USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) was a motor torpedo boat tender in commission in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946, seeing service in the latter part of World War II. After her Navy decommissioning, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard from 1946 to 1972 as the cutter USCGC McCulloch (WAVP-386), later WHEC-386, the fourth ship of the U.S. Coast Guard or its predecessor, the United States Revenue Cutter Service, to bear the name. In 1972 she was transferred to South Vietnam and served in the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Ngô Quyền (HQ-17). Upon the collapse of South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, she fled to the Philippines, and she served in the Philippine Navy from 1977 to 1985 as the frigate RPS (later BRP) Gregorio del Pilar (PF-8) and from 1987 to 1990 as BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-12).
Construction and commissioning
Wachapreague (AVP-56) was laid down as a Barnegat-class seaplane tender on 1 February 1943 at Houghton Washington, by the Lake Washington Shipyard. She was reclassified as a motor torpedo boat tender and redesignated AGP-8 on 2 February 1943. She was launched on 10 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. E. L. Barr, and commissioned on 17 May 1944.
United States Navy service
World War II Following her shakedown training out of San Diego, California, Wachapreague got underway on 18 July 1944 for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, en route to the Southwest Pacific. Soon thereafter, she stopped briefly at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, and called at Brisbane, Australia, on 17 August 1944, before reaching her ultimate destination, Milne Bay, New Guinea, on 20 August 1944.
The New Guinea campaign Wachapreague dropped anchor at Motor Torpedo Boat Base 21, at that time the largest patrol torpedo boat (PT boat) operating base in the Pacific. She reported to Commander, Motor Torpedo Boats, United States Seventh Fleet, and commenced tending the 10 PT boats of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron (MTBRon) 12. This unit had previously taken a heavy toll of Japanese barge traffic and had wreaked much havoc upon Japanese shore installations in almost nightly actions during the New Guinea campaign. As Allied forces wrapped up the New Guinea operations, Wachapreague received an additional five PT boats from Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 7 (MTBRon 7) as the Navy prepared for operations to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation.
The Philippines campaign
The Leyte campaign begins
On 13 October 1944, Wachapreague sailed in company with the motor torpedo boat tenders and , the seaplane tender , and two United States Army craft for Leyte, 1,200 nautical miles (2,222 kilometers) away. The 45 torpedo boats, 15 of which were assigned to each motor torpedo boat tender, were convoyed by the larger ships, refuelled while underway at sea – with Wachapreague slowing to nine knots (17 km/h) periodically to fuel two torpedo boats simultaneously, one alongside to starboard and one astern, eventually replenishing the fuel supply of all 15 of her brood – and successfully completed the voyage under their own power. A brief two-day respite at Kossol Roads, Palau, for repairs and a further refueling of the PT boats, preceded the final leg of the voyage.
While Wachapreague dropped anchor at northern San Pedro Bay off Leyte, her PT boats, fresh and ready for action immediately, entered Leyte Gulf on 21 October 1944, the day after the initial landings on Leyte. On 24 October 1944, Wachapreague shifted to Liloan Bay, a small anchorage off Panoan Island, 65 nautical miles (120 kilometers) south of San Pedro Bay, which scarcely afforded the ship room to swing with the tide. Soon after her arrival at Liloan Bay, Wachapreague contacted the Philippine guerrilla radio network for a mutual exchange of information as to Japanese forces in the area.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf On the afternoon of 24 October 1944, upon receipt of word that three powerful Japanese task forces were approaching from three directions, PT boats tended by Wachapreague sped to action stations. In the van of the southern Japanese force steamed two battleships and a heavy cruiser, screened by four destroyers; 30 nautical miles (56 kilometers) behind came the second group, consisting of three cruisers and four destroyers. The American PT boats met the Japanese southern force head-on; three coordinated destroyer torpedo attacks soon followed; while American battleships and cruisers under Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf deployed across the northern end of Surigao Strait to "cross the T" of the Japanese ships. The devastation the American warships wreaked upon the Japanese force was nearly total. Only one Japanese ship, the destroyer Shigure, emerged from what became known as the Battle of Surigao Strait.
PT boats from MTBRon 12 then threw the second task group off balance at the head of the strait, slamming a torpedo into the side of the Japanese light cruiser Abukuma and forcing Abukuma out of the battle line, badly damaged. The Japanese flagship, the heavy cruiser Nachi, collided with another ship in the melee and found her own speed reduced to . This second echelon of Japanese ships, correctly surmising that the first had fallen upon some hard times, then fled, hotly pursued by American planes which administered the coup de grace to sink the already crippled Abukuma and the destroyer Shiranuhi on 26 October 1944.
MTBron 12's actions and the Battle of Surigao Strait itself were part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf of 23 October to 26 October 1944, a decisive defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy from which it never recovered. Yet, while the Japanese capacity for seaborne operations lessened, Japanese forces nevertheless could still strike back from the skies. While the crew of Wachapreague labored to repair the badly damaged torpedo boat on 25 October 1944, a Japanese plane attacked the ship, only to be driven off by a heavy anti-aircraft barrage. Later that day, Wachapreague shifted to Hinunagan Bay for refueling operations that would enable her six PT boats to return to San Pedro Bay. Japanese nuisance attacks from the air continued, however, and a dive bomber attacked Wachapreague just as she was completing the refueling of . As PT-134 pulled away from Wachapreagues side, a Japanese bomb landed some from the PT boats stern, killing one man and wounding four on board PT-134. Moving out under cover of a smoke screen, Wachapreague vacated her anchorage just before 14 Japanese planes struck and, while clearing the bay, fired on three twin-engined Mitsubishi G4M (Allied reporting name "Betty") bombers, claiming two kills as one "Betty" crashed into the sea and a second, trailing smoke, crashed behind a nearby island.
The Leyte Campaign concludes Wachapreague arrived at San Pedro Bay late on 26 October 1944 and conducted tending operations at that site until 13 November 1944. During this time, her PT boats operated with devastating effect against Japanese shipping in the Ormoc Bay and Mindanao Sea areas. On 13 November 1944, her task completed in those waters for the time being, Wachapreague sailed in company with Willoughby for Mios Woendi. Returning two weeks later, Wachapreague now tended a total of 22 PT boats from MTBRons 13, 16, and 28, as well as six more from MTBRon 36 and two from MTBRon 17, at San Pedro Bay. Wachapreague remained at San Pedro until 4 January 1945, when she headed for Lingayen, on Luzon, in company with MTBRons 28 and 36.
The Luzon campaign At 12:00 hours, 12 January 1945, a Japanese suicide aircraft dived into a merchant ship ahead of Wachapreague. At dusk, seven Japanese planes attacked; one of them crashed in the sea some ahead of Wachapreague, another came under fire as it plunged toward the merchant ship SS Kyle V. Johnson, and a third headed for Wachapreague, only to be knocked into the sea by a heavy antiaircraft barrage. SS Kyle V. Johnson was hit amidship by a single Japanese kamikaze, killing 129 army engineers from the 1896th Engineer Aviation Battalion who were in transport below decks. Later that evening, came alongside Wachapreague and transferred two men she had rescued from the water who had been blown overboard from Kyle V. Johnson during the earlier heavy air action.
Wachapreague entered Lingayen Gulf on 13 January 1945 and anchored near the town of Damortis, Santo Tomas, La Union. On 16 January 1945, she shifted her anchorage to Port Sual to tend PT boats from MTBRons 28 and 36. These boats gradually extended their patrols northward to the coastal towns of Vigan City and Aparri, shelling shore installations and wreaking havoc on Japanese barge traffic and shipping along the northwest coast of Luzon, destroying some 20 barges. Wachapreague meanwhile continued to make all electrical and engine repairs for the squadron PT boats and handled all major communications for the motor torpedo boat squadrons until she departed Lingayen on 12 March 1945 to replenish at Leyte.
The Borneo campaign Underway again on 23 April 1945, Wachapreague accompanied MTBRon 36 to Dutch North Borneo and took part in the invasion of Tarakan Island. While the guns still pounded the shore and the invasion itself was underway, Wachapreague entered the Tarakan Bay on 1 May 1945 to establish an advance base for her PT boats. For the next four months, until the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 that ended World War II, Wachapreague operated from this bay, tending MTBRon 36 PT boats while they in turn conducted daily offensive runs up the coast of Borneo.
In the course of these operations, the PT boats sought out and destroyed Japanese shipping at Tawao, Cowie Harbor, and Noneokan, Dutch North Borneo, shelling and rocketing shore installations. As the Japanese later attempted evacuation by small boats and rafts, the PT boats netted some 30 prisoners-of-war. In addition to these tasks, the PT boats assisted tank landing ship tank (LST) retractions from the beachheads by speeding across the water astern of the landing ships and creating swells which enabled the LSTs to back off the beach and float free.
Honors and awards Wachapreague received four battle stars for her World War II service.
Post-World War II Wachapreague tended PT boats after the end of the war, based at Tarakan, until she headed back to the United States and arrived at San Francisco, California, on 5 December 1945. After upkeep at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California, Wachapreague got underway for the United States East Coast on 20 March 1946 and reported at Boston, Massachusetts, on 6 April 1946 for inactivation. She was decommissioned on 10 May 1946 and transferred outright to the United States Coast Guard on 27 May 1946. Her name was struck from the Navy List on 5 June 1946.
United States Coast Guard service
Barnegat-class ships were very reliable and seaworthy and had good habitability, and the United States Coast Guard viewed them as ideal for ocean-station duty, in which they would perform weather reporting and search and rescue tasks, once they were modified by having a balloon shelter added aft and having oceanographic equipment, an oceanographic winch, and a hydrographic winch installed. After World War II, the Navy transferred 18 of the ships to the Coast Guard, in which they were known as the Casco-class cutters.
After the Navy transferred Wachapreague to the Coast Guard on 27 May 1946, she underwent conversion for service as a weather reporting ship. The Coast Guard commissioned her as USCGC McCulloch (WAVP-386) on 25 November 1946. She was the fourth ship of the U.S. Coast Guard or its predecessor, the United States Revenue Cutter Service, to bear the name, which honored the financier Hugh McCulloch (1808–1895), who served as United States Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson from 1865 to 1869 and Chester A. Arthur from 1884 to 1885.
North Atlantic, 1946–1972