Last anchored off Vung Tau, the ship left for the US in late 1972, stopping at Guam and Hawaii before transiting the Panama Canal and returning to its home base at Corpus Christi, Texas, arriving in December 1972.

The seaplane tender shifted thence to Havana on the morning of 18 February, and over the days which followed her captain made the usual formal calls dictated by diplomatic protocol.

In Havana harbor, Albemarle dressed ship for Washington's Birthday, her 21-gun salute to the American national holiday returned gun-for-gun by the Cuban gunboat Yarn.

[4] Diverted while en route, Albemarle anchored in the harbor at San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the morning of 28 February, and that afternoon received the official call of Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Commandant of the 10th Naval District.

She sailed for Newport on the morning of 10 April, and soon after standing out into international waters past the Virginia Capes, met her escort for the trip – six "flush-deck" destroyers, one of which was the ill-fated Reuben James.

[4] Albemarle then anchored in the harbor of refuge, off Block Island, late on the afternoon of 11 April and, accompanied by the destroyer Truxtun, calibrated her radio direction finders.

Over the next few days, the seaplane tender operated in local waters, at Narragansett Bay, off Martha's Vineyard and Quonset Point, running drills of various kinds and conducting target practices.

On that day, the Bismarck, which had left Norwegian waters shortly before in company with the Prinz Eugen on what was to be a raiding cruise into the Atlantic, encountered and destroyed the British battle cruiser HMS Hood.

An anxious Prime Minister Winston Churchill, concerned over the convoy routes that lay open to the powerful German battleship, immediately cabled President Franklin D. Roosevelt and requested American help.

They encountered foul weather and very dangerous flying conditions in the course of their extensive searches, did not find their quarry in the murk, and were compelled by the fog and darkness to seek haven at various bays in Newfoundland, Labrador, Quebec, and adjoining islands.

On the day that Japanese planes attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941, Albemarle lay at NOB Norfolk, embarking passengers before she was scheduled to get underway for anchorage at Lynnhaven Roads.

She ultimately left Reykjavík on 19 January, steaming initially at greatly reduced speed because of the tempest, shaping course for Argentia, where she would embark passengers for transportation to Norfolk.

Underway on 15 May with Mayo and Benson as escorts, the seaplane tender reached her destination on the 17th, unloaded the planes she had brought, and immediately set sail for Narragansett Bay.

Damaging her starboard screw at Coco Solo, the seaplane tender was ordered drydocked for repairs; after transiting the Panama Canal for the first time on 15 September, she entered dry dock at Balboa on the following day.

Upon completion of that cycle of operations, she underwent repairs and alterations at the Boston Navy Yard between 15 June and 23 July 1943, departing on the latter date for Norfolk, whence she resumed her cargo-carrying and transport run to Trinidad, Recife, San Juan and Guantánamo Bay.

She then steamed to Casablanca in company with the amphibious command ship Catoctin and two destroyers, and, among her passengers on the westward bound trip, were 20 German U-boat sailors, prisoners of war.

Loading cargo at the end of that period, including 29 dive bombers, Albemarle again shaped a course for North African waters, the seaplane tender making arrival at Casablanca on 20 June.

Reporting to Commander, Fleet Air Wing 11, for temporary duty, she tended Patrol Bombing Squadrons (VPB) 201 and 210 at "Gitmo" until 17 January, when the seaplane tender sailed for Coco Solo, arriving at her destination on the 19th.

Albemarle's mission was to bring back to the United States those patrol squadrons whose task in the Atlantic had been completed with the end of the War in Europe, and whose presence was required in the still-active Pacific theater.

With repairs carried out to the ventilation and berthing arrangements, the seaplane tender departed Norfolk on 25 September with 2,000 Navy replacements embarked, bound for the Canal Zone.

Following a second round-trip voyage to Samar, in the Philippines, and back, Albemarle underwent a three-month overhaul at the Naval Shipyard, Terminal Island, California in preparation for her participation in Operation Crossroads.

She observed the second test ("Baker") on that day, and after spending a brief period at Bikini departed Kwajalein Atoll for Pearl Harbor, reaching her destination on 5 August, her part in "Crossroads" completed.

Departing Newport on the 23rd with ComTraComdLant embarked, Albemarle returned to Norfolk on the 24th, remaining in that vicinity, conducting refresher training and routine upkeep, until 30 June, when she sailed for Boston.

Specially altered for the task, Albemarle served as the laboratory ship during "Sandstone" – a three-detonation nuclear atmospheric test series – shots "X-Ray" (15 April), "Yoke" (1 May) and "Zebra" (15 May).

Proceeding thence back to Guantanamo, concluding her shakedown on 21 January, Albemarle steamed thence to San Juan and Trinidad, carrying out tending operations with four squadrons of Martin P5M Marlin flying boats and participating in "Springboard" exercises.

Her ports and places visited in 1959 encompassed the naval air facility at Patuxent River, Maryland; Pillsbury Sound, in the Virgin Islands; San Juan, and Savannah, Georgia; Halifax and Nova Scotia, Canada; New York City; Yorktown, Virginia, Port-au-Prince; Guantánamo Bay and Bermuda.

Frank S. Besson, commanding general of AMC, recognizing Sullivan's unique background in converting the Liberty Ships and his Army helicopter experience, assigned him as project officer for Operation Flat Top.

Converted at the Charleston Naval Shipyard to an Aircraft Repair Ship, Helicopter, Corpus Christi Bay emerged from the yard only faintly resembling her former self.

[8] Accepted by MSC in January 1966, Corpus Christi Bay's first commander was Captain Harry Anderson, who had a crew of 129 men, a fraction of the ship's original complement, under him.

Last anchored off Vung Tau, the ship left for the US in late 1972, stopping at Guam, Hawaii, and going through the Panama Canal up to its home base of Corpus Christi, Texas, arriving in December 1972.