USS ''Adept'' (AFD-23) was a
''AFDL-1''-class small auxiliary dry dock of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
Auxiliary floating drydock
An auxiliary floating drydock is a type of US Navy floating dry dock. Floating dry docks are able to submerge underwater and to be placed under a ship in need of repair below the water line. Water is then pumped out of the floating dry dock, r ...
built for
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Construction and career
The construction of one-section, steel, floating
Drydock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
built at
Jacksonville,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
by
George D. Auchter Co. and had begun late in 1943 and completed in December 1944. The small, non-self-propelled auxiliary floating drydock was then towed to the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...
for duty at the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
base at
Curtis Bay,
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
., where she began docking small naval combatant ships—up to the size of
destroyer escorts
Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships.
Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...
—for hull repairs.
Redesignated AFDL-23 on 1 August 1946, she was moved to
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
in the 18 months immediately following the end of the war. By 1 January 1947, ''AFDL-23'' was laid up with the
Pacific Reserve Fleet
The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and ...
at
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
.
After almost two decades of inactivity, ''AFDL-23'' was placed in service in December 1965 to support the Navy's efforts in
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. She served at the
Pacific Fleet's advanced bases. While continuing such duty, ''AFDL-23'' was named Adept on 7 June 1979.
On 24 February 1992,
USS Brunswick (ATS-3) towed Adept out of
Subic Bay for
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
. In the fall of 2004,
USS Osprey (MHC-51)
USS ''Osprey'' (MHC-51) is the lead ship of ''Osprey''-class coastal mine hunters, and the fourth U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed se ...
made another visit to ''Adept'' at Gulf Copper Ship Repair,
Aransas Pass, from 1 until 5 October. In 2019, she began her upgrade in Dock 4.
Awards
*
American Campaign Medal
The American Campaign Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had perfo ...
*
Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal
*
World War II Victory Medal
*
National Defense Service Medal
References
*
NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive Adept (AFDL-23) ex AFDL-23 (1946–1979) AFD-23 (1943–1946)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adept
1944 ships
Ships built in Jacksonville, Florida
Floating drydocks of the United States Navy