USS Half Moon (AVP-26) was a seaplane tender

Seaplane tender

A seaplane tender is a ship that provides facilities for operating seaplanes. These ships were the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.-History:...

 that served in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 from 1943 to 1946.

Construction and early deployment

Half Moon was laid down as a small seaplane tender (AVP-26) on 10 March 1942 by Lake Washington Shipyards, Houghton

Houghton, Washington

Houghton is one of the lakeside neighborhoods of the city of Kirkland, Washington. Consisting mostly of upscale, single-family homes, Houghton overlooks Lake Washington and is one of the wealthier districts of the Eastside suburbs of Seattle. The village was named for Willard Houghton, a local...

, Washington, and was launched as such on 12 July 1942, sponsored by Mrs. T. A. Gray. In March 1943 she was selected for conversion into a motor torpedo boat tender

Motor torpedo boat tender

Motor torpedo boat tender is a type of ship used by the U.S. Navy during World War II. The Motor torpedo boat tender's task was to act as a tender in remote areas for patrol boats and to provide the necessary fuel and provisions for the torpedo boats she was responsible for...

 and redesignated AGP-6, but she was so close to completion as a seaplane tender that it soon was decided to convert seaplane tender USS Oyster Bay (AVP-28) into a motor torpedo boat tender instead; Oyster Bay was designated AGP-6 and became USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6)

USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6)

USS Oyster Bay , originally and later AVP-28, was a United States Navy motor torpedo boat tender in commission from 1943 to 1946.-Construction, commissioning, and shakedown:...

. Half Moon, meanwhile, was again classified as a seaplane tender, again designated AVP-26 on 1 May 1943 and commissioned as such on 15 June 1943 with Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 W. O. Gallery in command.

Half Moon spent her first months in shakedown

Shakedown (testing)

A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...

 training off California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, and was then assigned to the United States Pacific Fleet

United States Pacific Fleet

The United States Pacific Fleet is a Pacific Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources under the operational control of the United States Pacific Command. Its home port is at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii. It is commanded by Admiral Patrick M...

. Departing San Diego

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

, California, on 25 August 1943, she embarked a United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 air group at Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, and steamed into Vila Harbor, New Hebrides

New Hebrides

New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...

, on 14 September 1943. She then sailed to Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

The New Guinea campaign and the "Black Cats"

From Brisbane, Half Moon moved to Namoai Bay, on Sariba Island, New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, arriving on 6 October 1943. At Namoai Bay Half Moon began her tending duties. Her embarked squadron, flying Consolidated

Consolidated Aircraft

The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the subsidiary was being closed by its parent corporation, General Motors. Consolidated became...

 PBY Catalina

PBY Catalina

The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...

 flying boat

Flying boat

A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...

s, conducted night antishipping strikes in the New Guinea area. With the support of seaplane tenders like Half Moon these missions, called '"Black Cat" strikes, achieved important results in the destruction of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese transports.

Half Moon departed for Brisbane on 21 December 1943, remained there until 10 February 1944, and then steamed into a succession of New Guinea ports on the way to her new operating base, Finschafen, New Guinea. There she resumed her support of seaplane operations in the New Guinea theater.

After tending seaplanes on air-sea rescue

Air-sea rescue

Air-sea rescue is the coordinated search and rescue of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people who have survived the loss of their sea-going vessel. ASR can involve a wide variety of resources including seaplanes, helicopters, submarines, rescue boats and ships...

 missions from Humboldt Bay, New Guinea, in May 1944, Half Moon spent several months substituting for transports in the Pacific area, stopping at Brisbane, Manus Island

Manus Island

Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...

, Milne Bay

Milne Bay

Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, southeastern Papua New Guinea. The bay is named after Sir Alexander Milne.The area was a site of the Battle of Milne Bay in 1942....

, and other ports. She took up "Black Cat" operations again on 25 August 1944 from Middelburg

'Eua

Eua is a smaller but still major island in the kingdom of Tonga. It is close to Tongatapu, but forms a separate administrative division. It has an area of 87.44 km2, and a population in 2006 of 5,165 people.- Geography :...

 and later Morotai

Morotai

Morotai Island Regency is a regency of North Maluku province, Indonesia, located on Morotai Island. The population was 54,876 in 2007.-History:...

.

The Philippines campaign

Steaming out of Morotai on 6 October 1944, Half Moon joined a small convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

 en route to Leyte Gulf

Leyte Gulf

Leyte Gulf is a body of water immediately east of the island of Leyte in the Philippines, adjoining the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, at . The Gulf is bounded on the north by the island of Samar, which is separated from Leyte on the west by the narrow San Juanico Strait, and on the south by...

 to assist in the developing operations for the recapture of the Philippine Islands. The convoy arrived at Leyte Gulf on 21 October 1944, and Half Moon immediately steamed down the eastern coast of Leyte

Leyte

Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...

 in search of a proper anchorage for her seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

 operations.

Anchoring in Hinamangan Bay, Half Moon came under air attack on 23 October 1944, and soon realized that her anchorage was a rendezvous point for Japanese planes attacking Leyte. Late on 24 October 1944 the radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

 aboard Half Moon began to pick up two large surface units converging and it was soon clear that she was to be a witness to the last engagement between battlelines of surface ships, the Battle of Surigao Strait, one of several actions making up the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf

Battle of Leyte Gulf

The Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the "Battles for Leyte Gulf", and formerly known as the "Second Battle of the Philippine Sea", is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.It was fought in waters...

 of 23 October 1944-26 October 1944. Half Moon cautiously slipped out from behind Oabugan Grande Island and was given permission to proceed up the coast of Leyte between, but well to the west of, the two fleets. She watched the spectacle of Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

 Jesse B. Oldendorf

Jesse B. Oldendorf

Jesse Bartlett "Oley" Oldendorf was an admiral in the United States Navy, famous for defeating a Japanese force in the Battle of Leyte Gulf during World War II...

's battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

s, cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

s, and destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s pounding the Japanese ships, and after the battle returned to Hinamangan Bay. Another fierce air attack, however, soon convinced the captain of Half Moon that San Pedro Bay

San Pedro Bay (Philippines)

San Pedro Bay is a bay in the Philippines, at the northwest end of Leyte Gulf, about 15 km east-west and 20 km north-south. The bay is bounded on the north and east by Samar and on the east by Leyte Island. It is connected by San Juanico Strait to Carigara Bay of the Samar Sea. The...

, further north, offered a more hospitable base for operation.

Half Moon weathered two severe storm

Storm

A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather...

s, on 29 October 1944 and 8 November 1944, and operated with her seaplanes in Leyte Gulf until 27 December 1944. She was then designated as part of the support convoy for the Mindoro

Mindoro

Mindoro is the seventh-largest island in the Philippines. It is located off the coast of Luzon, and northeast of Palawan. The southern coast of Mindoro forms the northeastern extremum of the Sulu Sea.-History:...

 landing, and departed for Mangarin Bay

Mangarin Bay

Mangarin Bay is situated to the east of Mangarin Point, on the west coast of Mindoro, among the Philippine Islands. The bay is shoal and sheltered from the wind by the point and Ilin Island. Magarin point terminates in a long sandy pit off which the depth is 4 to 5 fathoms. Farther in the water...

 on 27 December 1944. The convoy, known as "Uncle plus 15", encountered some of the most prolonged and determined air attacks of the World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as the Japanese strove mightily to prevent American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 reinforcements from reaching Mindoro. Air cover provided by land-based aircraft stopped only some of the Japanese attackers. Suicide planes (kamikaze

Kamikaze

The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....

s), bomb

Bomb

A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...

s, and strafing

Strafing

Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the...

 hit many ships. Liberty Ship

Liberty ship

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...

 SS John Burke, loaded with ammunition

Ammunition

Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...

, exploded, leaving virtually no trace after a kamikaze hit, tanker

Tanker (ship)

A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...

 USS Porcupine (IX-126)

USS Porcupine (IX-126)

USS Porcupine , an Armadillo-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the porcupine....

 and motor torpedo boat tender USS Orestes (AGP-10)

USS Orestes (AGP-10)

USS Orestes was a motor torpedo boat tender that served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946.Orestes was laid down as landing ship tank USS LST–135 at Chicago Bridge and Iron Company, Seneca, Illinois, on 8 July 1943, and launched on 16 November 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Bernard Sharp...

 were severely damaged, and other ships also suffered hits.

Nevertheless the convoy drove through, giving the Japanese planes a hot time with concentrated antiaircraft fire. During the convoy's three-day voyage, gunners on Half Moon and the other ships were at their stations around the clock, Half Moon accounting for at least two and possibly four of the attacking aircraft.

The convoy arrived at Mindoro on 30 December 1944. Air attacks continued. On 4 January 1945 during one of these a large bomb skipped over Half Moon's fantail, falling to explode. Half Moon remained in Mangarin Bay tending seaplanes until returning to Leyte Gulf on 17 February 1945.

Following the victorious Philippine invasion, Half Moon moved to Manus and Humboldt Bay. While in dry dock at Manus a sole Japanese aircraft launched a torpedo at the ship, striking the dry dock and destroying its mess hall. There was no damage to the Half Moon and only one injury, a crew member who fell off the top of the dock while fishing. The following day Tokyo Rose reported the Half Moon sunk.

On 30 May 1945, she got underway for the Philippines again, arriving at Tawi Tawi in the Sulu Archipelago

Sulu Archipelago

The Sulu Archipelago is a chain of islands in the southwestern Philippines. This archipelago is considered to be part of the Moroland by the local rebel independence movement. This island group forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea....

 on 11 June 1945. She supported seaplane antisubmarine searches from Tawi Tawi Bay until early August 1945, and then carried out the same mission from Mangarin Bay, Mindoro.

Half Moon received two battle stars for her World War II service.

Post-World War II career

Following Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945, Half Moon proceeded to Subic Bay

Subic Bay

Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...

 on Luzon

Luzon

Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...

 in the Philippines, and from there got underway for Okinawa on 30 August 1945. On the afternoon of 31 August 1945 signs of a storm were evident and by 1 September 1945 Half Moon was engulfed in a raging typhoon, with winds up to 120 knots (235.2 km/h) (222 kilometers per hour) and barometer

Barometer

A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...

 readings of 27.32 inches (925 millibars). Smart seamanship allowed her to weather the storm, and she arrived safely at Okinawa on 4 September 1945.

Half Moon departed Okinawa for Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

 on 1 October 1945, operated in that area for about a month, and departed Manila on 7 November 1945 for deactivation. She arrived at Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, Washington, on 1 December 1945, steamed to San Diego on 12 April 1946, decommissioned

Ship decommissioning

To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

 there on 4 September 1946, and was placed in reserve.

United States Coast Guard career

Half Moon was refitted and loaned to the United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 in September 1948. In Coast Guard service she became the cutter

United States Coast Guard Cutter

Cutter is the term used by the United States Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. A Cutter is or greater in length, has a permanently assigned crew, and has accommodations for the crew to live aboard...

 USCGC Half Moon (WAVP-378)

USCGC Half Moon (WAVP-378)

USCGC Half Moon , later WHEC-378, was a Casco-class United States Coast Guard cutter in service from 1948 to 1969.-Construction and U.S. Navy service:...

, later WHEC-378. Based at Staten Island, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, USCGC Half Moon served primarily on ocean station duty in the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

, serving also as a search-and-rescue ship and in law enforcement

Law enforcement agency

In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...

 operations. She eventually was reclassified as a High Endurance Cutter

High endurance cutter

The designation of High endurance cutter was created in 1965 when the United States Coast Guard adopted its own designation system. High endurance cutters encompassed its largest cutters previously designated by the United States Navy as Coast Guard gunboats , Coast Guard destroyer escorts , and...

 and redesignated WHEC-378 in 1966, and was transferred permanently to the Coast Guard later that year. She served for several months on a combat tour off Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

 in 1967 during the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

.

USCGC Half Moon was decommissioned in July 1969 and was sold for scrap in May 1970.