USS Corson

USS Corson (AVP-37) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1956.

USS Corson (AVP-37) off Houghton, Washington, on 29 November 1944.
History
United States
Name	USS Corson
Namesake	Corson Inlet, at Cape May on the New Jersey coast
Builder	Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington
Launched	16 July 1944
Sponsored by	Mrs. G. A. Hatton
Commissioned	3 December 1944
Decommissioned	21 June 1946
Recommissioned	13 February 1951
Decommissioned	9 March 1956
Stricken	1 April 1966
Fate	Sunk as target 1966
General characteristics
Class and type	Barnegat-class small seaplane tender
Displacement	1,766 tons (light) 2,750 tons (full load)
Length	310 ft 9 in (94.72 m)
Beam	41 ft 1 in (12.52 m)
Draught	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Installed power	6,000 horsepower (4.48 megawatts)
Propulsion	Diesel engines, two shafts
Speed	18.6 knots (34.4 km/h)
Complement	215 (ship's company) 367 (including aviation unit)
Sensors and processing systems	Radar; sonar
Armament	2 × single 5 in (130 mm) 38-caliber dual-purpose gun mounts 4 × 20-mm antiaircraft guns 2 × depth charge tracks
Aviation facilities	Supplies, spare parts, repairs, and berthing for one seaplane squadron; 80,000 US gallons (300,000 L) aviation fuel

Construction and commissioning

Corson was launched on 16 July 1944 by Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington, sponsored by Mrs. G. A. Hatton. Corson was commissioned 3 December 1944.

World War II operations

Corson departed San Diego, California, on 12 February 1945, tended seaplanes briefly at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and at Eniwetok, and moved on to reach Ulithi Atoll on 1 April 1945. In addition to seaplane tending duty at Ulithi, she made two voyages to the Palau Islands in May 1945 and participated in the bombardment of Eil Malk Island on 7 May 1945.

Corson left Ulithi on 24 June 1945. She served at Eniwetok from 1 July to 7 August 1945. She then moved on to Okinawa, arriving there on 15 August 1945, the day hostilities with Japan ceased and World War II came to an end.

Peacetime service 1945-1946

Corson departed Okinawa on 10 September 1945 and dropped anchor at Nagasaki, Japan, on 11 September 1945. She tended seaplanes at Nagasaki, at Sasebo, and in Hiro Bay until 20 January 1946, when she departed for Pearl Harbor and Alameda, California, where she arrived on 9 February 1946 for inactivation. Corson was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Alameda on 21 June 1946.

Korean War service 1951-1953

USS Corson (AVP-37) off San Diego, California, in 1951.

Corson was recommissioned on 13 February 1951 for service in the Korean War. She departed Long Beach, California, on 17 April 1951 for Okinawa, where she served as station tender from 11 May 1951 to 7 October 1951. She returned to Alameda on 26 October 1951.

Corson tended seaplanes at San Diego until her next tour of duty in the Western Pacific, which lasted from 8 December 1952 to 4 August 1953. During this tour, she tended seaplanes in Japan, at Okinawa, and in the Pescadores.

Peacetime service 1954-1956

Corson returned to the Western Pacific to tend seaplanes off Japan from 4 January 1954 to 5 August 1954, and again from 17 January 1955 to 24 July 1955. During this tour, she served as station tender at Hong Kong, conducted reserve training at Subic Bay at Luzon in the Philippine Islands, laid a seadrome in the Pescadores, acted as advance base support at Keelung, Taiwan, and served as plane guard off Indonesia for United States Air Force jet aircraft flying to Bangkok, Thailand, on a good-will mission.

Final decommissioning and disposal

Returning to Alameda, Corson was again placed out of commission in reserve on 9 March 1956. She was laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

Corson was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 April 1966. She was sunk as a target later that year.

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 Corson (AVP-37), 1944-1966
• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive: AVP-37 Corson
• Chesneau, Roger. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books, Inc., 1980. ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.