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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USS Arlington (AGMR-2)
ex
 USS Saipan (AGMR-2) (1964 - 1966)
 USS Saipan (AVT-6) (1959 - 1964)
 USS Saipan (CVL-48) (1946 - 1959)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - India - Lima - Bravo
 NILB
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons
 
 

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Meritorious Unit Commendation (2) [AGMR] / World War II Victory Medal
2nd Row: Navy Occupation Service Medal ("Europe" clasp) / National Defense Service Medal (2) [CVL & AGMR] / Korean Service Medal
3rd Row: Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal [AGMR] / Vietnam Service Medal (7 stars) [AGMR] / Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation (Gallantry Cross Medal with Palm) [AGMR]
4th Row: United Nations Korean Medal / Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal [AGMR] / Republic of Korea War Service Medal (retroactive)
Saipan Class Light Aircraft Carrier:
  • Laid down, 10 July 1944, at New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.
  • Launched, 8 July 1945
  • Commissioned USS Saipan (CVL-48), 14 July 1946, CAPT. John G. Crommelin in command.
  • Decommissioned, 3 October 1957, at Bayonne, N.J.
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Bayonne, N. J.
  • Reclassified Auxiliary Aircraft Landing Training Ship (AVT-6), 15 May 1959
  • Towed by USS Utina (ATF-163) to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in October 1962
  • Towed from Philadelphia Naval Shipyard,20 March 1963 to Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile, AL. to begin conversion, arrived 30 March 1963
  • Reclassified Major Communications Relay Ship AGMR-2, 1 September 1964
  • Converted to a Communications Major Relay Ship AGMR from 1963 to 1966 at Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., Mobile, AL.
  • Recommissioned USS Arlington (AGMR-2), 27 August 1966 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA., CAPT. Charles A. Darrah in command
  • During the Vietnam War USS Arlington (AGMR-2) participated in the following campaigns:

    Vietnam Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase III
    22 August to 16 September 1967
    8 October to 12 November 1967
    1 to 28 December 1967
    23 to 27 January 1968     		Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VI
    2 to 10 November 1968
    16 January to 7 February 1969
    Tet Counteroffensive
    12 February to 10 March 1968     		Tet/69 Counteroffensive
    5 to 16 April 1969
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV
    9 April to 11 May 1968
    10 to 30 June 1968     		Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969
    26 June to 8 July 1969
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V
    1 to 21 July 1968
    29 August to 5 October 1968
    16 October to 1 November 1968     		 

  • Decommissioned. 14 January 1970, at San Diego, CA.
  • Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 15 August 1975, at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA.
  • USS Arlington earned 7 campaign stars for Vietnam service
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 1 June 1976, to Nicolai Joffe, of Beverly Hills acting as agent for NASSCO. Withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet and towed to NASSCO Terminal Island, 18 June 1976, arrived 20 August 1976, scrapping completed in 1987
    Specifications:
    Displacement 14,500 t.
    Length 684'
    Beam 115'
    Draft 28'
    Speed 33 kts.
    Complement
    CVL- 1,721
    AGMR - 700
    Armament
    CVL - 40 40mm, 32 20mm
    AGMR four 3"/50 AA guns
    Aircraft
    CVL- 50+
    AGMR 0
    Propulsion
    four General Electric geared turbines
    four propeller shafts, 120,000shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed By /
    Source
    Conversion CVL to AGMR
    Arlington 467k Saipan's wooden flight deck being removed during conversion at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. Tom Pendergast
    Arlington
    09630227
    NA 6930309     		558k Saipan drydocked while undergoing conversion at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co.
    US National Archives Identifiers 6930309 and 6930313, Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. progress photos     		David Upton
    Arlington
    09630228
    NA 6930313     		291k
    Arlington 322k Saipan (AGMR-2) pierside at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile AL. 18 January 1965, during conversion to a Major Communications Relay Ship.
    Photo courtesy Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co.    		 Tom Pendergast
    Arlington
    09630231
    NA 6930335    		 229k Saipan (AGMR-2) pierside at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile AL. 18 January 1965, during conversion to a Major Communications Relay Ship.
    Photo courtesy Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co.
    US National Archives Identifiers 6930335, 6930336, 6930337, 6930338 and 6930340    		 David Upton
    Arlington
    09630232
    NA 6930336    		 276k
    Arlington
    09630233
    NA 6930337     		249k
    Arlington
    09630234
    NA 6930338    		 252k
    Arlington
    09630235
    NA 6920240    		 229k
    Arlington
    09630223
    NA 6930296    		 246k Saipan (AGMR-2) pierside at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile AL. 29 July 1965, during conversion to a Major Communications Relay Ship.
    US National Archives Identifiers 6930296, 6930297, 6930298, 6930299 and 6930300, Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. progress photos
    		 David Upton
    Arlington
    09630222
    NA 6930297    		 261k
    Arlington
    09630224
    NA 6930298    		 232k
    Arlington
    09630225
    NA 6930299    		 271k
    Arlington
    09630226
    NA 6930300    		 289k
    Arlington 196k Saipan being towed into drydock while undergoing conversion Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. Tom Pendergast
    Arlington 272k
    Arlington
    09630237    		 519k Saipan (AGMR-2) pierside at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile AL. in 1966.
    US Navy Bureau of Ships photo # 19-N-173162, US National Archives and Records Administration Identifier NAID: 6930322, Local ID: 19-NN-AGMR-2 Arlington-173162    		 Robert Hurst
    Arlington 322k Saipan (AGMR-2) pierside at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile AL. in 1966. Tom Pendergast
    Arlington 356k Saipan (AGMR-2) on sea trials off the coast of Alabama in 1966 Tom Pendergast
    Arlington 322k Saipan (AGMR-2) pierside at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile AL. in 1966 at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. Tom Pendergast
    Arlington
    09630229
    NA 6930309     		406k View of superstructure and aft antenna farm on the former flight deck of Saipan at Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co.
    US National Archives Identifiers 6930309 and 6930334, Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. progress photos     		David Upton
    Arlington
    09630230
    NA 6930334     		374k
    USS Arlington (AGMR-2)
    Arlington 71k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) pierside at Norfolk, VA., June 1966 prior to recommissioning.
    US Navy photo    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Arlington 86k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) Commanding Officer, CAPT. Charles A. Darrah USN, conducting an inspection of the crew, during the ship's recommissioning ceremony, 27 August 1966, at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 72150    		 Scott Koen
    Arlington 88k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) Commanding Officer, CAPT. Charles A. Darrah USN shakes hands with Major General Smith, Chief of Staff, Defense Communications Agency, as the latter visits Arlington during 1966.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 72151    		 Scott Koen
    Arlington 184k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) moored pierside at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA. in October 1966. Note stern of USS Little Rock (CLG-4) at far right.
    Photo from the Robert J. Gillespie, collection.    		 William L. Baxter
    Arlington 110k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) under way, circa 1967.
    US Navy photo # NH 97625, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Arlington 177k Aerial view of USS Arlington (AGMR-2) under way off the coast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 28 January 1967.
    US Naval Photographic Center # KN14227 by PHC Weber.    		 Mike Smolinski
    Arlington 398k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) approaching a fleet oiler in the Tonkin Gulf, circa 30 September 1968.
    Photo by Leo Baker USS Arlington.    		 Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Arlington 102k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from the collections of the US Navy Memorial.    		 Stan Svec
    Arlington 76k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) under way at sea, circa 1968, with her crew manning the rail and two SH-3 helicopters flying in the right distance. The original print was received from USS Arlington in 1969.
    US Navy photo # NH 69304, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Arlington 71k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) under way date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from the 1968-69 edition of "Jane's Fighting Ships".    		 Robert Hurst
    Arlington 414k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) under way in the harbor at Bremerhaven, Germany, circa 1969. Gerhard Muller-Debus
    Arlington 45k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) at anchor, circa 1969, location unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Begor 72k Ex-USS Arlington (AGMR-2) moored alongside ex-USS Kearsarge (CV-33) in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego, date unknown. Across the channel is ex-USS Begor (APD-127). Photo from "Warship Boneyards" by Kit and Carolyn Bonner, (Courtesy L. Cote). Robert Hurst
    Arlington
    09630236    		 6763k USS Arlington (AGMR-2) moored alongside ex-USS Kearsarge (CV-33) in the Pacific Reserve Fleet San Diego, 2 July 1973. Photo by CAPT. Mark Heilenday, USN Ret.
    Arlington 57k Ex-USS Arlington (AGMR-2) Apollo Space Program Support dates, Presidential Support dates and Commanding Officers Jim Arnold
    USS Arlington Additional Ships Patches
    Arlington
    USNH&HC    		 Arlington
    Contributed by Jim Shultz
    USS Arlington (AGMR-2)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Darrah, Charles Alexander (Died May 1967)27 August 1966 - May 1967
    02CDR. Wheeler, Robert Allen (Acting CO)May 1967 - 2 June 1967
    03CAPT. Utegaard, Thomas Fletcher2 June 1967 - 17 June 1968
    04CAPT. Carpenter, Albert Pinson17 June 1968 - January 1969
    05CAPT. Murphree, Hugh Dyer, USN (USNA 1945)January 1969 - 1969
    06CDR. Edwards, Chester CharlesNovember 1969 - 14 January 1970
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Jim Arnold
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Saipan - Arlington Conversion documents and photos (I)
    Saipan - Arlington Conversion documents and photos (II)
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    Last Updated 6 December 2024