Figure 1: USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) underway near her builder's yard at Houghton, Washington, on 16 May 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) underway near her builder's yard at Houghton, Washington, on 16 May 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) moored in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt, in June 1946. Courtesy of LCDR W. H. Cressman, USN (Ret.). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) refueling a P5M seaplane of VP-44 on 24 May 1955. She is wearing the white paint of a Middle East Force flagship. Photographed by PH3 R. P. Champine, USN. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) photographed circa 1958 from a Martin P5M, whose port side wing float is visible at the top of the photo. Other P5M aircraft are parked at the seaplane base below. The small cargo ship with the heavy lift booms amidships may be USNS Col. William J. O'Brien (T-AK-246) or USNS Short Splice (T-AK-249). Note also the small unidentified structure on Greenwich Bay's after deck. The original print carried the rubber stamped date 22 May 1958 on its reverse side. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) shown with awnings rigged in a photograph released in September 1965. She now has a tripod mast and a tall whip antenna right aft. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) at Barcelona, Spain, in late May or early June 1961. Barcelona was the first of a series of Mediterranean ports that the ship visited in mid-1961 before transiting the Suez Canal and becoming flagship of Commander Middle East Force. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: Sailors from USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) at Valberg, France, in the French Alps in mid-1961. During a port call at Cannes, France, liberty parties visited the Alps and stopped at this restaurant for lunch. The hotel on the left is the Relais de Valberg. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: Personnel from USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) viewing the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy, in mid-1961. Liberty parties from the "Green Witch" visited Rome during a port call at Civitavecchia, Italy. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: Holding swim call while at anchor off Capri, Italy, in mid-1961. The ship had just made a short port call at Naples. The use of a boat boom and a cargo net was standard practice for recreational swimming from such Navy ships. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
The USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) was a 1,766-ton Barnegat class small seaplane tender that was built by the Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton, Washington, and was commissioned on 20 May 1945. The ship was approximately 311 feet long and 41 feet wide, and had a top speed of 18.6 knots and a crew of 215 officers and men. Greenwich Bay initially was armed with one 5-inch gun, one quad 40-mm gun mount, one dual 40-mm gun mount, and four 20-mm gun mounts, although most of her guns were removed later in her career.
Greenwich Bay left San Diego in August 1945, shortly after the end of hostilities in the Pacific. The ship was sent to China in October and tended seaplanes at Taku, Tsingtao, and Shanghai. In 1946, Greenwich Bay patrolled the waters off Japan and the Philippines before being sent back to the United States in May. The ship returned to America via the Mediterranean and arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, in July.
From February 1947 to June 1948, Greenwich Bay escorted the Presidential yacht Williamsburg (AGC-369, ex PG-56) and then made a round-the-world goodwill cruise, visiting ports in the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, and the south Pacific before returning to Norfolk in October 1948.
In April 1949, Greenwich Bay was assigned to a job that was to occupy most of her time throughout the rest of her career. She began serving as the flagship for the Commander, US Navy Middle East Force. During this and approximately 14 additional annual deployments, Greenwich Bay steamed throughout the Mediterranean and operated as a flagship in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean for periods of up 6 months. She supported US diplomacy in the region, operated with allied and friendly naval forces, and participated in numerous humanitarian missions. During most of this period, Greenwich Bay performed these duties in rotation with her two sisters, Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) and Valcour (AVP-55). The ship was decommissioned in June 1966 and sold for scrapping in May 1967.
Even though an enormous number of ships were scrapped after World War II, Greenwich Bay remained in service because she proved ideal for numerous peacetime assignments. Not all of the duties delegated to the US Navy required the services of a heavily armed warship and Greenwich Bay excelled at performing humanitarian and goodwill missions. Though ships like Greenwich Bay received very little fanfare and even less credit for years of dedicated service, they were critical in building strong relationships with countries that were friendly to the United States. In many ways, those missions (especially at the height of the Cold War) were just as important as actual combat missions.
