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

Photo #  80-G-444134:  USS Onslow on 10 June 1952.

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

USS Onslow (AVP-48), 1943-1960

USS Onslow, a 1,766-ton Barnegat class small seaplane tender built at Houghton, Washington, was commissioned in December 1943. Because of a quirk in the way her builder, the Lake Washington Shipyard, received its contracts, this ship and nine others (AVP 48-57) were built before nine lower-numbered sisters (AVP 33-41).

Onslow departed the West Coast in March 1944 for the Western Pacific. In April she landed 160 troops on a small island in the Marshalls to mop up Japanese resistance, and in the process repelled an attack by a Japanese bomber. After six weeks tending aircraft at Kwajalein she moved to Saipan as part of the invasion force. While tending aircraft there in September, one of her planes was boarded by two Japanese swimmers; the aircraft's crew was saved and the swimmers killed but the aircraft was lost.

Onslow then participated in the invasion of the Palau Islands. She was still there tending seaplanes in January 1945 when her anchorage was attacked by three Japanese midget submarines. After a day-long anti-submarine effort, one of the enemy midgets was sunk and two escaped. Onslow soon moved to Saipan, where she spent two months supporting small boats in the harbor. With three other AVPs and three large seaplane tenders, she sailed in late March for the invasion of Okinawa, where the tenders set up a seadrome for 60 PBM "Mariner" seaplanes. She remained at Okinawa until just before the end of the war, and then served in the Asian occupation force until January 1947. Returning to the West Coast, she was decommissioned in June 1947

Onslow was reactivated in January 1951 for the Korean conflict. Between 1951 and 1955 she carried out four deployments to the Western Pacific, spending much of this time at Iwakuni, Japan, tending seaplanes and helping establish a naval air station. Another Western Pacific cruise followed in 1956-57. Onslow was decommissioned in April 1960 and sold in October 1960 to the Philippine President Lines for service as a ferry in the Philippines. Still in civilian service in 1975, she was among the ships hired by the U. S. Navy to assist in the evacuation of South Vietnam.

This page features all our views of USS Onslow.


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-58160

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


Underway near her builder's yard at Houghton, Washington, on 9 January 1944.
She has a main armament of three 5"/38 guns.

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-58161

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


Underway near her builder's yard at Houghton, Washington, on 9 January 1944.

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

Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 620 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-58162

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


Underway near her builder's yard at Houghton, Washington, on 9 January 1944.
Note the open 5"/38 mount on her fantail.

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

Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 620 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 97672

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


At Saipan on 22 June 1944.
Photographed by USS Pocomoke (AV-9).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-444134

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


Photographed on 10 June 1952.
Despite an early postwar rearrangement of her armament, she retains an open 5"/38 mount aft.
Note the aviation insignia on the bow aft of the hull number.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 625 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 97712

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


Refueling a PBM seaplane at sea in around December 1944.
The aircraft carries the same bow number, 15, as the plane in Photo # NH 97673.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97673

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


Refueling a PBM seaplane at sea in December 1944.
Note name "Unaymit" and insignia painted on the plane's bow. Also multi-colored fender between plane and ship.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: 19-N-51143

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


Fitting out at the Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington, on 10 July 1943.
The unit outboard is probably USS Orca (AVP-49). The old paddle-wheel ferry is named West Seattle.

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

Online Image: 118KB; 590 x 765 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-51144

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


Fitting out at the Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington, on 10 July 1943.
The unit outboard with part of her funnel on deck is probably USS Orca (AVP-49). The unit in the lower left is USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6), and the unit in the lower right with the crane is USS Mobjack (AGP-7). The old paddle-wheel ferry is named West Seattle.

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

Online Image: 121KB; 740 x 625 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-51145

USS Onslow (AVP-48)


Fitting out at the Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington, on 10 July 1943.
The unit on the left behind the crane is USS Mobjack (AGP-7).

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

Online Image: 109KB; 600 x 765 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 Onslow (AVP-48). The following list features one of these images:

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



  • Photo #: 80-G-1078524
    USS Onslow (AVP-48) viewed broad on the starboard bow while underway in Pearl Harbor, September 1954. The scene is framed by palm fronds in upper left and right.

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

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


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


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 10 October 2001
    New image added 30 October 2001