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USS Argonne (AS-10)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Argonne (AS-10). 

USS Argonne  (AS-10) was originally completed in 1920 under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract by the International Shipbuilding Corp., Hog Island, Pa., and transferred to the Navy on 3 November 1921 by the War Department. On 16 November 1921, the ship was classified as a transport, AP-4.

Departing Philadelphia on 24 November 1921 with military and civilian passengers, as well as a senatorial party, USS Argonne's maiden voyage and shakedown took the ship to Port-au-Prince, Haiti; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Ponce, Puerto Rico; and Santo Domingo City, Dominican Republic; before she put into Hampton Roads on 22 December. On 7 April 1922, Cmdr. Chester W. Nimitz, along with his wife and three children, embarked on board Argonne at Pearl Harbor for passage to the east coast of the United States. Nimitz was on his way to Newport, R.I., to study at the Naval War College. The ship proceeded via Mare Island, where she underwent an overhaul period, the Panama Canal, Santo Domingo and Hampton Roads, bringing her voyage to a close on 21 June 1922.

Over the next two years, USS Argonne (AS-10)  operated with the Naval Transportation Service on the through service between New York and Manila. Selected for conversion to a submarine tender and classified as AS-10 on 1 July 1924, USS Argonne (AS-10)  was transferred to Navy ownership under terms of the executive order dated 6 August 1924, and arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 2 September 1924.

During WWII USS Argonne (AS-10) remained in the western Pacific through the end of hostilities with Japan in August 1945, and briefly served with the occupation forces in Japanese waters before returning to the United States. Ultimately returning to the United States after a brief stint with the Naval Transportation Service on Magic Carpet service after the war, Argonne was decommissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 15 July 1946. Deemed not essential to the United States, she was transferred to the Maritime Commission on 31 July 1946. USS Argonne  (AS-10)  was struck from the Navy Register on 28 August 1946.

For a complete history of USS Argonne (AS-10) please seee its DANFS page.