Antigone II (AGP-16)
(AGP-16: dp. 4,100; 1. 328'; b. 50'; dr. 11'2"; s. 11.6 k.; cpl. 287; a. 2 40mm., 8 20mm.; cl. Portunus)
The daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta in Greek mythology. Antigone is most famous as the heroine of tragedies by Sophocles and Euripides. She embodied the virtues of faithfulness and heroism which characterized the Greek ideal of womanhood.
II
Originally projected as LST-773, the second Antigone was re-classified a motor torpedo boat tender and redesignated AGP-16 on 14 August 1944; laid down on 15 August 1944 at Seneca, Ill ., by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.; launched on 27 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Mary Ellen Needham Fisher; commissioned in reduced status on 17 November 1944 at Algiers, La., for the voyage to Baltimore, Md.; decommissioned on 5 December 1944 for conversion by the Maryland Drydock Co., to a motor torpedo boat tender; and placed in full commission on 14 May 1945, Lt. Comdr. Whitson M. Jones in command.
Following shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay and final loading out at Davisville, R.I., Antigone sailed on 28 June for the Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal on 8 July and joined the Pacific Fleet. The tender arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 9 August, remained there until the 22d, and then sailed, via Saipan, for Okinawa. Upon her arrival at Okinawa on 18 September, Antigone began providing services to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons 31, 32, and 37 and continued this assignment until December.
Antigone then departed Okinawa and shaped a course for the west coast of the United States. She arrived at San Francisco, Calif., on 22 January 1946, and her name was struck from the Navy list on 10 June 1947. On 6 February 1948, the vessel was transferred to the Maritime Commission and simultaneously sold to Kaiser & Co. for scrapping.
