Arco I (ARD-29)
(ARD-29: l. 491'8"; b. 81'0"; dr. 5'8" (light), 33'3" (subm.); cl. ARD-12)
A town in south central Idaho. It is the seat of government for Butte County and is located near the site of the Lost River Nuclear Reactor Testing Station established in 1949.
I
ARD-29, a floating drydock constructed in 1944 at Alameda, Calif., by the Pacific Bridge Co., was employed by the Navy at the Naval Repair Base at San Diego during the latter part of 1944 and the beginning of 1945. Early in 1945, the drydock began to receive modifications at the Kaiser Cargo yard at Richmond, Calif., in preparation for assignment to advanced bases in the Pacific. She was placed in commission on 23 June 1945, Lt. Hector Phillips, USNR, in command.
ARD-29 visited Everett, Wash., for about a month before getting underway for the Central Pacific on 22 July. She stopped en route at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands to change tugs and then continued on to the Marianas on 24 August under tow by Wateree (ATF-117). The floating drydock arrived at Guam on 2 September and operated there and later at Okinawa until late in 1946 when she was transferred to Pearl Harbor. ARD-29 provided repair services to Pacific Fleet ships at Pearl Harbor until the beginning of 1959. At that time, she was towed back to Guam where she served out the last 12 years of her Navy career. During this assignment, she was named Arco on 28 March 1967. On 1 November 1971, Arco was loaned to the Imperial Iranian Navy. Late in 1977, her name was struck from the Navy list. As of the end of 1984, she was still on the active list of the Iranian Navy as Drydock No. 400.
