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USS ''Griffin'' (AS-13), originally ''Mormacpenn'', a
United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The co ...
Type C3 pre-war cargo ship, was launched by Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock,
Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area (also known as the Delaware Valley) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. ...
, 11 October 1939. She served briefly with Moore-McConnack, Inc., was acquired by the Navy in 1940, renamed ''Griffin'' (AS-13) and converted to a
submarine tender A submarine tender, in British English a submarine depot ship, is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally cannot carry large amounts of foo ...
at Robbins Dry Dock and Repair Company,
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, N.Y. ''Griffin'' commissioned 31 July 1941. Her conversion completed in September 1941, ''Griffin'' conducted shakedown off the East Coast and sailed with a sub squadron to
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...
22 November 1941. Recalled to
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
, after
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 Reci ...
, the ship was assigned to the
United States Pacific Fleet The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...
, and departed 14 February 1942 for Australia. ''Griffin'' arrived
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
15 April 1942 to tend Submarine Squadron 5. Early in the war, the United States developed a major submarine base in Australia; and submarines tended by ''Griffin'' struck hard at Japanese shipping while surface forces strengthened themselves for the first Pacific offensives. During this period, ''Griffin'' also repaired badly needed merchant ships. The tender departed Brisbane for the
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
Islands 11 November 1942 and 1 December 1942 sailed to
Bora Bora Bora Bora (French language, French: ''Bora-Bora''; Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Pora Pora'') is an island group in the Leeward Islands (Society Islands), Leeward Islands in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific. The Leeward Islands comprise the we ...
to escort Submarine Division 53 to the
Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...
. Arriving Balboa 7 January 1943, ''Griffin'' continued north to
Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
, arriving 20 January 1943. After repairs at
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, California, ''Griffin'' again departed for the Pacific, sailing 27 April 1943. She arrived Pearl Harbor 4 May 1943 to take up her vital support duties, and remained until 3 January 1944. The ship performed refits, battle repairs, and general upkeep on submarines before sailing to
Mare Island Mare Island (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Isla de la Yegua'') is a peninsula in the United States in the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait junc ...
to arrive 10 January 1944. ''Griffin'' returned to
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 Reci ...
17 March 1944, and departed 8 April 1944 for the great submarine base at
Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...
. She arrived 8 May and immediately set about servicing the growing submarine fleet. The tender remained at Fremantle until 20 November 1944. During her stay, the crew established a rubber fabrication shop there to address shortages of rubber parts among the submarine fleet. ''Griffin'' then moved closer to the Japanese shipping lanes at Mios Woendi,
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, arriving 9 December 1944. There she tended submarines, surface craft of all kinds, and even lent her repair equipment to shore facilities. ''Griffin'' remained at Mios Woendi until 1 February 1945 when she sailed for
Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subi ...
, via
Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...
. Arriving 10 February 1945, ''Griffin'' set up one of the first Allied submarine repair facilities in the Philippines since they had been surrendered in 1942. She also helped to salvage damaged destroyer . Shifting base, the tender sailed 22 March 1945 via Leyte, and arrived in the Hawaiian Islands 10 April 1945. After a brief stay at Pearl Harbor, she departed 10 May 1945 for Midway, arrived 4 days later, and set up another repair facility for submarines. By that time, the submarines supported by ''Griffin'' had practically annihilated Japanese merchant shipping and had played a decisive role in the great Pacific offensive. She remained at Midway until 10 September 1945, then sailed to Pearl Harbor and
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, entering the bay 24 September. Decommissioned at Mare Island 12 October 1945, the ship was placed in reserve. Later she transferred to the Stockton group, Pacific Reserve Fleet, where she remained in reserve, in service, tending reserve submarines, until at least 1967. She was stricken in 1972 and transferred to
MARAD Marad (Sumerian: Marda, modern Tell Wannat es-Sadum or Tell as-Sadoum (also Wana-Sedoum), Iraq) was an ancient Near Eastern city. Marad was situated on the west bank of the then western branch of the Upper Euphrates River west of Nippur in moder ...
. She was sold in 1973.


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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin (As-13) Type C3 ships 1939 ships Griffin-class submarine tenders Ships built by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company
Submarine tenders A submarine tender, in British English a submarine depot ship, is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally cannot carry large amounts of food ...
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
World War II auxiliary ships of the United States