| 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 frigate RVNS Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05) 1971-1975 Served in Philippine Navy as frigate BRP Francisco Dagohoy (PF-10) 1979-1985 Discarded March 1993 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & 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 (33.7 km/h)s |
| Complement: |
215 (ship's company) 367 (including aviation unit) |
| Sensors and processing systems: | Radar; sonar |
| Armament: |
1 x 5-inch (127 mm) 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 US gallons (300,000 L) 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[]
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.
[]
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[]
USCGC Castle Rock (WHEC-383) on 1 May 1969.
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.
[]
In 5 April 1976, the ship was transferred to the Republic of the Philippines, and on 23 June 1979 which commissioned her into the Philippine Navy as frigate RPS (later BRP) Francisco Dagohoy (PF-10), serving as such until decommissioned in June 1985. She was discarded in March 1993, and probably scrapped.
References[]
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Castle Rock (AVP-35), 1944-1948
- NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive USS Castle Rock (AVP-35) USCGC Castle Rock (WAVP-383 WHEC-383)
- United States Coast Guard Historian's Office: Castle Rock, 1948 AVP-35; WAVP / WHEC-383
- Chesneau, Roger. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books, Inc., 1980. ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.
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The original article can be found at USS Castle Rock (AVP-35) and the edit history here.