The second USS Barnegat (AVP-10), in commission from 1941 to 1946, was the lead ship of her class of small seaplane tenders built for the United States Navy just before and during World War II.

After the end of her U.S. Navy career, the former Barnegat operated as the Greek cruise ship MV Kentavros from 1962, and finally was scrapped in 1986.

Barnegat was laid down on 27 October 1939 at Bremerton, Washington, by the Puget Sound Navy Yard and launched on 23 May 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Lucien F. Kimball.

For the next three months, Barnegat remained at Puget Sound, conducting sea trials and testing equipment, such as her large aircraft handling crane.

Underway from the Boston Navy Yard on 1 May 1942, Barnegat transited the Cape Cod Canal later that day, anchoring for the evening in Buzzard's Bay on the Massachusetts coast.

Later, on 14 August 1942, she got underway from Skagafjörður to salvage a German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor reconnaissance plane that had been shot down by a United States Army fighter from Gaetta Light.

330 Squadron based at Akureyri, Iceland, support evolutions aided by a Norwegian-speaking member of the Ship's company who served as interpreter.

Men on board worked lifelines and tended knotted lines, grapnels, and lifebuoys, as she struggled against the elements to maintain proper position for a rescue.

On 27 October 1942, Barnegat arrived at Lissahally, Ireland, where found another set of sailing orders waiting: She was to participate in Operation Torch, the Allied landings in French North Africa.

Assigned to antisubmarine patrol and escort, Barnegat took up station inshore of six transports and two cargo ships whose assault troops were already in the boats.

Vichy French batteries returned fire within 10 minutes but, later, shifted their aim to the transports, forcing them to move out to sea.

On 9 November 1942, Barnegat received orders to ascend the Wadi Sebou to establish an air base at Port Lyautey, French Morocco.

On 10 November 1942, destroyer USS Dallas (DD-199) led steamer SS Contessa up the Wadi Sebou to Port Lyautey, where U.S. Army troops landed and took the nearby airstrip.

Barnegat received orders to proceed to the United States with Convoy GUF 2A, and she headed homeward on 12 December 1942.

Chronic bad weather plagued the convoy, and it fell to Barnegat to escort three stragglers from Bermuda to New York City.

Ignoring the flooded sound room, additional weight forward apparently giving some advantage in heavy seas, her damage control parties pumped out the magazine spaces.

She also served briefly as a target during exercises held off Block Island and escorted the tanker SS Sabine Sun from Argentia to Boston late in April 1943.

Those repairs done, Barnegat made a brief trip north, touching at Natal and Recife before returning south with the tanker SS Gulfport.

Her presence there having been dictated by the recent rash of sinkings by U-boats in the region, after taking a load of gasoline from Gulfport, Barnegat departed Rio de Janeiro on 17 July 1943 for Florianópolis, Brazil, less than 500 nautical miles (930 km) in a straight-line distance from Rio de Janeiro, as part of the temporary measures to meet the U-boat threat.

At 07:02, PBM-3C "74-P-5", flown by Lieutenant, junior grade, Roy S. Whitcomb, took off from San Miguel, Florianópolis, on an antisubmarine sweep.

The U-boat absorbed the full impact of at least two direct hits; two depth charges straddled the submarine and two others struck her deck.

The gathering darkness prevented Barnegat from locating more survivors, and she finally ceased her efforts shortly after midnight.

Among the planes so tasked, the PBM-3C that had sunk U-513 carried out a routine antisubmarine sweep in advance of the convoy when its radar raised a contact.

This proved to be U-199, a Type IXD U-boat on her maiden war patrol and U-513's collaborator in the recent campaign against Allied shipping.

The Mariner's machine guns swept the decks, while the plane straddled U-199 with a stick of six bombs that showered the submarine with tons of spray.

Between 05:20 and 05:40, U-199's men disembarked under heavy guard, en route to the airport and a speedy trip to the United States for a thorough interrogation.

Barnegat remained in Brazilian waters into the spring of 1944, operating at Bahia, Recife, Natal, Fortaleza, Fernando de Noronha, São Luís, and Florianópolis.

Barnegat established an independent air base at Tagus Cove, enabling the patrol bombers to extend their coverage farther off the coast of South America than previously possible.

Occasionally, Barnegat also carried out salvage and rescue operations out of Coco Solo, participating in a search for a lost Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter pilot in March 1945 and assisting some downed PBM Mariners in June 1945.

Shifting on 17 December 1945 to a berth alongside destroyer escort USS Reuben James (DE-153), Barnegat spent the remainder of 1945 there.