USS Argonne (AS-10)

USS "Argonne" (AP-4/AS-10/AG-31) was originally completed in 1920 under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract by the International Shipbuilding Corp., Hog Island, Pa., and transferred to the Navy on 3 November 1921 by the War Department. Accepted preliminarily by the Navy on that date, she was commissioned as "Argonne" on 8 November 1921 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Lt. Comdr. Theodore H. Winters in command.

Operational history

On 16 November 1921, the ship was classified as a transport, AP-4. Departing Philadelphia on 24 November 1921 with military and civilian passengers, as well as a senatorial party, "Argonne's" maiden voyage and shakedown took the ship to Port-au-Prince, Haiti; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Ponce, Puerto Rico; and Santo Domingo City, Dominican Republic; before she put into Hampton Roads on 22 December. Subsequently returning to Philadelphia for post-shakedown availability, "Argonne" proceeded to the Panama Canal via Charleston, S.C., and after a stop at Mare Island continued across the Pacific to Cavite, in the Philippines, on her first voyage to that part of the globe.

1922–1929

On 7 April 1922, Comdr. (later Fleet Admiral) Chester W. Nimitz, along with his wife and three children, embarked on board "Argonne" at Pearl Harbor for passage to the east coast of the United States. Nimitz was on his way to Newport, R.I., to study at the Naval War College. The ship proceeded via Mare Island, where she underwent an overhaul period. Following that was a transit through the Panama Canal, Santo Domingo and Hampton Roads, bringing her voyage to a close on 21 June 1922.

Over the next two years, "Argonne" operated with the Naval Transportation Service on the through service between New York and Manila. Along with the transport USS "Chaumont" (AP-5) , "Argonne" provided this important service to the fleet. During this time, she ranged from San Francisco to Guam and into the Yellow Sea, voyaging as far as Chefoo, China. Selected for conversion to a submarine tender and classified as AS-10 on 1 July 1924, "Argonne" was transferred to Navy ownership under terms of the executive order dated 6 August 1924, and arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 2 September 1924.

From September 1924 to March 1926, "Argonne" lay at Mare Island in reduced commission, undergoing her transformation from transport to tender. Major alternations to the ship included the installation of a turbo-generator plant, a compressed-air plant, a machine shop and a low-pressure distilling plant. Placed in full commission on 25 March 1926, "Argonne" was assigned to the newly formed Submarine Division (SubDiv) 20, which consisted, at that time, of the "V-boats": "V-1" (SS-163); "V-2" (SS-164); and "V-3" (SS-165). She sailed on 19 May to take up her duties. From 19 May to 5 June, "Argonne" operated from the west coast ports of San Francisco, San Pedro and San Diego, before she sailed to transit the Panama Canal for operations in the Atlantic.

Owing to disorders in Nicaragua, and fears that excesses of violence from the feuding factions might endanger American lives and property, expeditionary forces of marines were sent to reinforce the sailors and marines already landed from ships of the Special Service Squadron. "Argonne" participated in one of the early lifts, transporting the second Battalion, 5th Regiment — which had been encamped at Guantanamo Bay undergoing six months of training—from Guantanamo to Bluefields, Nicaragua, between 7 and 10 January 1927.

Maintaining the necessary neutral zones on the east coast for eight days, the battalion left one company at Rama before proceeding on, in "Argonne", through the Panama Canal to the port of Corinto, on the west coast of Nicaragua. There, she disembarked the rest of the battalion on 24 January to maintain the neutral zones between that port and the capital city of Managua, before returning thence into the Caribbean to resume tending operations with SubDiv 20.

During March "Argonne" provided tender services to ships engaged in Fleet Problem VII, in a large-scale exercise that pitted the combined Battle Fleet, Base Force and fleet submarines against the combined Scouting Fleet, Control Force and Train Squadron 1. She rejoined the Special Service Squadron at the end of that month, however, to resume her transportation duties to Nicaraguan ports.

On 1 July 1927, "Argonne" became part of the Control Force, with which she carried out her previous duties with the Special Service Squadron, until being transferred with SubDiv 20 to the Battle Fleet, on 19 November. She operated with the fleet on the Pacific Coast, principally at San Diego, San Pedro, or Mare Island, until she sailed for Hawaiian waters on 18 April 1928, to take part in Fleet Problem VIII, an exercise that pitted light cruisers and a detachment of ships from Pearl Harbor ("Orange") against the Battle Fleet and the Train ("Blue"). Reaching Pearl Harbor on the 28th, she then based at Lahaina, and carried out tactical exercises with the fleet, ultimately returning to Mare Island for her annual overhaul on 29 June.

Resuming her active service with the Battle Fleet in the San Diego-San Pedro area from 18 August 1928, she operated there until 15 January 1929 when she sailed for Balboa, to take part in Fleet Problem IX, with all available units of the Battle Fleet and Train Squadron Two — these in the main opposed by the Scouting Fleet and the Control Force and the defense forces of the 15th Naval District and Army units. Arriving at Balboa on 29 January, the assembled fleet conducted its concentration based on Panama Bay before setting course back to San Diego on 11 March, and ultimately arriving back in their usual operating areas on the 22d.

Over the next eleven months, "Argonne" provided support services at San Diego with SubDivs 11 and 20, as the ships conducted speed and endurance tests, as well as torpedo and sound exercises. During this period, on 15 June 1929, Capt. Chester W. Nimitz, who had been a passenger on board the ship seven years before, became her commanding officer. His concurrent billet was that of Commander, SubDiv 20, his broad pennant in "Argonne".

1930–1939

After overhaul at Mare Island, "Argonne" tended SubDivs 11 and 20 at San Diego from 11 December 1929 to 15 February 1930 before sailing for Panama on the latter date in company with Destroyer Squadrons, Battle Fleet, for the annual fleet concentration and the year's culmination of training, Fleet Problem X and XI. Each force was augmented to match them more evenly, pitting the Scouting Fleet against the Battle Fleet.

Following the exercises in the Caribbean, "Argonne" accompanied the fleet as it moved up to New York, arriving there on 7 May 1930. She operated with the fleet at New York, Newport, and Hampton Roads until 26 May, when she then set course for Panama and back to San Diego, arriving at the latter port on 19 June. She continued her tender operations from there until 1 December. During that time, she was transferred to the Control Force, Battle Fleet, on 6 November, on which date she was also transferred from SubDiv 20. Capt. Nimitz shifted his command pennant to to the port side, forward. An LCVP, attempting to tie up alongside the subchaser, accidentally fouled its ramp in the depth charge rack of "SC-702", wrenching loose a 300-pound depth charge. The explosion of the sinking charge lifted "Argonne" bodily "several inches", and jarred two additional charges loose from "SC-702"'s track—which, fortunately, did not explode. Damage to "Argonne" was confined mostly to the forward portion of the ship, in the print shop, radio-repair shop, and galleys and pantries, as loose gear came crashing to the deck. After again repairing her own damage, the ship resumed her important service to the fleet, and remained in the Palaus until she sailed for the Philippines on 11 February 1945 to take up support operations for the Okinawa campaign, basing on Leyte.

Arriving at her new base of operations on 15 February, "Argonne" operated out of Leyte into June. She weighed anchor on the 14th of that month and sailed for the Marshalls on that date.

"Argonne" remained in the western Pacific through the end of hostilities with Japan in August 1945, and briefly served with the occupation forces in Japanese waters before returning to the United States.

Postwar

Ultimately returning to the United States after a brief stint with the Naval Transportation Service on "Magic Carpet" service after the war, "Argonne" was decommissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 15 July 1946.

Deemed not essential to the United States, she was transferred to the United States Maritime Commission on 31 July 1946. "Argonne" was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 August 1946. Ultimately, the ship was sold to the Boston Metals Corp. on 14 August 1950, and was broken up for scrap.

Honors and awards

"Argonne" (AG-31) was awarded one battle star for her World War II service, at Pearl Harbor.

References

* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/36/3610.htm "Argonne" AP-4 / AS-10 / AG-31] - Navsource Online.
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