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Mobjack (AGP-7)

1943-1946

A bay on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay between the York River on the south and the Rappahannock River on the north.

(AGP‑7: displacement 1,760; length 310'9"; beam 41'1"; draft 13'6"; speed 18.2  knots; complement 360; armament 2 5-inch, 8 40 millimeter, 8 20 millimeter, 2 depth charge tracks; class Oyster Bay)

Mobjack (AVP‑27) was laid down on 25 February 1942 at Houghton, Wash., by Lake Washington Shipyard; launched on 2 August 1942; sponsored by Mrs. H. R. Peck; reclassified as AGP‑7 on 11 March 1943; and commissioned on 17 October 1943, Cmdr. David B. Coleman in command.

Following shakedown off southern California, Mobjack departed San Diego for the southwest Pacific on 14 December 1943. Steaming via New Caledonia and the New Hebrides, she arrived at Rendova, British Solomon Islands, on 14 January 1944 to begin duty with  Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons (MTBRons), South Pacific (SOPAC). She trained and supplied motor torpedo boats (PTs) in the New Georgia area until 6 March 1944, when she steamed to Treasure Island and thence to the MTB base, Emirau, arriving on the 23rd. In mid‑May she returned to Treasure Island where she overhauled PTs and repaired and tended the motor gunboats (PGM)  and infantry landing craft gunboats-- LCI(G)s--of TG 30.3 into July.

Employed briefly in transporting spares and other materiel, she departed for British New Guinea on the 23rd, arriving at Dreger Harbor on the 27th to begin service under ComMTBRons, Seventh Fleet. During the greater part of August she operated at Aitape Harbor, tending MTBRon 33 and providing assistance in salvage work. On the 28th, she got underway for Mios Woendi, Netherlands New Guinea, in company with MTBRon 33. Arriving there on the 31st, she was engaged in fueling, provisioning and making final repairs to the boats of the squadron preparatory to sailing for Morotai as a unit of TG 70.1.

Arriving at Morotai on 16 September 1944 D‑plus‑1 day, she commenced tending the boats of her squadron and Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats assigned to air/sea rescue of pilots downed en route to and from raids on Truk. For the first three days she went about her duties unscathed in spite of enemy air resistance. At sunrise on the 19th, however, a Japanese Nakajima Ki-44 Army Type 2 single-seat fighter Shoki [Tojo], its engine emitting smoke, emerged from the low overcast and dove for Mobjack. Unable to crash the ship, the Tojo splashing in the water nearby, the doomed pilot had managed to drop two bombs close aboard, holing the boats stowed on deck and showering the ship with fragments. One piece penetrated the left forearm of BM1c  John C. Franks, the gun captain on the forward 5-inch mount [Mt. 51]. Making temporary repairs, Mobjack remained at Morotai, tending PT boats of TV 70.1.2 and PBYs now ranging over the Netherland East Indies on relief and intelligence reconnaissance missions, until February 1945.

During February and March 1945, she transported materiel, spares, and advanced base people as she accompanied MTB squadrons to forward areas. At Mios Woendi, 1 April, she took on base force people of MTBRons 9 and 10 and the next day got underway for Samar, Philippine Islands. Arriving on the 11th, she disembarked her passengers and steamed on to Palawan where she relieved Willoughby (AGP-9) as the repair unit for MTBRons 20 and 23. She moved on to Mangarin Bay, Mindoro, in mid‑May to overhaul and repair MTBs for use in the Philippines and in the upcoming Borneo operations.

On 8 June 1945 she steamed to Samar to stage for the landings at Balikpapan. Departing on the 21st, she sailed, with MTBRons 10 and 27 to Basilan Island, thence, on the 26th , further down the Sulu Archipelago and into Makassar Strait. The following day she joined the minesweepers, at work since 1 June, and the ships of the bombardment group, which had been pounding the Japanese held oil center since the 17th, in preparing the way for the Australian assault force. For four days Mobjack fueled and subsisted the MTBs assigned to night patrol off the coast to prevent the Japanese from remining, restoring obstacles blown by underwater demolition teams, or disturbing channel markers planted by the minesweepers. On 1 July, these extensive preparations and precautions proved to have been well executed as wave after wave of 7th Division, I Australian Corps troops splashed ashore without a casualty.

Mobjack, harassed by Japanese night air attacks until RAAF nightfighters proved too accurate, remained outside the harbor for the next nine days. On the 11th, she stood into the harbor, where, on 15 August 1945, she received a dispatch directing the cessation of all offensive action against the Japanese.

On 12 September 1945, Mobjack returned to the Philippines and for the next two months engaged in decommissioning MTBs under ComMTBRons, Philippine Sea frontier. On 10 November she sailed eastward, arriving at San Francisco on the 29th. The following month stripping was begun and on 21 August 1946 Mobjack was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy Register.

Transferred the same day to the custody of the Department of Commerce, Mobjack was re-named, and joined the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey as the survey ship Pioneer. After almost two decades of service in that role, Pioneer was sold for scrap on 4 May 1966 to National Metal & Steel Corp., Terminal Island, Calif., and broken up.

Mobjack received three battle stars for her World War II service, commemorating her work in the consolidation of the northern Solomons (28 April-15 June 1944, 15-22 June 1944, 22 June-24 August 1944), Western New Guinea operations, on designated duty in connection with motor torpedo boat operations (1 July-15 November 1944) and the Balikpapan operation (26 June 1945).

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

12 October 2023

Published: Thu Oct 12 14:09:44 EDT 2023