AVP-35) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946.

Construction and commissioning

File:USS Castle Rock (AVP-35) launching.jpg
USS Castle Rock (AVP-35) is launched on 11 March 1944 at Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington.
Castle Rock was laid down on 12 July 1943 at Houghton, Washington, by the Lake Washington Shipyard, and was launched on 11 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. R. W. Cooper. She commissioned on 8 October 1944 with Commander G. S. James, Jr., in command.

U.S. Navy service 1944-1946

World War II

Castle Rock stood out of San Diego, California, on 18 December 1944 bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Eniwetok, where she arrived on 28 January 1945. Assigned to escort convoys between Saipan, Guam, and Ulithi Atoll until 20 March 1945, Castle Rock then took up duties of tending seaplanes at Saipan. Her seaplanes carried out varied air operations, including reconnaissance, search, and hunter-killer activities, while Castle Rock herself also performed local escort duties.

Post-World War II

On 28 November 1945, Castle Rock sailed from Saipan for Guam, where she embarked a group assigned to study Japanese defenses on Chichi Jima and Truk. This continued until 5 January 1946, when Castle Rock returned to seaplane tender operations at Saipan.

Castle Rock left Saipan on 9 March 1946, arriving at San Francisco, California, on 27 March 1946. She was decommissioned there on 6 August 1946

United States Coast Guard service 1948-1971

On 16 September 1948, Castle Rock was loaned to the United States Coast Guard, which commissioned her on 18 December 1948 as the cutter USCGC Castle Rock (WAVP-383), later being reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesinated WHEC-383. While in Coast Guard service, her primary duty was to patrol ocean stations, reporting weather data and engaging in search-and-rescue and law-enforcement operations. She also performed combat duty in the Vietnam War for a few months in 1971. The Coast Guard decommissioned her on 21 December 1971.

Foreign service

South Vietnamese service

On 21 December 1971, Castle Rock was transferred to South Vietnam, which commissioned her as patrol vessel RVNS Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05). In January 1974, Tran Binh Trong was part of a South Vietnamese that fought in the Paracel Islands against ships of the People's Republic of China in the Battle of the Paracel Islands.

When the South Vietnamese government collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, Tran Binh Trong fled to the Philippines.

Philippine Navy service

In April 1976, the ship was transferred to the Republic of the Philippines, which commissioned her into the Philippine Navy as patrol vessel BRP Francisco Dagohoy (PF-10), seving as such until decommissioned in June 1985. She was discarded in March 1993, and probably scrapped.

References