USS Altair (AD-11)
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Altair |
| Builder: | Skinner and Eddy Corporation, Seattle |
| Laid down: | 18 December 1918 |
| Launched: | 10 May 1919 |
| Acquired: |
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| Commissioned: | 6 December 1921 |
| Decommissioned: | 8 July 1946 |
| Renamed: | Altair, 2 November 1921 |
| Struck: | 21 July 1946 |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Altair-class destroyer tender |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 423 ft 9 in (129.16 m) |
| Beam: | 54 ft 3 in (16.54 m) |
| Draft: | 20 ft 7 in (6.27 m) |
| Propulsion: | Geared turbine, single propeller |
| Speed: | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
| Complement: | 481 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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The USS Altair (AD-11) was the lead ship of a class of three destroyer tenders. She was named for Altair, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila.
The Altair was laid down as the steel-hulled, single-screw freighter ID-4156 Edisto under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract on 18 December 1918 at Seattle, Washington, by the Skinner and Eddy Corporation. Launched on 10 May 1919, the Edisto came under naval scrutiny in the 13th Naval District, being given the identification number (Id. No.) 4156 and initially earmarked for potential service as a collier. After a brief period of operation by the USSB, the Edisto was transferred to the Navy by executive order on 29 October 1921 and renamed the Altair on 2 November 1921. Classified as a destroyer tender, AD-11, the ship was delivered to the Navy on 5 December 1921 and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard the following day, 6 December 1921, Commander James H. Comfort in command.
Converted to a destroyer tender at the New York Navy Yard, and equipped with surplus and salvaged machine tools and shop equipment selected from dismantled Navy and Army war plants in the demobilization after World War I, the Altair underwent her metamorphosis in nine months and then fitted out at her conversion yard into late November, 1922. She then proceeded to the west coast of the United States via Newport, Rhode Island; Hampton Roads and the Panama Canal Zone, reaching San Diego, California, on 17 December 1922. She was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 12, Destroyer Squadrons, Battle Fleet — a unit of 19 destroyers (one "leader" and three six-ship divisions) operating at that time with 84% complements as part of the "rotating reserve."
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