USS Norton Sound (AVM-1)
USS Norton Sound (AVM-1)
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Norton Sound |
| Namesake: | Norton Sound |
| Builder: | Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, San Pedro, California |
| Laid down: | 7 September 1942 |
| Launched: | 28 November 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 8 January 1945 |
| Decommissioned: |
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| Reclassified: | AVM-1, 8 August 1951 |
| Struck: | 26 January 1987 |
| Fate: | Disposed of by Maritime Administration exchange, 20 October 1988 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Currituck-class seaplane tender |
| Displacement: | 14,000 tons, full load |
| Length: | 540 ft 5 in (164.72 m) |
| Beam: | 69 ft 3 in (21.11 m) |
| Draft: | 22 ft 3 in (6.78 m) |
| Propulsion: | steam turbines, 4 x boilers, 2 x shafts, 12,000 shp (9.0 MW) |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1,247 as commissioned, 540 after conversion to AVM-1 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Various, including testing of AN/SPG-59, AN/SPY-1 and AN/SPQ-9 |
| Armament: | Varied over her career, especially as a test vessel |
USS Norton Sound (AV-11/AVM-1) was originally built as a Currituck-class seaplane tender by Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, San Pedro, California. She was named for Norton Sound, a large inlet in West Alaska, between the Seward Peninsula and the mouths of the Yukon, north-east of the Bering Sea.
Norton Sound (AV-11) was laid down 7 September 1942; launched 28 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Ernest L. Gunther, wife of Rear Admiral Ernest L. Gunther; and commissioned 8 January 1945, Captain Ben Scott Custer in command.
After Pacific shakedown, the new seaplane tender stood out from San Diego 26 February 1945 and steamed for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She reported to Commander, Marshall-Gilbert Area for training in mid-March, and she arrived Saipan 1 April 1945 to provide seaplane tending services.
Norton Sound anchored 1 May 1945 at Aka Kaikyo, Kerama Retto, and by 21 June 1945 had assisted in downing three hostile air raiders. Air alerts continued until midnight, 14 August 1945. Word of the Japanese surrender arrived eight hours later, and into September the tender engaged in upkeep and air operations at Okinawa.
She steamed for Sasebo, Japan 21 September 1945, returning to Okinawa one week later. Norton Sound called at Shanghai, China 1 October 1945, and by the 23rd of that month she was at Tsingtao, where she tended seaplanes until 7 November 1945. The next day she anchored at Shanghai, and from then until April 1946, she remained on duty with the occupation forces between China and Japan.
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