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USS Williamsburg
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USS Williamsburg
USS Williamsburg was a US Navy gunboat. A former private yacht, it also served as a presidential yacht from 1945 to 1953.
The steel-hulled, diesel-powered yacht Aras was laid down on 19 March 1930 by the Bath Iron Works; launched on 8 December 1930, and delivered to wood-pulp magnate Hugh J. Chisholm, Jr., on 15 January 1931, who named it for his wife, the former Sara Hardenbergh.
Aras displaced 1,805 long tons (1,834 t) fully loaded; with a length of 243 ft 9 in (74.30 m); a beam of 36 ft (11 m); and a draft of 14 ft (4.3 m). Her two Winton diesel engines generated 1,100 bhp (820 kW), with a speed of 13.5 kn (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph).
The US Navy acquired Aras on 24 April 1941 and renamed her Williamsburg. The former pleasure craft entered the Brewer Drydock and Repair Co., of Brooklyn, New York, on 23 June, for conversion into a gunboat.
Williamsburg (PG-56) was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard, on 7 October 1941. Williamsburg was ordered to the Norfolk Navy Yard to complete fitting-out, arriving on 5 November.
As a gunboat, Williamsburg was armed with two 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun mounts, six .50 in (12.7 mm) caliber Browning machine guns, two .30 in (7.62 mm) caliber Lewis machine guns, two depth charge tracks, one Y-gun depth charge projector, 16 rifles, and 10 pistols. Her crew complement was 81.
After final alterations, the gunboat departed Norfolk on 2 December, touched briefly at Washington, D.C., and eventually arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 6 December, the day before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
Williamsburg departed Halifax, on 8 December, bound for Iceland; via Hvalfjörður; and reached Reykjavík, later in December 1941. She arrived when the newly established Naval Operating Base (NOB), Iceland, encountered difficulties. Rear Admiral James L. Kauffman, the first commandant of NOB Iceland, had arrived in Reykjavík in the battleship Arkansas shortly after the United States entered the war. He found that no quarters existed ashore for himself or his staff. Moreover, while tentative arrangements had been made to assign a station ship to Reykjavík, the congestion of shipping there and the shortage of space made a permanently pier-moored ship impossible. Therefore, it was necessary to have a ship that could be anchored clear of the docks. The problem was solved when Admiral Kauffman transferred his flag from Arkansas to Williamsburg at Hvalfjörður on 23 December. Since the Army's Port Authority in Iceland was also in need of headquarters at that time, its commanding officer and his staff were also accommodated in Williamsburg.
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USS Williamsburg
USS Williamsburg was a US Navy gunboat. A former private yacht, it also served as a presidential yacht from 1945 to 1953.
The steel-hulled, diesel-powered yacht Aras was laid down on 19 March 1930 by the Bath Iron Works; launched on 8 December 1930, and delivered to wood-pulp magnate Hugh J. Chisholm, Jr., on 15 January 1931, who named it for his wife, the former Sara Hardenbergh.
Aras displaced 1,805 long tons (1,834 t) fully loaded; with a length of 243 ft 9 in (74.30 m); a beam of 36 ft (11 m); and a draft of 14 ft (4.3 m). Her two Winton diesel engines generated 1,100 bhp (820 kW), with a speed of 13.5 kn (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph).
The US Navy acquired Aras on 24 April 1941 and renamed her Williamsburg. The former pleasure craft entered the Brewer Drydock and Repair Co., of Brooklyn, New York, on 23 June, for conversion into a gunboat.
Williamsburg (PG-56) was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard, on 7 October 1941. Williamsburg was ordered to the Norfolk Navy Yard to complete fitting-out, arriving on 5 November.
As a gunboat, Williamsburg was armed with two 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun mounts, six .50 in (12.7 mm) caliber Browning machine guns, two .30 in (7.62 mm) caliber Lewis machine guns, two depth charge tracks, one Y-gun depth charge projector, 16 rifles, and 10 pistols. Her crew complement was 81.
After final alterations, the gunboat departed Norfolk on 2 December, touched briefly at Washington, D.C., and eventually arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 6 December, the day before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
Williamsburg departed Halifax, on 8 December, bound for Iceland; via Hvalfjörður; and reached Reykjavík, later in December 1941. She arrived when the newly established Naval Operating Base (NOB), Iceland, encountered difficulties. Rear Admiral James L. Kauffman, the first commandant of NOB Iceland, had arrived in Reykjavík in the battleship Arkansas shortly after the United States entered the war. He found that no quarters existed ashore for himself or his staff. Moreover, while tentative arrangements had been made to assign a station ship to Reykjavík, the congestion of shipping there and the shortage of space made a permanently pier-moored ship impossible. Therefore, it was necessary to have a ship that could be anchored clear of the docks. The problem was solved when Admiral Kauffman transferred his flag from Arkansas to Williamsburg at Hvalfjörður on 23 December. Since the Army's Port Authority in Iceland was also in need of headquarters at that time, its commanding officer and his staff were also accommodated in Williamsburg.
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