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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Patch Contributed by Jerry Search

USNS Neptune (T-ARC-2)
ex
 USS Neptune (ARC-2) (1953 - 1973)
 USACS William H.G. Bullard (1946 - 1953)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Uniform - Bravo
 NGUB
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
Navy Battle "E" Ribbon - National Defense Service Medal
Neptune Class Cable Laying and Repair Ship:
  • Laid down (date unknown) as SS William H. G. Bullard, a Maritime Commission type (S3-S2-BP1) hull, for the US Army Signal Corps, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 2557) at Pusey and Jones Corp., Wilmington, DE.
  • Delivered to the US Army in February 1946 and commissioned US Army Cable Laying Ship USACS William H. G. Bullard
  • Acquired by the Navy in 1953
  • Converted for Naval Service at Bethlehem Steel Co. Shipyard, Key Highway Plant, Baltimore, MD.
  • Commissioned USS Neptune (ARC-2), 1 June 1953, CDR. Robert A. Bogardus in command
  • Decommissioned in 1973 and assigned to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) and placed in service as USNS Neptune (T-ARC-2)
  • Placed out of service, 1 January 1991
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 20 August 1992
  • Title transferred to the Maritime Administration, 1 April 1998
  • Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
  • Final Disposition, transferred, 3 November 2005, to International Shipbreaking Limited, Brownsville, TX. for scrapping
    Specifications:
    Displacement 4,410 t.
    Length 362'
    Beam 47'
    Draft 25'
    Speed 13kts
    Complement 155
    Armament none
    Propulsion two Skinner Uniflow Reciprocating Steam Engines replaced with diesel engines, twin shafts
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Neptune (ARC-2)
    Neptune 81k Neptune (ARC-2) in drydock during conversion to a Cable Laying and Repair Ship at Bethlehem Steel Co. Shipyard, Key Highway Plant, Baltimore, MD., early 1953. Photo by Gene Ruark, pre-commissioning crew
    Neptune 84k Neptune (ARC-2) in drydock during conversion to a Cable Laying and Repair Ship at Bethlehem Steel Co. Shipyard, Key Highway Plant, Baltimore, MD., early 1953. Photo by Gene Ruark, pre-commissioning crew
    Neptune 217k USS Neptune (ARC-2) crew photo during commissioning ceremony, Bethlehem Steel Co. Shipyard, Key Highway Plant, Baltimore, MD, 1 June 1953
    Bethlehem Steel photo.    		 Gene Ruark, pre-commissioning crew
    Neptune 205k USS Neptune (ARC-2) off Bethlehem Steel Co. Shipyard, Key Highway Plant, Baltimore, MD, during sea trials, circa June 1953
    Bethlehem Steel photo.    		 Gene Ruark, pre-commissioning crew
    Neptune 142k USS Neptune (ARC-2) at Bethlehem Steel Co. Shipyard, Key Highway Plant, Baltimore, MD, close up of bow (cable) sheaves , circa June 1953
    Bethlehem Steel photo.    		 Gene Ruark, pre-commissioning crew
    Neptune 24k USS Neptune (ARC-2) at anchor, circa 1954, location unknown. Robert Hurst
    Neptune 86k USS Neptune (ARC-2) underway in San Francisco Bay in 1957.
    Photo ©Allied Photographers of San Francisco.    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Neptune 256k USS Neptune (ARC-2) underway off Hampton Roads, VA. 28 November 1960.
    Photo courtesy of Atlantic Fleet Sales, Norfolk, VA., ©Nobe Smith.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Neptune 43k USS Neptune (ARC-2) underway in April 1972, location unknown. Robert Hurst
    Neptune 50k USS Neptune (ARC-2) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, April 1973    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Neptune 43k USS Neptune (ARC-2) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Robert Hurst
    Neptune 120k USS Neptune (ARC-2) underway, date and location unknown. ©Ramon Jackson
    Neptune 66k USS Neptune (ARC-2) underway off Hawaii, date unknown.
    DVIC photo # DNST9011493 by PH3 D.R. Hyder USN.    		 Defense Visual Information Center web site
    Neptune 93k USS Neptune (ARC-2) getting underway at NOB Norfolk, VA. with the assistance of harbor tugs Oratamin (YTM-347) and Chiquito (YTB-499), August 1964. ©Richard Leonhardt
    Neptune 57k USS Neptune (ARC-2) getting underway at NOB Norfolk, VA. with the assistance of harbor tugs Oratamin (YTM-347) and Chiquito (YTB-499), August 1964. ©Richard Leonhardt
    Neptune 45k USS Neptune (ARC-2) Change of Command, 8 September 1970 at San Francisco, CA. Russ Padden, courtesy Don Scott YNCS USN Ret
    USNS Neptune (T-ARC-2)
    Neptune 203k USNS Neptune (T-ARC-2) underway, date and location unknown/ Carl R. Friberg Jr
    Additional Ships Patches
    Neptune
    Contributed by Carl R Friberg    		 Neptune
    Contributed by Mike Smolinski
    View the USS Neptune (ARC-2)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center.
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Life on the USS Neptune ARC-2 by Jerry Search
    USS Neptune (ARC-2) / USNS Neptune (T-ARC-2)
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    Last Updated 12 May 2008