Figure 1: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) being christened by Mrs. Ross E. Torkelson during launching ceremonies on 2 October 1944. The ship was built by the Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) being launched at the Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington, on 2 October 1944. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed off the Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington, on 28 December 1944. Her camouflage is Measure 33 Design 1F. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed off the Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington, on 28 December 1944. Her camouflage is Measure 33 Design 1F. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed off the Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington, on 28 December 1944. Her camouflage is Measure 33 Design 1F. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed during the decade following World War II. She lost her 5-inch gun around 1956. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed during the decade following World War II. She lost her 5-inch gun around 1956. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) refueling an HU-16 Albatross seaplane in the Red Sea after passing through the Suez Canal in 1952. Courtesy Carl Musselman via SteelNavy web site. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) refueling an HU-16 Albatross seaplane in the Red Sea after passing through the Suez Canal in 1952. Courtesy Carl Musselman via SteelNavy web site. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 3 October 1957. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed during the late 1950s. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 12: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed circa 1959 as Middle East Force flagship. She still displays the naval aviation star on her bow. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 13: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed in the Shatt-al-Arab off Basra, Iraq, during her visit there 12-14 December 1961 as Middle East Force flagship. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 14: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed illuminated at night during a two-day visit to Basra, Iraq, as Middle East Force flagship. Her last two visits to Basra were 6-8 December 1960 and 12-14 December 1961. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 15: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) photographed circa 1965 as Middle East Force flagship in her final configuration. She received a new mast and air search radar and a deck house extension during her last shipyard overhaul in the summer of 1962. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after a bay on the coast of Massachusetts, USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38) 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 31 December 1944. The ship was approximately 310 feet long and 41 feet wide, had a top speed of 18 knots, and had a crew of 215 officers and men. Duxbury Bay initially was armed with one 5-inch gun, one quad 40-mm gun mount, two dual 40-mm gun mounts, and four dual 20-mm gun mounts, but most of this armament was removed later on in her career.
Duxbury Bay left San Diego, California, on 12 March 1945 and made a brief stop at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She then tended to sea planes at Eniwetok and Ulithi before going to Kerama Retto near Okinawa in April. For the rest of the war, Duxbury Bay was assigned to the US Third Fleet and functioned as a seaplane tender, mail carrier, and gasoline tanker for small ships. Once the war in the Pacific ended, Duxbury Bay was stationed off the coast of China, assisting sea plane patrol squadrons at Shanghai and Tsingtao. She also visited Jinsen, Korea, and Hong Kong before returning to San Francisco, California, in October 1946. Duxbury Bay returned to the Far East in 1947 and 1948 before being ordered back to the west coast. In March 1949, Duxbury Bay left Long Beach, California, and went on a round-the-world cruise during which she served as flagship for the Commander, Persian Gulf, for one month. Duxbury Bay arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, in July 1949 and participated in a cold weather naval exercise off the coast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in November.
From January 1950 to early 1966, Duxbury Bay completed 15 tours of duty in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean as flagship for the Commander, Middle East Force. She completed roughly one cruise per year and spent the rest of her time either being overhauled at her home port of Norfolk or on training exercises at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Duxbury Bay rotated her assignment as Middle East Force flagship with two other seaplane tenders, USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) and USS Valcour (AVP-55). All three of the ships were painted white and were specially equipped for this mission (with additional electronic and communications gear). Much of their offensive armament also was removed, making the ships look more like Coast Guard cutters than active-duty naval warships.
Duxbury Bay completed many “good will” missions on behalf of the United States as well. For example, in February 1953, the “Emperor” Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was transported to French Somaliland on board this ship. But, most of Duxbury Bay’s duties as Middle East Force flagship required her to visit numerous ports in the region while spending some time at her base in Bahrain.
USS Duxbury Bay was decommissioned in April 1966, only a few months after returning from her last deployment. She was sold for scrapping in July 1967.
