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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Matagorda (AVP-22), 1941-1949

USS Matagorda, a 1,766-ton Barnegat class small seaplane tender, was built at the Boston Navy Yard in Massachusetts and was commissioned in December 1941. She began her operational career by tending seaplanes in the Galapagos Islands in the eastern Pacific in May and June 1942. She then moved to the Caribbean, where she tended seaplanes and provided occasional escort services. In December 1942 Matagorda underwent maintenance at the Boston Navy Yard and, following one trip to Argentia, Newfoundland, she returned to the Caribbean in February 1943 where she acted as an escort and transported ordnance and aviation supplies for the next six months.

In August 1943 Matagorda transited up the U.S. east coast to Argentia, where she joined a convoy to the United Kingdom. She crossed the Atlantic five more times between October 1943 and March 1944, and also carried out escort and supply runs to Casablanca and Gibraltar. After a stop at Boston in April, she sailed to Brazil, where for most of the next twelve months she conducted a wide variety of seaplane tending, training, and escort operations. Matagorda returned to Norfolk in April 1945 and, after two trips on transport duty, arrived at New York for conversion to a Press Ship for the invasion of Japan. As such, she was reclassified AG-122 on 30 July 1945, but she reverted to AVP-22 on 10 September 1945 after the conversion was cancelled because of the end of the war. Matagorda was decommissioned in February 1946 and placed in reserve.

In March 1949 Matagorda was loaned to the Coast Guard as the cutter Matagorda (WAVP-373, later WHEC-373). She served out of Boston, primarily on weather station duty. She was decommissioned in January 1968, returned to the Navy in October 1968, and sunk as a target in October 1969.

This page features all our views of USS Matagorda, and provides links to other related images.

For additional images of USS Matagorda, see:
USS Matagorda (AVP-22) -- Construction Photographs.


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-28802

USS Matagorda (AVP-22)


Photographed on 3 April 1942 at Boston, Massachusetts, in her original configuration with 2 5"/38 guns.
She is wearing Measure 12 Modified camouflage.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 620 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 19-N-51366

USS Matagorda (AVP-22)


Photographed on 27 September 1943 at Norfolk, Virginia, with a main armament of 4 5"/38 guns.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 480 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 19-N-51368

USS Matagorda (AVP-22)


Photographed on 27 September 1943 at Norfolk, Virginia.
Her two unshielded 5"/38 mounts aft are clearly visible.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 610 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Matagorda (AVP-22). The following list features some of these images:

The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."



  • Photo #: 80-G-35029
    USS Matagorda (AVP-22) photographed at anchor at Bermuda on 27 November 1942.
    Port broadside view taken from another ship. The ship is wearing Measure 12 Modified camouflage.

  • Photo #: 80-G-200280
    USS Matagorda (AVP-22) photographed off the east coast on 21 November 1943 by an aircraft from the Weeksville Naval Air Station.
    Weeksville was a base for blimps which patrolled off Cape Hatteras. Aerial port broadside view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-229765
    USS Matagorda (AVP-22) photographed in Boston Harbor on 14 April 1944 by an aircraft from ZP-11.
    The ship has 3 5" guns. Aerial view from broad on the port bow.

  • Photo #: 80-G-229766
    USS Matagorda (AVP-22) photographed in Boston Harbor on 14 April 1944 by an aircraft from ZP-11.
    Aerial starboard bow view.

    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

  • For additional images of USS Matagorda, see:
    USS Matagorda (AVP-22) -- Construction Photographs.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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    Page made 28 December 2000