USS White Sands (AGDS 1) Class

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USS White Sands (AGDS 1) in August 1972 after releasing the bathyscaph Trieste II for a dive.
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Class: WHITE SANDS (AGDS 1)
Design: Navy ARD
Displacement (tons): 5,200. Lifting capacity (tons): 3,500
Dimensions (feet): 491.7' oa x 81' oa x 33.25' when submerged, 5.7' light
Armament: none
Accommodations: unk.
Speed (kts.): n/a
Propulsion (HP): n/a
Machinery: none

Construction:

AGDS	Name	Reclas	Builder	Keel	Launch	Comm
1	WHITE SANDS	1 Aug 1973	Pacific Bridge, Alameda CA	20 Dec 1943	ca Jan 1944	COMM

Disposition:

AGDS	Name	T	Decomm	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
1	WHITE SANDS		DECOM	1 Apr 1974	14 Aug 1974	Navy sale

Class Notes:
The auxiliary repair dock ARD 20, designed to drydock destroyers, submarines, and LSTs at advanced bases, was placed in service on 31 March 1944. Like all non-self propelled floating drydocks she was rated as a service craft. She was placed out of service on 7 October 1947. In October 1965 she was moved to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard and began conversion as a support ship for the newly-rebuilt bathyscaphe TRIESTE II. Reclassified as a bathyscaphe support auxiliary repair dock (ARD(BS)) according to Wikipedia, she was placed in service on 14 September 1966 as USS ARD(BS) 20. On 9 March 1968 she was named WHITE SANDS and her hull designation was shortened back to ARD 20. From 1966 WHITE SANDS, towed by the fleet ocean tug USS APACHE (ATF-67), operated with TRIESTE II near the Undersea Weapons Center off San Clemente Island, California. In February 1969, WHITE SANDS, carrying TRIESTE II and towed by APACHE and together called the "Integral Operating Unit" (IOU), departed the United States West Coast to participate in the search for the nuclear submarine SCORPION (SSN-589). The unit concluded its part in the SCORPION assignment early in August 1969 and arrived back at San Diego, California, on 7 October 1969. TRIESTE II was listed only as "equipment" in the Navy inventory until 1 September 1969, when she was placed in service, with the hull number X-1. She was reclassified as a deep submergence vehicle (DSV-1) on 1 June 1971. On 6 September 1973 SECNAV reclassified WHITE SANDS (ARD 20) to AGDS 1 effective (retroactively) on 1 August 1973. The classification AGDS was officially established on 3 January 1974 in the service craft category, the nomenclature being Auxiliary Deep Submergence Support Vehicle. In December 1973, TRIESTE II (DSV-1) entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for overhaul. Shortly after, both USS APACHE (ATF67) and USS WHITE SANDS (AGDS-1) were decommissioned. At the same time, the MSTS dock cargo ship POINT BARROW (AKD 1, q.v.) was designated to become the new support ship for TRIESTE and was renamed and reclassified USS POINT LOMA (AGDS 2).

Ship Notes:

AGDS	Name	MA	Notes
1	WHITE SANDS		(ex ARD 20, compl. Mar 1944). Sold to D. G. Kelsey, Calif. Resold to Marine Power and Equipment of Seattle for use as a building dock for SWOBs (Ships Waste Offloading Barges) and moved into Seattle's Lake Washington, where she remains.