USS Kenneth Whiting (AV-14) was the lead ship

Lead ship

The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...

 of her class of 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:...

s 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...

.

Captain Kenneth Whiting, USN

Kenneth Whiting was launched on 15 December 1943 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation

Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation

The Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation was a United States corporation which built ships for the US Navy and merchant marine during World War II ....

, Seattle, Washington

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...

; sponsored by Mrs. Kenneth Whiting, widow of Captain Whiting. Kenneth Whiting (Naval Aviator No. 16) received flight training from the Wright brothers

Wright brothers

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...

 at Dayton, Ohio

Dayton, Ohio

Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...

; and was the first executive officer of the first United States aircraft carrier . Commander Whiting was credited with many basic tenets of naval carrier aviation, including landing signal officer

Landing signal officer

Landing Signal Officers are naval aviators specially trained to facilitate the "safe and expeditious recovery" of naval aircraft aboard aircraft carriers. Originally LSOs were responsible for bringing aircraft aboard ship using hand signals...

s, pilot ready rooms, a darkroom and photo lab to develop movies of carrier landings, and making pilot qualification a requirement for command of an aircraft carrier.

Early Operations

Kenneth Whiting was commissioned 8 May 1944 with Commander R. R. Lyons in command. After shakedown along the West Coast, Kenneth Whiting cleared San Diego on 21 July 1944 and arrived Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

 on 14 August for operations in the Marianas. Her PB2Y

PB2Y Coronado

|-See also:-Bibliography:* Andrews, Hal. "" Naval Aviation News, Vol. 72, Issue no. 1, November-December 1989. ISSN 0028-1417.* Bridgeman, Leonard. “The Consolidated Vultee Model 29 Coronado.” Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London: Studio, 1946. ISBN 1-85170-493-0.* Green, William. War...

 squadron made reconnaissance flights which provided valuable data necessary to the success of the Allied operations. At Tanapag Harbor

Tanapag Harbor

Tanapag Harbor is the primary harbor of Saipan, and is located on the western side of the island. It is separated from the Philippine Sea by a barrier reef,located about 3 km off the shore. This reef forms the Saipan Lagoon....

, Saipan, Kenneth Whiting used a former Japanese seaplane ramp to augment the maintenance facilities and increase the availability of planes. She sailed for Kossol Passage on 20 November, relieving the tender there three days later. She remained in the Palau Islands until 5 February 1945.

Okinawa

Arriving Ulithi

Ulithi

Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...

 on 6 February, Kenneth Whiting resumed tending seaplanes. On 11 March while she was still off Ulithi, two enemy suicide planes

Operation Tan No. 2

Operation Tan No. 2 was a long-range Kamikaze mission directed at the main Allied naval fleet anchorage at Ulithi atoll in the western Pacific on March 11, 1945 during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The Japanese hoped to take the U.S...

 attacked the base. One crashed into Sorlen Island; but the second dove into the aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 . The 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:...

 cleared Ulithi on 2 April; received provisions and supplies at Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

 and Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

; then steamed to Okinawa, arriving 25 April and immediately commencing combat and search operations. On 11 May her lookout sighted a group of 29 Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

ns waving a white flag on the beach of Gerum Shima. An armed boat party from the tender took them into custody for transfer to the POW camp

Prisoner-of-war camp

A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...

 on Zamami Shima. While at Okinawa Kenneth Whiting operated as fleet post office and a housing center for aircraft survivors.

At 1830, 21 June, five hours after Major General Roy Geiger

Roy Geiger

General Roy Stanley Geiger was a United States Marine Corps General who, during World War II, became the first Marine to lead an army. Marine Corps base Camp Geiger in North Carolina is named in his honor....

 had declared Okinawa secured, a small group of kamikazes penetrated Kerama Retto

Kerama Retto

The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....

. Kenneth Whiting knocked down a Ki-43 "Oscar"

Nakajima Ki-43

The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II...

 but part of the plane hit her, causing minor damage and wounding five men. However, she continued operations out of Okinawa for the rest of the war. During July her planes flew armed reconnaissance along the coasts of Japan, Korea, and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 locating targets for 3rd Fleet raids.

Kenneth Whiting departed Okinawa on 19 September and anchored at Sasebo

Sasebo, Nagasaki

is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2011, the city has an estimated population of 259,800 and the density of 609 persons per km². The total area is 426.47 km². The locality is famed for its scenic beauty. The city includes a part of Saikai National Park...

 two days later. The tender was then assigned to China duty, arriving Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 on 14 October. Her patrol bombing (VPB) squadron commenced patrol courier service, and continued this until she was relieved 28 November. She arrived San Francisco on 22 December with 572 Navy officers scheduled for release. With the close of the war and the emergence of the Atomic Age

Atomic Age

The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is a phrase typically used to delineate the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear bomb Trinity on July 16, 1945...

, Kenneth Whiting cleared San Diego on 6 May 1946 to operate with support forces during atomic tests

Nuclear testing

Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...

 at Bikini

Bikini Atoll

Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....

. She returned to San Diego 30 August; transferred to San Pedro

San Pedro Bay (California)

San Pedro Bay is an inlet on the Pacific Ocean coast of southern California, United States. It is the site of the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which together form the fifth-busiest port facility in the world and easily the busiest in the Western Hemisphere...

 30 October; and decommissioned there on 29 May 1947.

Cold War Service

Kenneth Whiting recommissioned at San Diego on 24 October 1951, and sailed for Far Eastern duty 13 March 1952. She arrived Yokosuka, Japan, on 29 March to assist U.S. naval forces in resisting communist aggression in Korea. The seaplane tender operated out of Iwakuni

Iwakuni, Yamaguchi

is a city located in Yamaguchi, Japan.On March 20, 2006, the old city of Iwakuni absorbed the towns of Kuga, Mikawa, Miwa, Nishiki, Shūtō and Yū, and the village of Hongō, all from Kuga District, to form the new, expanded city of Iwakuni.- History :...

 until 16 October when she sailed for the United States.

Following overhaul at Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...

, and coastal operations out of San Diego, Kenneth Whiting sailed on 2 March 1953 for another WestPac deployment, supporting seaplane activities out of Japan in the final months of the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

.

After the war, Kenneth Whiting made annual deployments to the Far East in support of the 7th Fleet

United States Seventh Fleet

The Seventh Fleet is the United States Navy's permanent forward projection force based in Yokosuka, Japan, with units positioned near Japan and South Korea. It is a component fleet force under the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of the forward-deployed U.S. fleets, with...

 activities. During the summer of 1955, she operated in the Formosa

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

-Pescadores

Pescadores

The Penghu Islands, also known as Pescadores are an archipelago off the western coast of Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait consisting of 90 small islands and islets covering an area of 141 square kilometers....

 area in the wake of repeated Communist harassment on Chinese Nationalist-held islands. On 29 March 1957 she arrived at her new home port Crescent Harbor, Washington, but sailed for another Far Eastern tour on 12 August. She continued operations with the 7th Fleet until 31 January 1958 when she cleared 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...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and returned to Crescent Harbor, 10 March. Kenneth Whiting decommissioned at Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

 30 September, and was struck from the Navy List

Navy List

A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....

 on 1 July 1961, and sold on 21 February 1962 to Union Minerals & Alloy Corp.

Kenneth Whiting received two battle stars

Service star

A service star, also referred to as a battle star, campaign star, or engagement star, is an attachment to a United States military decoration which denotes participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award. Service stars are typically issued for campaign medals, service...

 for 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...

.

External links