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Photo # NH 66856:  USS Adirondack in the James River Reserve Fleet on 27 May 1962.

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

USS Adirondack (AGC-15), 1945-1972.

USS Adirondack, a 6,884-ton (light displacement) Adirondack-class amphibious force flagship (AGC), was built at Wilmington, N. C. for the Maritime Commission to its C2-S-AJ1 cargo ship design. Delivered incomplete to the Navy in February 1945, she was converted to an AGC by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, and commissioned in September 1945. The three Adirondack-class ships (AGC 15-17) were essentially variants of the preceding Mount McKinley (AGC-7) class, differing externally in their heavy single pole mast aft instead of the goalpost in the earlier ships, and in their taller radar lattice mast amidships. Completed too late to serve in World War II, Adirondack conducted local operations off the U. S. east coast until being inactivated at Philadelphia in February 1950.

Reactivated in April 1951, as part of the defense expansion brought on by the Korean War, Adirondack moored at Naples, Italy, in August 1951 and remained there until May 1953 as flagship for the U. S. admiral who commanded NATO forces and U. S. naval forces in southern Europe and adjacent areas. Following an overhaul, in October 1953 she became flagship for the commander of Atlantic Fleet amphibious forces. In February 1954 she became flagship for Commander, Amphibious Group Four, Atlantic Fleet, and participated in numerous U. S. and NATO exercises. Adirondack was again decommissioned in November 1955 and placed in reserve. The ship was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in June 1961, transferred to Maritime Administration custody at its James River, Virginia, Reserve Fleet in January 1962 and permanently transferred to the Maritime Administration in September 1962. She was sold by the Maritime Administration for scrapping in November 1972 and delivered to the purchaser the following month.

This page features the only views we have concerning USS Adirondack (AGC-15).

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 #: NH 66856

USS Adirondack
(AGC-15)

In the James River Reserve Fleet, 27 May 1962.
Visible to her starboard is the stern of USS Galilea (AKN-6) and the bow of (probably) USS Libra (AKA-12). The stern of Galilea shows the condition of the ship when her conversion from LSV to AKN was cancelled incomplete in December 1946.
Libra and a few other early AKAs can be recognized by the heavy central kingposts added to the goalpost masts forward and aft of the bridge.

Courtesy of the Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Ted Stone Collection.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph,

Online Image: 52KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 104251

USS Adirondack
(AGC-15)

Radioteletypewriters in use circa 1946.
Radioman Second Class J. V. Miceli is shown in the foreground seated at the Model 19 teletypewriter used in copying MERFOX radio broadcast schedules. He is using the tape machine next to the teletypewriter to work with a message punched onto paper tape. Seaman First Class J. K. Wooster is seated at a Model 19 teletypewriter that was used to handle traffic to and from NSS, the Navy's long-range communications station at Annapolis, Md. Behind him are two Model 15 teletypewriters. The transfer panel on the rear bulkhead was used for connecting various teletypewriters throughout the ship. The photo may have been taken on 26 August 1946; it later appeared in All Hands magazine.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the "All Hands" Collection at the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 62KB; 585 x 765 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Adirondack (AGC-15). The following list features some of these images:

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



  • Photo #: USN 1036062
    An undated post-World War II starboard broadside surface view of USS Adirondack. The same view is also filed as USN 1037316.

  • Photo #: 80-G-478898
    USS Adirondack and USS Mercer (APB-39) moored stern to the end of a pier at Naples, Italy, 3 March 1952. The passenger liner SS Constitution is alongside the same pier.
    Adirondack is seen from an aircraft from off her starboard bow, with Mercer alongside. Each ship occupies a rather small portion of the image, which shows city buildings in the background.

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

    The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them 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."


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    Page made 25 December 2006