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Submarine tender Proteus had a remarkably long life

The submarine tender Proteus served with diesel subs in the Pacific during World War II, tended nuclear submarines in the 1960s and 1970s, and finished its service as a berthing ship in the 1990s, almost 60 years after it was laid down.

“We called her ‘The Old Pro.’ It was amazing about how long she’d been afloat,” said retired Cmdr. Mary Hall, who served in Proteus from 1981 to 1983.

Named after a Union warship that blockaded Confederate ports during the Civil War and a pre-World War I collier that was struck from the Navy list in 1940, the Proteus was laid down in Oakland, Calif., in September 1941. Commissioned in January 1944, it was 530 feet long, had a beam of 73 feet, and was powered by 12 diesel engines. The ship displaced more than 9,700 tons and had a top speed of 18 knots. Proteus’ crew numbered more than 1,400.

Proteus completed more than 35 refits for submarines during World War II, mostly at Midway and Guam. Immediately after the war, the ship supported Submarine Squadron 20 in its demilitarization of Imperial Japanese Navy submarines and torpedo boats.

When Proteus returned to the United States in late 1945, it passed through the Panama Canal and then served briefly in Newfoundland before arriving in 1947 at New London, Conn., where it remained for the next 10 years.

In 1959, Proteus got a new lease on life when the Navy decided to convert the ship into a tender for Polaris ballistic missile submarines.

The ship was decommissioned and then cut in half at the Charleston, S.C., naval shipyard.

The Navy inserted a 44-foot section or “plug” weighing 500 tons, lengthening the hull to nearly 575 feet. This new section became the missile magazine.

Recommissioned in July 1960, Proteus was assigned to Holy Loch, Scotland, where it refitted Polaris submarines for two years. For superb service during this period, Proteus received the Navy Unit Commendation. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Proteus was in Guam, serving as a replenishment site for boomers.

When South Vietnam collapsed in 1975 and thousands of Vietnamese civilians fled, the crew of Proteus assisted in establishing a refugee camp on Guam — for which the ship earned a Meritorious Unit Commendation from the secretary of the Navy.

In 1992, Proteus was repainted with a World War II-era camouflage scheme and deployed to Australia to participate in the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Navy’s victory at the Battle of Coral Sea. Shortly thereafter, the ship was decommissioned. The ship was converted into a berthing and messing barge and re-instated in the Naval Register in 1994. It served overhaul crews in Bremerton, Wash., until being finally retired September 1999. Ë

Fred L. Borch retired from the Army after 25 years and is now working as the regimental historian for the Army JAG Corps. He is the author of “The Silver Star,” a history of America’s third highest award for combat heroism. His e-mail address is borchfj@aol.com. Robert F. Dorr, an Air Force veteran, lives in Oakton, Va. He is co-author of “Hell Hawks,” a history of an American fighter group. His e-mail address is robert.f.dorr@cox.net.