The second USS Mackinac (AVP-13) was a United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 Barnegat-class small seaplane tender

Seaplane tender

A seaplane tender is a ship that provides facilities for operating seaplanes. These ships were the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.-History:...

 in commission from 1942 to 1947.

Construction and commissioning

Mackinac was laid down on 29 May 1940 at Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton

Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...

, Washington. She was launched on 15 November 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Ralph Wood, wife of the commanding officer, Naval Air Station Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, Washington, and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 24 January 1942 with Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 Norman R. Hitchcock in command.

First Pacific tour, 1942-1943

After three months of shakedown

Shakedown (testing)

A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...

, Mackinac, escorting a large convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

, departed the United States West Coast for Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, on 11 May 1942, arriving there on 19 May 1942. On 22 May 1942, the famous explorer Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

 (retired) Richard E. Byrd and his staff came on board for an inspection cruise of U.S. bases in the South Pacific, debarking at Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, on 23 June 1942. She then headed to Nouméa

Nouméa

Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...

, New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, on 18 July 1942. Byrd, because of his worldwide recognition, had been drawn out of retirement to represent the U.S. to the French colonies in the South Pacific who were nominally under the German-controlled Vichy government, as their cooperation was vital to the war effort there.

With preparations underway for the Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

‑Tulagi

Tulagi

Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...

 landing, scheduled for 7 August 1942 through 9 August 1942, Mackinac was assigned the task of setting up a seaplane base at Malaita

Malaita

Malaita is the largest island of the Malaita Province in the Solomon Islands. A tropical and mountainous island, Malaita's pristine river systems and tropical forests have not been exploited. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with 140,000 people or more than a third of the...

, the most advanced post of the campaign, while her Consolidated

Consolidated Aircraft

The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the subsidiary was being closed by its parent corporation, General Motors. Consolidated became...

 PBY Catalina

PBY Catalina

The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...

 flying boat

Flying boat

A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...

s searched northward and westward to watch the sealane between Truk and Guadalcanal in case of any Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 reaction from its base at Truk. No American was known to have visited Malaita since Jack London

Jack London

John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...

 in 1908, whence he had fled in disgust from fierce storms and head hunters. Now Commander Hitchcock took Mackinac up the back of the island and threaded his way into Maramasike Estuary on the south-east coast, through waters for which there were no chart

Chart

A chart is a graphical representation of data, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart"...

s. Mackinac opened for business with nine PBY Catalinas on the morning of 8 August 1942.. One of the first ships to anchor in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

, Mackinac retired to Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....

 in the New Hebrides Islands on 12 August 1942.

Despite constant evacuation alerts and numerous search plane losses, Mackinac next set up base at Graciosa Harbor in the Santa Cruz Islands

Santa Cruz Islands

The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. They lie approximately 250 miles to the southeast of the Solomon Islands Chain...

 on 20 August 1942. Early on the morning of 12 September 1942, two Japanese

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s surfaced at the harbor

Harbor

A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy weather, or else are stored for future use. Harbors can be natural or artificial...

 entrance to shell Mackinac and seaplne tender USS Ballard (AVD‑10) and their seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

s. The two seaplane tenders retaliated, but neither side suffered damage.

Following her return to Espiritu Santo on 25 October 1942, Mackinac assisted with her boats in rescuing survivors of the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 transport  after President Coolidge had struck two naval mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

s in the harbor entrance.

On 12 November 1942, Mackinac established an advanced seaplane base at Vanikolo Island in the Santa Cruz Islands, and began tending an average of six seaplanes a day. Several high-ranking officers visited her during this duty, including Vice Admiral

Vice Admiral

Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...

 William F. Halsey. Jr.

William Halsey, Jr.

Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr., United States Navy, , was a U.S. Naval officer. He commanded the South Pacific Area during the early stages of the Pacific War against Japan...

Mackinac got underway from Espiritu Santo with a convoy for the United States West Coast on 9 July 1943, arriving at San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, on 25 July 1943. She then underwent a two-month overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo

Vallejo, California

Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...

, California.

Second Pacific tour, 1943-1945

Mackinac returned to Pearl Harbor on 28 September 1943. After a month of transport duty between Midway Atoll

Midway Atoll

Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...

 and Maui

Maui

The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...

, Hawaii, Mackinac left Pearl Harbor on 20 November 1943 escorting seaplane tender USS Curtiss (AV-4)

USS Curtiss (AV-4)

USS Curtiss was a seaplane tender of the United States Navy. The ship was launched on 20 April 1940 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, sponsored by Mrs. H. S. Wheeler, and commissioned on 15 November 1940, Commander S. P...

 to the Ellice Islands.

When a PBY Catalina flying boat was forced down near Nui in the Gilbert Islands

Gilbert Islands

The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...

, Mackinac, after locating it early on 24 November 1943, rescued the crew and safely towed the plane to Nuku Fetau despite adverse weather. On 1 December 1943 she arrived at recently secured Tarawa to tend seaplanes there through January 1944, undergoing 22 air raids during her time there.

Mackinac then steamed for Makin Atoll with Patrol Bombing Squadron 72 (VPB‑72) to participate in the Marshall Islands campaign with around‑the‑clock seaplane tending. With Majuro Atoll and Kwajalein Atoll secured by the early part of February 1944, Mackinac was ordered on to Kwajalein Island, anchoring there on 9 March 1944. While her patrol bombing squadron was conducting rescue operations at Majuro, Makin, Eniwetok, and Kwajalein, Mackinac was laying out the seaplane area and assisting the construction of a naval airbase on Ebeye Kwajalein.

On 23 June 1944, Mackinac departed for Eniwetok en route to Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

. As the American conquest of Saipan was still in the assault stage, Mackinac was under almost constant Japanese fire while stationed there.

Relieved at Saipan on 19 August 1944, Mackinac joined seaplane tenders USS Chandeleur (AV-10)

USS Chandeleur (AV-10)

USS Chandeleur , a seaplane tender, was launched on 29 November 1941 by Western Pipe and Steel Company, San Francisco, California, under a Maritime Commission contract; transferred to the U.S...

, USS Pocomoke (AV‑9)

USS Pocomoke (AV-9)

USS Pocomoke was a , originally built as the and acquired by the U.S. Navy as the military build-up occurred in the United States just prior to World War II. She operated principally in the Pacific Theatre of the war and serviced military seaplanes...

, USS Yakutat (AVP‑32)

USS Yakutat (AVP-32)

USS Yakutat was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946. Yakutat tended seaplanes in combat areas in the Pacific during World War II.-Construction, commissioning, and shakedown:...

, and USS Onslow (AVP‑48)

USS Onslow (AVP-48)

USS Onslow was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1947 and from 1951 to 1960.-Constructioning and commissioning:...

 in sailing for Kossol Passage, Peleliu

Peleliu

Peleliu is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu forms, along with two small islands to its northeast, one of the sixteen states of Palau. It is located northeast of Angaur and southwest of Koror....

, in the Palau Islands, arriving on 15 September 1944, one day after the American landings on Pelelieu. For the next three months, Mackinac marked navigation

Navigation

Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...

al obstructions off Kossol before leaving for Ulithi Atoll on 25 December 1944. On 21 January 1945, Mackinac got underway with Chandeleur for San Diego

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

, California, via Pearl Harbor, arriving on 7 February 1945.

Third Pacific Tour 1945

Mackinac returned to Saipan in April 1945. On 11 May 1945, she joined a seaplane group based at Kerama Retto

Kerama Retto

The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....

 in the Ryukyu Islands

Ryukyu Islands

The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...

 during the Okinawa campaign, and continued a variety of duties, including air-sea rescue

Air-sea rescue

Air-sea rescue is the coordinated search and rescue of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people who have survived the loss of their sea-going vessel. ASR can involve a wide variety of resources including seaplanes, helicopters, submarines, rescue boats and ships...

 and bombardment of Japanese‑held Rose Island

Rose Island

- In Canada :*Rose Island in Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, Ont.*Rose Island in the South Arm Marshes of the Fraser River delta, also known as Rose-Kirkland Island, B.C....

. After the seaplane group moved its operations to Okinawa on 14 July 1945, Mackinac tended motor torpedo boat

Motor Torpedo Boat

Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...

s through early August 1945. After the Japanese capitulation on 15 August 1945, she was assigned to join Task Group 30.5, arriving at Sagami Bay

Sagami Bay

Sagami Bay , also known as the Sagami Gulf or Sagami Sea, lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shōnan coastline to the north, while the...

, Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan, on 28 August 1945.

Mackinac received six battle stars for World War Il service.

Post-World War II Navy service

Following occupation duty in Japan, Mackinac left for the United States West Coast on 10 January 1946, arriving at San Pedro, California, on 29 January 1946. After repairs, she sailed for the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

 via the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

, arriving at Orange

Orange, Texas

Orange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, on 26 March 1946.

Mackinac decommissioned

Ship decommissioning

To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Orange in January 1947.

U.S. Coast Guard service

Mackinac was loaned to the United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 in April 1949 and served as Coast Guard cutter

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 USCGC Mackinac (WAVP-371)

USCGC Mackinac (WAVP-371)

USCGC Mackinac , later WHEC-371, was a Casco-class United States Coast Guard Cutter in service from 1949 to 1967. She was the second ship of the United States Revenue Cutter Service or United States Coast Guard to bear the name....

, later WHEC‑371, until 1968, when she was returned to the Navy and sunk as a target off Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

.

External links

• USN page on USS Mackinac.