Atlantic Service
Following outfitting, Benewah remained at Boston serving with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet as a barracks ship for the crews of aircraft carriers going out of commission. That assignment lasted just four months. On 29 July, she herself began deactivation procedures. Benewah was decommissioned on 30 August 1946. The barracks ship remained in reserve at Boston until February 1947 when she was moved to Green Cove Springs, Florida There, she was placed in service, in reserve, to serve as headquarters ship for Subgroup 3 of the Florida Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet. On 10 October 1951, work began on Benewah in preparation for her return to active service; and she was recommissioned on 9 November 1951 with Lieutenant Commander Clifford E. Baxter in command.
Just after commissioning, the barracks ship entered the Gibbs Shipyard at Jacksonville, Florida for outfitting. From mid-January to mid-February 1952, she conducted shakedown and refresher training out of Norfolk, Virginia. After she concluded training in mid-February, Benewah moved north to her new home port, Newport, Rhode Island. The ship departed Newport on 9 March for her first overseas deployment. For the next nine months, she provided logistics support for mobile construction battalions operations in the European area. The ship returned to Newport on 19 December and took up operations along the eastern seaboard. In July 1953, Benewah entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard to be fitted out as a temporary flagship. On 22 August, she departed Norfolk for Naples, Italy, where she served as flagship for the Commander, Fleet Air, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. Late in the summer of 1955, she concluded that assignment and headed back to the United States.
The ship arrived in Norfolk on 11 September but, later in the month, moved north to New York. On 30 September, Benewah began her second deactivation overhaul at Staten Island, New York, in the yard of the Brewer Dry Dock Company. The barracks ship was decommissioned sometime in December 1955 and was berthed with the Green Cove Springs Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet. The ship remained inactive until August 1959 when she was placed in service, in reserve. By February 1960, she was at Newport News, Virginia, serving as living quarters for the precommissioning crews of new ships being built by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company.
Read more about this topic: USS Benewah (APB-35)
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