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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, 8 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
	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
	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
	129k
19-N-80769	105k
	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
	227k	*USS Webster* (ARV-2)** underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photo from the National Naval Aviation Museum.	Bill Gonyo
	140k	*USS Webster* (ARV-2)** 40mm AA gunnery practice, date and location unknown. US Navy photo from the National Naval Aviation Museum.	Bill Gonyo
	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
	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
	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
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
	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
	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