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USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16)

Originally laid down as Deal Island (ARG-16), she was renamed Kermit Roosevelt 29 September 1944; launched 5 October by Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard Inc., Baltimore, Md., under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. Kermit Roosevelt; acquired by the Navy 21 October; and commissioned 31 May 1945, Comdr. C. W. Scribner in command.

After shakedown along the Virginia coast, USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) departed Norfolk 21 July for duty in the Pacific. Steaming via Pearl Harbor and Okinawa, she arrived Tsingtao, China, 16 October and began service as a station repair ship. Clearing San Pedro Bay 21 April, USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) returned to Tsingtao 4 September and provided ship repair services there until 28 February 1949. Then she continued operations in the Philippines and the Pacific until departing Kwajelein, Marshalls, for the West Coast 8 June. Steaming via Pearl Harbor, USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) reached San Diego 24 July. On 23 January 1950 she sailed for the Central Pacific; and, before returning to San Diego 12 June, she provided repair facilities at Kwajelein and Majuro, Marshalls; Truk, Carolines; and Nauru, Gilberts.

USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) returned to Long Beach 23 October 1953 and operated along the West Coast until she again sailed for the Far East 6 October 1954. Between then and 30 April 1956 she made two more deployments to the Western Pacific, where she provided important repair services for the 7th Fleet by maintaining U.S. sea power, helped contain Communist aggression from Korea to Vietnam. After returning to the United States in 1956, USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) operated out of Long Beach until she departed 1 October 1959 for Bremerton, Wash., arriving 7 October. She decommissioned 31 October and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Her name was struck from the Naval Register 1 January 1960, and she transferred to the Maritime Administration 23 June. On 25 August 1960 USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) was sold to Zidell Explorations Inc. for scrap.

For a complete history of USS Kermit Roosevelt (ARG-16) please see its DANFS page.