USS Wachapreague, a 1,760-ton motor torpedo boat tender, was built at Houghton, Washington, and was commissioned in May 1944. One of four Barnegat class small seaplane tenders designated during construction for conversion to PT boat tenders, she was reclassified from AVP-56 to AGP-8 in March 1943. She departed San Diego, California, in July 1944 after shakedown and in August arrived at Milne Bay, New Guinea, where she began tending a PT boat squadron. In October she sailed with her sisters Oyster Bay (AGP-6) and Willoughby (AGP-9), an AVP, and two army craft for Leyte in the Philippines, all escorting a group of 45 PT boats. During the transit Wachapreague refueled underway all 15 of the PT boats assigned to her. A few days after arriving in the Philippines, her PT boats played a prominent role in the Battle of Surigao Strait, in which the Japanese lost two battleships, two cruisers, and several destroyers.
Wachapreague continued to tend PT boats in the Philippines for the next six months, coming under attack several times by kamikazes but escaping damage. In April 1945 she accompanied her PT boats to North Borneo, where she continued her tender duties through the end of the war. Returning to the United States for inactivation, she arrived at San Francisco in December 1945 and sailed for Boston, Massachusetts, in March 1946.
Wachapreague was decommissioned in May 1946 and was transferred to the Coast Guard in the same month for use as a weather patrol ship. Renamed USCG McCullough (WAVP-386, later WHEC-386), she served out of Boston, Massachusetts, and Wilmington, North Carolina, primarily on weather stations. She was transferred to South Vietnam as Ngo Quyen in June 1972. She became the Philippine Gregorio de Pilar in April 1976 and was decommissioned in June 1985.
This page features all our views of USS Wachapreague.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: 19-N-69680 USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) Off Houghton, Washington, on 20 May 1944, three days after commissioning. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 620 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-69681 USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) Off Houghton, Washington, on 20 May 1944, three days after commissioning. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 615 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-69682 USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) Off Houghton, Washington, on 20 May 1944, three days after commissioning. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 620 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-69683 USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) Off Houghton, Washington, on 20 May 1944, three days after commissioning. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 620 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-345815 USS PT-194 Refueling from USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) on 20 October 1944 while enroute from Palau to Leyte Gulf. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 104KB; 740 x 540 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-51130 USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) Being christened by Mrs. E. L. Barr during launching ceremonies on 10 July 1943. The ship was built by the Lake Washington Shipyards, Houghton, Washington. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 625 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-51131 USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) Being launched at the Lake Washington Shipyards, Houghton, Washington, on 10 July 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 620 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 21 May 2002