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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Webster (ARV-2)

/International Radio Call Sign:
November - India - Quebec - India
NIQI
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)


Chourre Class Aircraft Repair Ship:
  • Authorized as the Internal Combustion Engine Repair Ship Masbate (ARG-15)
  • Reclassified as the Aircraft Repair Ship Webster, 22 February 1944
  • Laid down, 1 July 1944, as a Maritime Commission type (EC2-S-C1) hull under Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 2666) at Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, MD.
  • Launched, 5 August 1944
  • Commissioned, USS Webster (ARV-2), 15 May 1945, CAPT. Jesse G. Johnson in command.
  • During and after World War II USS Webster was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater
  • Following World War II USS Webster performed Occupation duty from 29 September to 2 November 1945
  • Decommissioned, 28 June 1946
  • Laid up in Reserve, 13 September 1961, in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1962
  • Transferred to the Maritime Administration, 1 September 1962, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, VA.
  • Sold, 16 May 1974, to the State of Virginia for that states Fish Reef Program
  • Final Disposition, reefed off Cape Henry, Virginia in 1977
    Specifications:
    Displacement 4,023 t.(lt) 14,350 t.(fl)
    Length 441' 6"
    Beam 56' 11"
    Draft 22' (lim)
    Speed 12.5 kts.
    Complement
    Officers 71
    Enlisted 507
    Armament
    one single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount
    one quad 40mm AA gun mount
    two twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    Largest boom capacity 5 tons
    Ship's service generators
    two turbo drive 60Kw 120V D.C.
    two Diesel drive 350Kw 450V A.C.
    Fuel Oil Capacity
    NSFO 9,500 Bbls
    Diesel 515 Bbls
    Propulsion
    one vertical triple expansion steam engine
    two Babcock & Wilcox header type boilers 220psi 450°
    single propeller, 2,500shp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Source
    Webster 58k
    Namesake

    Walter Wynne Webster—born on 28 July 1888 in Fargo, North Dakota—was appointed a midshipman on 6 July 1907 and graduated from the Naval Academy with the Class of 1911. He spent his initial tours of sea duty in the battleship North Dakota and the tender Panther before he began post-graduate studies at the Naval Academy in 1913. He then took a course of instruction in naval architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Later commissioned as an assistant naval constructor, with the rank of lieutenant (junior grade), on 15 May 1914, Webster served in the hull divisions at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Wash., and at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., before he went to Washington, D.C., for his first tour of duty in the Bureau of Aeronautics. In the years that followed, he became known as one of the pioneers of naval aviation, expending his energies in the development of better naval aircraft for the nation's fledgling naval air arm. Commissioned as naval constructor, with the rank of lieutenant commander, on 6 June 1922 and given his naval observer's wings on 22 July of the same year, Webster was detached from his duty in Washington on 25 September 1925 for "duty involving flying" at the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia Navy Yard, where he arrived on 2 November 1925. He subsequently returned to Washington in the summer of 1929 for another tour in the Bureau of Aeronautics.
    Subsequently taking instruction at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., in heavier-than-air flight from 30 October 1933 to 20 June 1934, Webster went briefly to the Bureau of Aeronautics once more from 26 October to 19 November, before he became Force Materiel Officer on the staff of Rear Admiral H. V. Butler, Commander, Aircraft, Battle Force, on 21 December 1934. He later became manager of the Naval Aircraft Factory at Philadelphia, reporting for duty on 25 June 1936, a post in which he served until his detachment on 24 June 1940. After another brief Washington tour, Webster resumed his duties as manager of the Naval Aircraft Factory on 26 December 1941, less than a month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. While serving in that post, Webster was killed in a plane crash outside of Chester, Pa., on 16 March 1943.
    Bill Gonyo
    Webster 47k USS Webster (ARV-2) underway with the assistance of tugs between the Bethlehem Steel Key Highway yard and Fort McHenry, Baltimore, MD., 24 March 1945, a week after completing conversion.
    #1 US Navy photo from "Jane's Fighting Ships 1954-55" number unknown.
    #2 US National Archives photo number unknown,
    #3 US National Archives photo # 19-N-80769.
    Robert Hurst
    Webster 129k
    Webster
    19-N-80769
    105k
    Webster 113k USS Webster (ARV-2) moored pierside at Bethlehem Steel Key Highway yard and Fort McHenry, Baltimore, MD., circa March 1945.
    US Navy photo from the collections of the US Navy Memorial.
    Stan Svec
    Webster 227k USS Webster (ARV-2) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from the National Naval Aviation Museum.
    Bill Gonyo
    Webster 140k USS Webster (ARV-2) 40mm AA gunnery practice, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from the National Naval Aviation Museum.
    Bill Gonyo
    Webster 380k USS Webster (ARV-2) putting a paravane over the side, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from the National Naval Aviation Museum.
    National Naval Aviation Museum
    Webster 305k USS Webster (ARV-2) during towing exercise with an unidentified ATA, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from the National Naval Aviation Museum.
    National Naval Aviation Museum
    Webster 451k USS Webster (ARV-2) with two LCMs and LCT-1181 alongside at Iwo Jima, circa 29 September to 4 October 1945.
    US Navy photo from the National Naval Aviation Museum.
    National Naval Aviation Museum
    Webster
    09350212
    347k Starboard bow view of Aviation Repair Ship ex-USS Webster (ARV-2) laid up at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, in mothballs in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in 1959.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Catalog No. L45-303.05.01
    Mike
    BB-44 California 138k Reserve Fleet Basin, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania. Photographed on 19 May 1955 with numerous cruisers, escort carriers, and auxiliaries in reserve. The nearest ship is the never-completed
    Hawaii (CB-3), which lacks her previously-installed three 12" gun turrets.
    The cruisers outboard of Hawaii are (in unknown order)
    Honolulu (CL-48),
    Columbia (CL-56),
    Denver (CL-58),
    Galveston (CL-93), and
    Portsmouth (CL-102).
    To their left are
    Tranquility (AH-14),
    Sanctuary (AH-17), and
    Pocono (AGC-16).
    Behind Hawaii (from left to right) are
    Montpelier (CL-57),
    Houston (CL-81),
    Huntington (CL-107),
    Savannah (CL-42),
    Cleveland (CL-55), and
    Wilkes-Barre (CL-103).
    Beyond them (from left to right) are
    Wichita (CA-45),
    Oregon City (CA-122),
    Chester (CA-27), and
    New Orleans (CA-32).
    The cruisers on the left side of the basin (from front to rear) are
    Minneapolis (CA-36),
    Tuscaloosa (CA-37),
    San Francisco (CA-38),
    Augusta (CA-31),
    Louisville (CA-28), and
    Portland (CA-33).
    Among the other ships in reserve in the basin are
    Fomalhaut (AE-20),
    Webster (ARV-2),
    Albemarle (AV-5),
    Tangier (AV-8),
    Pocomoke (AV-9),
    Chandeleur (AV-10),
    Abatan (AW-4),
    Mission San Carlos (AO-120),
    Prince William (CVE-31),
    Anzio (CVE-57),
    Block Island (CVE-106),
    Palau (CVE-122), and
    San Carlos (AVP-51).
    Moored in the shipyard at the extreme left are
    Tennessee (BB-43),
    California (BB-44), and
    Cabot (CVL-28).
    US Navy Photo # 80-G-668655, now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Robert Hurst
    Webster 153k Brass anchor pin apparently crafted on board USS Webster (ARV-2) and given to H.H. Nathenson during occupation at Tokyo Bay in September 1945. William Nelles

    USS Webster (ARV-2)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officer
    01CDR/CAPT. Johnson, Jesse Gearing. USN15 May 1945 - 28 June 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    MARAD Vessel History Data Base
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 16 August 2024