Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1692 and is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce is referred to as La Perla del Sur, La Ciudad Señorial, La Ciudad de las Quenepas; the city serves as the governmental seat of the autonomous municipality as well as the regional hub for various Government of Puerto Rico entities, such as the Judiciary of Puerto Rico. It is the regional center for various other Commonwealth and Federal Government agencies; the Municipality of Ponce the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, is located in the southern coastal plain region of the island, south of Adjuntas and Jayuya. The municipality has a total of 31 barrios, including 19 outside the city's urban area and 12 in the urban area of the city; the historic Ponce Pueblo district, located in the downtown area of the city, is shared by several of the downtown barrios, is located three miles inland from the shores of the Caribbean.
Ponce is a principal city of both the Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Ponce-Yauco-Coamo Combined Statistical Area. The municipality of Ponce is the second largest in Puerto Rico by land area, it was the first in Puerto Rico to obtain its autonomy, becoming the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce in 1992; the region of what is now Ponce belonged to the Taíno Guaynia region, which stretched along the southern coast of Puerto Rico. Agüeybaná, a cacique who led the region, was among those who greeted Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León when he came to the island in 1508. Archaeological findings have identified four sites within the municipality of Ponce with archeological significance: Canas, Caracoles, El Bronce. During the first years of the colonization, Spanish families started settling around the Jacaguas River, in the south of the island. For security reasons, these families moved to the banks of the Rio Portugués called Baramaya. Starting around 1646 the whole area from the Rio Portugués to the Bay of Guayanilla was called Ponce.
In 1670, a small chapel was raised in the middle of the small settlement and dedicated in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Among its earliest settlers were Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the Portuguese Don Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán, from nearby San Germán. On 17 September 1692, the King of Spain Carlos II issued a Cédula Real converting the chapel into a parish, in so doing recognizing the small settlement as a hamlet, it is believed that Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, Juan Ponce de León's great-grandson, was instrumental in obtaining the royal permit to formalize the founding of the hamlet. Captains Enrique Salazar and Miguel del Toro were instrumental; the city is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. In the early 18th century Don Antonio Abad Rodriguez Berrios built a small chapel under the name of San Antonio Abad; the area would receive the name of San Antón, a important part of modern Ponce. In 1712 the village was chartered as El Poblado de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Ponce.
In the early 19th century, Ponce continued to be one of dozens of hamlets. Its inhabitants survived by subsistence agriculture, cattle raising, maritime contraband with foreigners. Mayor José Benítez categorized the jurisdiction into cotos, criaderos, monterías, terrenos realengos. Cotos were lands awarded to residents as reward for their services to the king, they were developed into lands apt to be cultivated for agricultural use. Hatos were lands not granted to anyone in particular, but available for communal use where cattle could roam at will. Monterías were hilly areas located next to hatos were cattle could be reigned in or gathered together with the help of trained dogs. Criaderos were lands. Goats, pigs and mares were herded in criaderos. Terrenos realengos were lands. However, in the 1820s, three events took place that changed the size of the town; the first of these events was the arrival of a significant number of white Francophones, fleeing the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1804. The effect of this mass migration was not felt until the 1820s.
These French Creole entrepreneurs were attracted to the area because of its large flatlands, they came with enough capital and commercial connections to stimulate Ponce's sugarcane production and sales. Secondly and merchants migrated from various Latin American countries, they had migrated for better conditions, as they were leaving economic decline following the revolutions and disruption of societies as nations gained independence from Spain in the 1810s-1820s. Third, the Spanish Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 attracted numerous European immigrants to Puerto Rico, it encouraged any citizen of a country politically friendly to Spain to settle in Puerto Rico as long as they converted to the Catholic faith and agreed to work in the agricultural business. With such mass migrations, not only the size of the town was changed, but the character of its population was changed as well. Europeans, including many Protestants, immigrated from a variety of nations. On 29 July 1848, as a result of this explosive growth, the Ponce haml
USS Storm King (AP-171)
USS Storm King was a Storm King class auxiliary transport of the United States Navy. She was designed as a troop carrier, named after Storm King Mountain. Storm King was laid down under Maritime Commission contract on 20 July 1943 by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, North Carolina. Harold D. Krick in command. Storm King moved to Staten Island, New York, on 10 February 1944 where she was converted into a troop transport, she departed New York on 3 March for shakedown out of Virginia. The ship was loaded troops and cargo; the following week, she sailed for Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 1 May. Storm King spent much of the rest of the month rehearsing amphibious landings in preparation for the invasion of the Marianas; the task force sortied on 29 May, refueled at Eniwetok, arrived off Saipan early on the morning of 15 June, "D-Day." The transport off-loaded troops of the 23rd Marines and supplies, began taking casualties on board on the 16th. She got underway for Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor.
Storm King arrived at Pearl Harbor on 11 July and was assigned to the 3rd Amphibious Force and the conquest of the Palaus. Following rehearsal landings until 12 August, the transport sailed for Guadalcanal where the task force remained until 8 September when it sortied for the Palaus; the ships were at the Palaus on 15 September when elements of the 1st Marine Division assaulted Peleliu, but Storm King and her troops were held in reserve for two days. On 17 September, she began landing her troops for the assault on Anguar; the last unit was landed on 22 September, the ship sailed the next day for Manus, Admiralty Islands. Storm King, now attached to the 7th Amphibious Force, sailed out of Seeadler Harbor on 5 October for New Guinea. She, on the 9th, loaded troops and cargo; that afternoon, she moved to the next day completed loading. On 13 October, she steamed to Hollandia; the next day, she sortied with Task Group 78.6, Reinforcement Group One, for the Philippines. The transport arrived at San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on 22 October and sailed that afternoon for Kossol Passage.
She was there from the 25th to the 28th. Storm King arrived at Guam, on 31 October, her sailing orders were modified en route on November 11, she arrived at Seeadler Harbor on 17 November. Two days she was underway for Leyte and entered Leyte Gulf on 23 November. Storm King anchored off Tarranguna and began unloading men and supplies; the next afternoon, the transport sailed with her group for New Guinea. Storm King arrived at Humboldt Bay on 29 November and was ordered to join the flotilla preparing for the Lingayen operations. 14 December found her at Sansapor. She proceeded to the Philippine Islands; the transport was anchored off Luzon about dawn on 9 January 1945 and began landing her assault troops. When her boats returned at 1130, Storm King began unloading vehicles and cargo and had all ashore by 1614; that evening, she remained there from 12 to 18 January. Storm King sailed to New Guinea, with the 3rd Lingayen Reinforcement Group, she loaded cargo on 23 January. Her objective was changed from Lingayen to Mindoro.
She accompanied Lamar and Starlight to Samar where they delivered boats from transports returning to Pearl Harbor, on 15 February and returned to San Pedro. Storm King received orders to proceed, via Ulithi, to Pearl Harbor and sailed on 18 February for Hawaii. However, when she arrived at Ulithi, she was ordered to Iwo Jima, she was off that island from 10 to 17 March before she anchored in the transport area on the west coast of Iwo Jima. She loaded men and equipment of the 5th Marine Division and sailed for Hawaii, via Eniwetok, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 12 April; the next day, she sailed for Hilo and disembarked the troops and cargo. Upon completion of offloading on 15 April, Storm King got underway for the United States; the transport arrived at San Francisco on 22 April for a scheduled upkeep. Upon completion of repairs, she loaded cargo and passengers. Storm King arrived the following week, she picked up others for transportation to Okinawa. After calling at Eniwetok and Ulithi, she reached Buckner Bay on 14 July.
Storm King headed for the Marianas. They arrived at Guam the next day, she discharged her cargo and passengers. After voyage repairs, she loaded ammunition, 1,400 troops for transportation to the Philippines. Eight days she was en route to Pearl Harbor with 1,389 passengers; that night, 26 September, at 2325, a native banca was seen off the transport's starboard bow. Storm King maneuver
Mayaguez incident
The Mayaguez incident took place between Kampuchea and the United States from May 12–15, 1975, less than a month after the Khmer Rouge took control of the capital Phnom Penh ousting the U. S. backed Khmer Republic. It was the last official battle of the Vietnam War; the names of the Americans killed, as well as those of three U. S. Marines who were left behind on the island of Koh Tang after the battle and were subsequently executed by the Khmer Rouge, are the last names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; the merchant ship's crew, whose seizure at sea had prompted the U. S. attack, had been released in good health, unknown to the U. S. Marines or the U. S. command of the operation before they attacked. The Marines boarded and recaptured the ship anchored offshore a Cambodian island, finding it empty; the crisis began on the afternoon of May 12, 1975, as the U. S. container ship SS Mayaguez, owned by Sea-Land Service Inc. passed nearby Poulo Wai island en route to Sattahip, Thailand, in waters claimed as 12 nmi of territorial waters by Cambodia.
The U. S. did not recognize 12 nautical miles territorial waters claims at that time, recognizing only 3 nmi, characterised the location as international sea lanes on the high seas. U. S. military reports state that the seizure took place 6 nmi off the island, but crew members brought evidence in a legal action that Mayaguez had sailed about 2 nmi off Poulo Wai and was not flying a flag. At 14:18, a Khmer Rouge naval forces "Swift Boat" was sighted approaching the Mayaguez; the Khmer Rouge fired across the bow of Mayaguez and when Captain Charles T. Miller ordered the engine room to slow down to maneuvering speed to avoid the machine-gun fire, the Khmer Rouge fired a rocket-propelled grenade across the bow of the ship. Captain Miller ordered the transmission of an SOS and stopped the ship. Seven Khmer Rouge soldiers boarded Mayaguez and their leader, Battalion Commander Sa Mean, pointed at a map indicating that the ship should proceed to the east of Poulo Wai. One of the crew members broadcast a Mayday, picked up by an Australian vessel.
Mayaguez arrived off Poulo Wai at 16:00 and a further 20 Khmer Rouge boarded the vessel. Sa Mean indicated that Mayaguez should proceed to Ream on the Cambodian mainland, but Captain Miller showed that the ship's radar was not working and mimed the ship hitting rocks and sinking. Sa Mean radioed his superiors and was instructed to stay at Poulo Wai, dropping anchor at 16:55. Mayaguez was carrying 107 containers of routine cargo, 77 containers of government and military cargo, 90 empty containers, all insured for $5 million; the Khmer Rouge never inspected the containers, exact contents have not been disclosed, but Mayaguez had loaded containers from the U. S. Embassy in Saigon nine days before the fall of Saigon; the captain had a U. S. government envelope only to be opened in special circumstances. Mayaguez's SOS and Mayday signals were picked up by a number of listeners including an employee of Delta Exploration Company in Jakarta, who notified the U. S. Embassy in Jakarta. By 05:12 Eastern Daylight Time the first news of the incident reached the National Military Command Center in Washington, D.
C. President Gerald Ford was informed of the seizure of Mayaguez at his morning briefing with his deputy assistant for national security affairs, Brent Scowcroft. At 12:05 EDT, a meeting of the National Security Council was convened to discuss the situation. Meanwhile, the NMCC ordered Admiral Noel Gayler, the Commander in Chief of the U. S. Pacific Command at the time; the members of the NSC were determined to end the crisis decisively, believing that the fall of South Vietnam less than two weeks before and the forced withdrawal of the United States from Cambodia and South Vietnam had damaged the U. S.'s reputation. They wished to avoid comparisons to the Pueblo incident of 1968, where the failure to promptly use military force to halt the capture of a U. S. intelligence ship by North Korea led to an eleven-month hostage situation. It was determined that keeping her crew away from the Cambodian mainland was essential; as the United States had no diplomatic contact with the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, President Ford instructed Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to urge the People's Republic of China to persuade the Khmer Rouge to release Mayaguez and her crew.
Following the NSC meeting the White House issued a press release stating that President Ford considered the seizure an act of piracy, though this claim did not have foundation in maritime law. Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger ordered the military to locate Mayaguez and prevent her movement to the Cambodian mainland, employing munitions if necessary. Secretary of State Kissinger sent a message to the Chinese Liaison Office in Washington demanding the immediate release of Mayaguez and her crew, but the chief of the Liaison Office refused to accept the note. Kissinger instructed George H. W. Bush head of the U. S. Liaison Office in Beijing, to deliver the note to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and to pass on an oral message that "The Government of the United States demands the immediate release of the vessel and of the full crew. If that release does not take place, the authorities in Phnom Penh will be responsible for the consequences." Following Secretary Schlesinger's instructions, P-3 Orion aircraft stationed at Naval Air Station Cubi Point in the Philippines and at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield in Thailand took off to locate Mayaguez.
The aircraft carrier US
IMO number
The International Maritime Organization number is a unique reference for ships, registered ship owners and management companies. IMO numbers were introduced to reduce maritime fraud, they consist of the three letters "IMO" followed by unique seven-digit numbers, assigned under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. In 1987 the IMO adopted resolution A.600, aimed at the "enhancement of maritime safety and pollution prevention and the prevention of maritime fraud" by assigning to each ship a permanent identification number. The IMO number remains linked to the hull for its lifetime, regardless of changes of names, flags, or owners; the IMO adopted the existing unique 7-digit numbers applied to ships by Lloyd's Register since 1969, which were modified from 6-digit numbers introduced in 1963. SOLAS regulation XI/3, adopted in 1994 and came into force on 1 January 1996, made IMO numbers mandatory, it was applied to cargo vessels that are at least 300 gross tons and passenger vessels of at least 100 gt.
In the SOLAS Convention, "cargo ships" means "ships which are not passenger ships". The IMO scheme does not however apply to: Vessels engaged in fishing Ships without mechanical means of propulsion Pleasure yachts Ships engaged on special service Hopper barges Hydrofoils, air cushion vehicles Floating docks and structures classified in a similar manner Ships of war and troopships Wooden ships In December 2002, the Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Security adopted a number of measures aimed at enhancing security of ships and port facilities; this included a modification to SOLAS Regulation XI-1/3 to require ships' identification numbers to be permanently marked in a visible place either on the ship's hull or superstructure as well as internally and on the ship's certificates. Passenger ships should carry the marking on a horizontal surface visible from the air. In May 2005, IMO adopted a new SOLAS regulation XI-1/3-1 on the mandatory company and registered owner identification number scheme, with entry into force on 1 January 2009.
The regulation provides that every ship owner and management company shall have a unique identification number. Other amendments require these numbers to be added to the relevant certificates and documents in the International Safety Management Code and the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code. Like the IMO ship identification number, the company identification number is a seven-digit number with the prefix IMO. For example, for the ship Atlantic Star, IMO 5304986 referred to the former ship manager Pullmantur Cruises Ship Management Ltd and IMO 5364264 to her former owner, Pullmantur Cruises Empress Ltd. IMO identification numbers for ships and registered owners are assigned by IHS Markit. For new vessels, the IMO number is assigned to a hull during construction upon keel laying. Many vessels which fall outside the mandatory requirements of SOLAS have numbers allocated by Lloyd's Register or IHS Markit in the same numerical series, including fishing vessels and commercial yachts.
An IMO number is made of the three letters "IMO" followed by a seven-digit number. This consists of a six-digit sequential unique number followed by a check digit; the integrity of an IMO number can be verified using its check digit. This is done by multiplying each of the first six digits by a factor of 2 to 7 corresponding to their position from right to left; the rightmost digit of this sum is the check digit. For example, for IMO 9074729: + + + + + = 139. Maritime Mobile Service Identity, used globally as a national alternate to the IMO number ENI number, a comparable system for European barges and other inland waterway vessels IMO Number Requests by IHS Maritime
USS Auburn (AGC-10)
USS Auburn was a Mount McKinley-class amphibious force command ship, named for the hill Mount Auburn just northwest of Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was designed as an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations. Laid down as the Katkay under a Maritime Commission contract on 14 August 1943 at Wilmington, N. C. by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, she was launched on 19 October 1943, sponsored by Miss Julia Raney. She was acquired by the Navy on 31 January 1944 and converted at Hoboken, New Jersey, by the Bethlehem Steel Company, for naval service as an amphibious force flagship, she was renamed the USS Auburn and designated as AGC-10, was commissioned at Hoboken on 20 July 1944, with Capt. Ralph Orsen Myers in command. After conducting shakedown training in Chesapeake Bay, the USS Auburn left Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on 17 August and set a course for the Pacific Ocean.
She transited the Panama Canal on the 23rd and continued on to the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, where she arrived on 6 September. Three days the Auburn became the flagship for the Commander, Amphibious Group 2, Pacific Fleet. On 29 September, she entered Pearl Harbor for an availability. During this time, major alterations were made to her flag bridge, additional water evaporators were installed, minor repairs were completed. In mid-November, the ship began a series of training exercises off Maui in preparation for the invasion of the Volcano Islands; the Auburn left Hawaii on 27 January 1945, made port calls at Eniwetok and Saipan. She reached Tinian in the Marianas in early February. There she began final rehearsals for the assault on Iwo Jima; the actual landings on that island commenced on the 19th. During the operation, the Auburn coordinated and directed the movements of several hundred ships attached to Amphibious Group 2, she remained off Iwo Jima until 27 March, she headed for Pearl Harbor and a well-earned period of rest and recreation for her crew.
The Auburn remained in Hawaiian waters until 15 May. The ship became the flagship for the 5th Amphibious Forces, she controlled operations of hundreds of ships off that bitterly contested island, but escaped damage despite frequent Japanese air attacks. Okinawa was declared secure on 21 June, the Auburn steamed for Pearl Harbor on 1 July 1945, missing the Japanese surrender on August 14. Shortly after her arrival at Pearl Harbor, the Auburn entered a drydock to undergo heavy repairs. While the work was in progress, the Japanese Empire capitulated on 14 August 1945. Four days the Auburn left Hawaii and steamed toward the Philippines. After reaching Luzon, she remained in port at Manila Bay for one month, she departed from that port on 14 September and set a course for Japan via Eniwetok and Buckner Bay, Okinawa. The ship dropped anchor at Japan, on 20 September. Three days the Auburn got underway for Nagasaki. While there, she played an important part in establishing ship-to-shore communications and arranging facilities for occupation troops.
On 25 September, she arrived at Wakayama and began assisting forces in the occupation of Osaka and several other cities to the north. In early October, she moved to Yokohama, her occupation duty ended on 12 October, when she left Japanese waters and headed back to the West Coast of the United States. The Auburn reached Pearl Harbor on 21 October, she remained there a few days before continuing on eastward, she entered San Francisco Bay on 31 October. The ship was commanded to reverse her course on 5 November, she headed back to Hawaii, she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 14 November, she picked up several hundred military passengers for transportation to Norfolk, Virginia. The Auburn set a course for the Panama Canal. After transiting the canal on 29 November, the Auburn reached Norfolk on 7 December 1946. Three days after her arrival at Norfolk, the Auburn became the flagship for the Commander, Training Command, Atlantic Fleet; this assignment continued until January 1947, when the Auburn was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
She underwent deactivation preparations at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Hampton Roads. The Auburn was placed in reserve, out of commission, on 7 May 1947, her name was struck from the Naval Register on 1 July 1960, she was transferred in November 1960 to the Maritime Administration for disposal. The Auburn was sold in 1961 and scrapped; this article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here. Navsource.org: USS Auburn
USS Wasatch (AGC-9)
USS Wasatch was a Mount McKinley-class amphibious force command ship, named after a mountain chain in northern Utah. She was designed as an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations; the ship was laid down as Fleetwing under a Maritime Commission contract on 7 August 1943 at Wilmington, N. C. by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company. Renamed Wasatch and designated AGC-9, the ship was converted for naval use at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va. and commissioned there on 20 May 1944, Capt. Alford M. Granum in command. Following sea trials in Chesapeake Bay, Wasatch sailed for the Pacific on 26 June in company with USS Stafford and USS La Prade, transited the Panama Canal on 3 July, bound for New Guinea; the ship reached Milne Bay at 17:25 on 31 July and ten days embarked Rear Admiral William Fechteler from USS Blue Ridge.
On 7 September, Rear Admiral Daniel E. "Uncle Dan" Barbey, embarked in Wasatch. On 15 September, surface bombardments softened up the invasion beaches. Meanwhile, Wasatch served as the nerve center of the operation. At 18:00, she retired to seaward to await the dawn when she would again close the beach to direct the landing operations. Retaliatory air strikes did not come near the command ship on this occasion, although her war diary notes that a plane was downed ahead in the next group. Anchoring off Doeroba at 08:30 on the 17th, Admiral Barbey directed operations from Wasatch until he shifted his flag to USS Russell to orchestrate the proceedings from there, from 18:09. A half-hour Wasatch, in company with USS McKee, got underway for Humboldt Bay; the AGC prepared for upcoming operations into early October. On the 14th, Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid broke his flag in Wasatch, as Commander, Task Unit 77.1.1. On the following day, the ship — with Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger embarked — got underway for the Philippines, to participate in the first act of the dramatic "return" to the Philippine archipelago.
Entering Surigao Strait at 04:55 on the 20th, Wasatch proceeded up Leyte Gulf. Battleships and destroyers commenced bombarding the Leyte beachhead at 09:20 that morning and, some 40 minutes the first landing craft were churning towards the beach. Throughout the day, Wasatch stood offshore in a position from which the landings could be observed and served as the nerve center for the operation. From the 20th through the 23rd, the ship retired to sea nightly, in company with USS Nashville, USS Ammen, USS Mullany. Enemy air retaliation materialized swiftly in the wake of the American landings. Anchored off "White Beach" early on the morning of the 25th, those on watch topside in Wasatch saw lightning-like flickerings of gunfire in the distance to the southward, as Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's battleships and cruisers crossed the "T" of the Japanese "Southern Force" and in short order annihilated the enemy warships in the Battle of Surigao Strait. However, the "Southern Force" was not the only one that the Japanese threw against the Allied forces to contest the Leyte invasion.
The enemy's "Center Force" — consisting of four battleships and five cruisers, had passed into the Philippine Sea during the night of 24 and 25 October. That group appeared to Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague's "Taffy 3" escort carrier task group off Samar. Sprague's six escort carriers and their attending screen fought bravely against overwhelming odds in what became known as the Battle off Samar. While the destroyers and destroyer escorts hurled themselves at the Japanese capital ships and cruisers in suicidal attacks, the "jeep carriers" launched planes. Capt. Richard F. Whitehead — embarked in Wasatch as Commander, Support Aircraft — ordered all American planes not attacking Japanese shore positions in support of the landings to strike the Japanese ships of the "Center Force." Six Grumman Avengers and 20 Grumman Wildcats from the CVE's nearby responded to the summons and, together with the planes launched from "Taffy 3" under fire, bore in at 08:30 for their first attack. The heroic defense forced the Japanese "Center Force" to withdraw without damaging the vulnerable transports still unloading off the Leyte beachhead.
The victory had not been won without cost. The American forces lost USS Gambier Bay, destroyers Johnston and Hoel, the destroyer escort, Samuel B. Roberts, they had given their lives to buy time. At 13:10 on the 25th, the AGC's gunners brought down a Japanese aircraft and helped to down two additional planes the following day. On the 29th, the command ship got underway for New Guinea, in company with a powerful battleship-cruiser force, although buffeted by 80-knot winds en route, completed a safe passage to Humboldt Bay at 12:18 on 2 November. Admiral Kinkaid shifted his flag to headquarters ashore. Rear Admiral Arthur Dewey Struble, commanding Amphibious Group 9, embarked in Wasatch on 3 November and remained in the command ship until transferring to USS Mount McKinley. On 20 November, Admiral Kinkaid again embarked in Was
USS Pocono
USS Pocono was an Adirondack class amphibious force command ship named after a range of mountains in Eastern Pennsylvania. She was designed as an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations. An amphibious force flagship, the Pocono's keel was laid 30 November 1944 and launched 25 January 1945 by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, N. C. sponsored by Miss Mary V. Carmines of Messick, acquired by the Navy 15 February 1945. Sailor in command. Pocono departed Boston on 18 March 1946 for Key West, Florida, en route to Guantanamo Bay for shakedown; the ship proceeded to Washington, D. C. via Norfolk, arrived in the nation’s capital on 7 May. During the next few years, she operated off the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Trinidad. Early in 1948, she was flagship of Commander Atlantic Fleet. Pocono decommissioned at Norfolk on 19 June 1949 and moved to Bayonne, N.
J. where she entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Pocono was recommissioned on 18 August 1951 to serve as flagship for Commander, Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet, she operated in this capacity in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the U. S. until 1956. On 31 October 1956, during the Suez Crisis, the Commander-in-Chief, Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, embarked in Pocono, remained on board until 13 December. In September 1957 Pocono served as flagship for a 38-ship amphibious task force in NATO exercise "Deepwater" off the coast of Turkey. In early 1958 Pocono served as flagship for operation "Packard X", an Atlantic Fleet amphibious exercise at Onslow Beach, N. C. On 23 June 1958 she departed the U. S. bound for the Mediterranean. She was diverted to Beirut, where she controlled the landing that assisted that nation. During her three-month stay in Beirut, she performed such functions as air control and command communications; because of the Lebanon Crisis the regular six-month Mediterranean deployment was extended to nine months, with Pocono returning to Norfolk on 20 March 1959.
On 11 January 1960 Pocono again departed Norfolk for the Mediterranean where she participated in four amphibious landing exercises, including a joint NATO landing at Porto Scudo, before returning to Norfolk on 14 June. She participated in Caribbean landing exercises in July 1960 and February 1961. On 11 April 1961 she departed for the Mediterranean, participated in several amphibious landings, including a joint NATO landing at the Gulf of Saros, before returning to Norfolk on 12 October. After an extensive overhaul she departed 10 April 1962 for the Caribbean, 23 July for the Mediterranean; when the Cuban Missile Crisis arose, Pocono was recalled to the United States. She carried the flag of Commander, Amphibious Forces and remained in operational readiness in Norfolk. For the rest of 1962, 1963, through most of 1964 Pocono remained in the U. S. In early 1964 she participated in two landing exercises at Onslow Beach, N. C. On 11 October she deployed for "Steelpike I", which included an assault with helicopter landings at Huelva Bay, Spain.
She returned to Norfolk on 25 November. Pocono departed Norfolk 21 May 1965 en route to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to aid in the peace-keeping operation there, she provided the platform from which Vice Admiral John S. McCain directed the naval forces’ support of this operation. From late 1965 through early 1968 Pocono participated in further operations in the Caribbean and off the east coast of the U. S. returning to Norfolk on 24 February 1968. Decommissioned on 16 September 1971, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1976. Pocono was sold for non-transportation use 3 December 1981 to Union Minerals & Alloys of New York, NY and scrapped; this article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here. USS Pocono Association navsource.org: USS Pocono
United States