USS Barnegat (AVP-10) - Postwar Career

Postwar Career

The end of hostilities with Germany in early May 1945 and with Japan in mid-August 1945 altered neither the tempo nor the scope of Barnegat's operations, for she remained busy at Coco Solo into September 1945, making only one brief visit to the United States—at Miami, Florida—between 18 September 1945 and 22 September 1945.

After returning to Coco Solo on 26 September 1945, Barnegat operated there into October 1945, sinking discarded PBM Mariner hulls at sea with gunfire on 6 October 1945 and 15 October 1945. She then transited the Panama Canal on 19 October 1945, en route to Baltra Island, arriving there early on 22 October 1945. Barnegat carried out practice operations with Patrol Bombing Squadron 201 (VPB-201) at Tagus Cove until 31 October 1945, when Patrol Bombing Squadron 204 (VPB-204) arrived for training. Shifting to Aeolian Cove on 8 November 1945, Barnegat sailed for the Canal Zone the next day. She transited the Panama Canal on 14 November 1945, returning soon thereafter to Coco Solo to dispose of more junked PBM Mariner hulls by gunfire between 19 November 1945 and 26 November 1945.

Relieved by seaplane tender USS San Carlos (AVP-51), Barnegat set course for the United States on 11 December 1945 and reached the Naval Repair Base, Algiers, Louisiana, on 15 December 1945. Shifting on 17 December 1945 to a berth alongside destroyer escort USS Reuben James (DE-153), Barnegat spent the remainder of 1945 there. In January 1946, she moved on to Orange, Texas, arriving there on 14 January 1946.