Point Barrow (T-AKD 1) Class: Photographs

USNS Point Barrow (T-AKD 1) Port bow aerial view of the ship fitting out on 2 April 1958 at the Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Baltimore, Md. She was delivered by the builder to the Navy around a month later. Photo No. Unknown Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (L-file)
USNS Point Barrow (T-AKD 1) Starboard quarter aerial view of the ship fitting out on 2 April 1958 at the Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Baltimore, Md. She had two cranes in fixed positions, one on each dock sidewall, and an superdeck over her well deck consisting of removable sections. Photo No. Unknown Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (L-file)
USNS Point Barrow (T-AKD 1) Photographed on 18 September 1959 as originally configured. There is a Forrestal (CVA 59) class aircraft carrier in the far distance behind her stack. Photo No. USN 1044767 Source: Shipscribe
USNS Point Barrow (T-AKD 1) In the ice covered harbor of Copenhagen in early 1963 delivering a shipment of World War II LCT(6)'s refurbished as LCUs for the Danish Navy. One, Vidar (A 567, ex LCU 1422) was shipped on the superdeck and was separated into two sections because the Copenhagen harbor crane Herkules like many others could not lift it intact. Here the crane is lifting the bow section while the stern section waits between the ship's cranes. The well deck contained the intact sister Tyr and probably Uller and/or Vale. These four entered Danish service on 7 March 1963 and with six more sisters were deleted in August 1967. Another photo of this event showing Tyr is in MSTS's Sealift Magazine, September 1963, page 8. Photo No. Unknown Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC)
USNS Point Barrow (T-AKD 1) Handling utility landing craft of the Navy's postwar 115-foot LCU 1466 and LCU 1608 types, which were enlarged versons of the wartime LCT(5) type and many of which were built for the Army. The floating crane appears to have an Army "BD" number. The stern section of another LCU is on the ship's superdeck. Point Barrow made several voyages carrying LCU's from the U.S. to the Far East. Photo No. Unknown Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC)
USNS Point Barrow (T-AKD 1) After conversion in 1964-65 at the Willamette Iron and Steel Works, Richmond, Calif., to ferry Saturn moon rocket sections from Seal Beach, Calif, to Michoud, La. (by barge from New Orleans), and Cape Kennedy, Fla. Her 202-foot dock was covered by a structure resembling a quonset hut with a nylon-reinforced neoprene curtain-type door in a rectangular frame at the after end, and she was fitted with anti-roll tanks. Photo No. Unknown Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC)
USNS Point Barrow (T-AKD 1) At Port Canaveral, Florida, on 31 March 1970 probably during or following the delivery there of the S-1C booster stage for the Apollo 13 Saturn V. Photo No. Unknown (Air Force) Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC)
USNS Point Barrow (T-AKD 1) After delivery to New Orleans by Point Barrow, this S-1C booster stage for the Apollo 13 Saturn V was carried up the Banana River in this special barge similar to the ship's dock and unloaded into the NASA vehicle assembly building at Michoud, La., for checkout. The 138-foot by 33-foot stage was then returned by barge to New Orleans and carried to Port Canaveral by Point Barrow. The photo was published in the May 1970 issue of MSTS's Sealift Magazine. Photo No. Unknown Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC)
USS Point Loma (AGDS 2) Probably shown soon after conversion to replace White Sands (AGDS 1) and Apache (ATF 67) as support ship for the bathyscaphe Trieste II (DSV-1). Note the addition of a second stack, presumably for auxiliary machinery, and two small mobile cranes on the dock sidewalls. Photo No. Unknown Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (L-file)
USS Point Loma (AGDS 2) Photographed in July 1982 after conversion to a Launch Area Support Ship to support TRIDENT SLBM test launches. Probably given the austerity of the conversion, the Navy did not reclassify her from AGDS to the more appropriate AGM. A single large fixed crane on the port dock sidewall has replaced the earlier two smaller mobile cranes. Photo No. DN-ST-82-10501 Source: U.S. National Archives (RG-330)
USS Point Loma (AGDS 2) A little Halloween humor in October 1986. Giant jack-o-lanterns, which are actually LASS (Launch Area Support Ship) missile tracking radars, look out from the ship's forecastle. The LASS installation included four portable vans: these two, an equipment or power van immediately behind them, and a fourth van aft of the stacks. Photo No. DN-ST-87-01663 Source: U.S. National Archives (RG-330)
USNS Point Loma (T-AGDS 2) Moored at the Thirty-Fourth Street Naval Base, San Diego, on 16 July 1993 after reassignment to MSC between late 1986 and late 1988. The large crane on the port dock sidewall has been removed. Photo No. DN-ST-93-05612 Source: U.S. National Archives (RG-330)