USS Chincoteague

USS Chincoteague (AVP-24) was a United States Navy seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1946 that saw service in the Pacific during World War II.

Chincoteague departed San Diego, California, on 13 June 1943 for Saboe Bay in the Santa Cruz Islands, where she arrived on 6 July 1943 to support the New Guinea campaign as tender for Fleet Air Wing 1 (FAW-1).

On 16 July 1943 the Japanese launched eight air attacks at Saboe Bay, killing nine of Chincoteague's crew and damaging the ship badly with one direct bomb hit and two near misses.

Similar operations at Ulithi Atoll followed until 8 June 1945, when she sailed for an overhaul on the United States West Coast, where she was when World War II ended with the cessation of hostilities with Japan on 15 August 1945.

On postwar occupation duty, Chincoteague sailed to the East Asia to care for seaplanes at Okinawa and Qingdao, China, between 18 October 1945 and 16 March 1946.

Barnegat-class ships were very reliable and seaworthy and had good habitability, and the Coast Guard viewed them as ideal for ocean station duty, in which they would perform weather reporting and search and rescue tasks, once they were modified by having a balloon shelter added aft and having oceanographic equipment, an oceanographic winch, and a hydrographic winch installed.

In December 1955, Chincoteague took the disabled merchant ship Canadian Observer under tow to keep her from going aground off the south coast of Newfoundland in Canada.

On 30 October 1956, Chincoteague rescued 33 crewmen from the West German merchant ship Helga Bolten in the North Atlantic by using two inflatable lifeboats during heavy seas.

They were originally scheduled to sail to Subic Bay in the Philippine Islands, but were diverted to the U.S. Navy base at Apra Harbor, Guam.

Reinforcements arrived for both sides over the next three days, including Lý Thường Kiệt's sister ship Trần Bình Trọng, which appeared on the scene on 18 January 1974 with the commander of the Republic of Vietnam Navy, Captain Hà Văn Ngạc, aboard.

On 22 and 23 May 1975, a U.S. Coast Guard team inspected Lý Thường Kiệt and five of her sister ships, which also had fled to the Philippines in April 1975.

[11] She became well known as the ship in which renegade Colonel Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, leader of a nearly successful coup against the Corazon Aquino government, was detained after his capture in December 1987.

[12] The Philippine Navy made plans to reactivate Andrés Bonifacio as an auxiliary fleet flagship in 1995,[13][14] but this never took place due to a lack of funds.

She eventually sank at her berthing area in Fort San Felipe, part of the Sangley Point Naval Base at Cavite City on Luzon.

Her hulk's sale helped the Philippine Navy to finance an upgrade program for its three Jacinto class corvettes.

USCGC Chincoteague (WAVP-375) in 1964, before the Coast Guard ' s adoption of the " racing stripe " markings on its ships.
Andrés Bonifacio (PF-7) in Manila Bay .