USS Bering Strait (AVP-34)

USS Bering Strait (AVP-34) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946. She tended seaplanes during World War II in the Pacific in combat areas and earned three battle stars by war’s end.

Construction, commissioning, and shakedown
Bering Strait was laid down on 7 June 1943 at Houghton, Washington, by Lake Washington Shipyard. She was launched on 15 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. George F. Cornwall, and commissioned at her builder’s yard on 19 July 1944 with Commander Walter D. Innis in command.

After fitting out and conducting her initial sea trials in Puget Sound, Bering Strait departed Seattle, Washington, on 10 August 1944. She reached Naval Air Station Alameda at Alameda, California, on 13 August 1944. From 17 August 1944 to 13 September 1944, she conducted her shakedown, covering areas such as ship control, communications, general drills, engineering and damage control instruction, gunnery training, and antiaircraft and antisubmarine work. Proceeding to Los Angeles, California, upon completion of that training, Bering Strait underwent two weeks of repairs and alterations at Terminal Island Naval Drydocks at Terminal Island, California.

Training operations in Hawaii
Reporting for duty with the United States Pacific Fleet on 2 October 1944, Bering Strait sailed for the Hawaiian Islands on 3 October 1944. She arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 9 October, and on 13 October 1944 sailed for Hilo, Hawaii. Arriving there on 14 October, she established a seaplane base at Kuhio Bay and, until 5 November, carried out training with successive detachments of Glenn L. Martin Company PBM Mariner flying boats. She tended six Martin PBM-3Ds from Patrol Bombing Squadron 25 (VPB-25) from 14 to 19 October 1944 and a second detachment of six PBM-3Ds from the same squadron between 19 and 29 October 1944, after which time she tended six Mariners from Patrol Bombing Squadron 26 (VPB-26). Concluding those advanced base activities on 5 November 1944, she sailed for Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay at Kaneohe, Hawaii, the same day.

Arriving at her destination on the 6th, Bering Strait received orders to organize and train an air-sea rescue task group made up of herself and the seaplane detachment of Rescue Squadron 2 (VH-2), an assignment that required her to exchange her aviation spare parts allowance for PBM-3D Mariner patrol bombers for spares for PBM-3R Mariner rescue aircraft. Returning to Pearl Harbor on 23 November 1944, Bering Strait underwent a shipyard availability and then loaded the equipment of Rescue Squadron 3 (VH-3), which had been substituted for VH-2.

Operations in the Marshall Islands
Bering Strait sailed for the Marshall Islands on 1 December 1944. During the passage to Kwajalein Atoll, the ship served as antisubmarine screen for seaplane tender USS Cumberland Sound (AV-17).

After pausing at Kwajalein from 9 to 12 December, Bering Strait returned to sea again with Cumberland Sound and steamed to Eniwetok, arriving there on 13 December 1944 to carry out air-sea rescue training, which began after VH-3 arrived from Kaneohe on 15 December. She conducted nine days of training with VH-3 before that squadron transferred to Cumberland Sound on 24 December 1944.

Bering Strait, along with patrol craft USS PC-1082 and USS PC-572, then escorted cargo ship USS Situla (AK-140) and six merchant ships from Eniwetok to Saipan in the Mariana Islands, departing on 24 December 1944.

Operations in the Mariana Islands
Bering Strait and her convoy arrived on 28 December 1944 at Garapan Harbor on Saipan. Shifting on 29 December 1944 to Tanapag Harbor, Guam, she received VH-3 on board that day.

On 1 January 1945, however, Bering Strait transferred her aviation maintenance unit to VH-3 for temporary duty and sent her aviation officer, aviation storekeepers, all aviation spare parts, and three of her boats to the naval air base at Tanapag, so that the organization could be maintained intact ashore. That day, she reported to Commander, Marianas Patrol and Escort Force, for temporary operational control for radar picket and air-sea rescue duty. She departed Tanapag Harbor on 5 January 1945 to take up her new task.

From 6 to 15 January 1945, Bering Strait operated 10 nautical miles (18.5 kilometers) west of Sarigan and Guguan Islands, on radar picket station to warn Saipan of approaching Japanese planes. Returning to Saipan for logistics on 16 January 1945, she embarked a fighter-director officer from a United States Marine Corps aircraft group on 18 January 1945, and departed later that day to assume radar picket duties as fighter-director ship in Operation Michigan to intercept Japanese planes operating between Iwo Jima and Truk.

Returning to Saipan on 28 January 1945 for logistics and to disembark the U.S. Marine Corps fighter-direction officer, Bering Strait commenced a six days of voyage repairs. On 4 February 1945, she sailed to relieve USS Fanning (DD-385) on air-sea rescue lifeguard station.

Rescuing crew of a ditched B-29
At 23:00 hours on 10 February 1945, Bering Strait made contact with a homeward-bound Boeing B-29 Superfortress, first by radar and then visually. The ship switched on her lights and stood by for a landing, illuminating the sea and then indicating the wind direction with searchlights. The B-29, named Deacon's Delight, accomplished “an almost perfect ditching,” and Bering Strait's motor whaleboat took the entire 12-man crew on board and brought them to the ship. Then, after collecting floating debris and gear, and riddling the Superfortress with gunfire in a vain effort to sink it, Bering Strait rammed and sank the hardy bomber.

Rescuing crew of a second ditched B-29
An hour earlier, Bering Strait had picked up a report that another B-29, named Homing Bird, had ditched. After completing the rescue of Deacon’s Delights crew, the ship headed for the scene of Homing Birds crash. Guided to the scene by a “Dumbo” air-sea rescue aircraft the ship arrived there by 16:05 hours on 11 February 1945 and picked up the entire 11-man crew immediately.

A third B-29 crew rescue
Work still remained to be done, however, for soon after winding up the rescue of Homing Bird's crew, Bering Strait received orders to rendezvous with the high-speed minelayer USS Robert H. Smith (DM-23), to pick up the crew of a Superfortress that had ditched around 22:30 hours on 10 February 1945. The violent landing had claimed the lives of four of the B-29's crew. A patrolling “Dumbo” spotted the men the next morning, dropped survival gear, and covered them until Robert H. Smith picked them up that afternoon. On the morning of 12 February 1945, Bering Strait embarked the seven survivors of the third B-29. Returning to Saipan on 15 February, the ship disembarked the airmen the same day.

A fourth B-29 crew saved by blinking lights
On the night of Bering Strait's return to her station, on 19 February 1945, a B-29 had ditched at 21:00, 12 nmi north of Pagan Island, but broke up and sank upon landing; five men, trapped in the wreckage, had drowned. Unable to extract all of the life rafts—one man had the use of only a partially inflated rubber boat—the crew lay at the mercy of the sea. Directed to the scene by a “Dumbo,” Bering Strait sighted the survivors and hove to in their midst. She picked up five men, one of whom had been swimming without a life jacket for two hours, and sighted two bodies but could not recover them. Fortunately, the airmen had been spotted in the darkness because of tiny lights pinned to their life jackets, lights that had been “stolen” from the Navy “on personal initiative.” Bering Strait disembarked those survivors at Saipan on 21 February 1945, and got underway later the same day to relieve destroyer USS Cummings (DD-365) on lifeguard station.

Saving two more B-29 crews
Returning to Saipan on 3 March 1945, Bering Strait spent the next six days in a shipyard availability before setting out to resume her lifeguard work on 9 March. On 10 March, Bering Strait established contact with a B-29, nicknamed Hopeful Devil, that radioed a distress call during its return from a bombing mission over the Japanese home islands. The Superfortress ditched alongside at 12:38 hours, and Bering Strait picked up the nine-man crew in short order. Almost immediately, Bering Strait picked up a position report on another ditched B-29, and steered a course to the rescue. Although the position reports provided the ship proved incorrect because a “Dumbo” pilot mistook Guguan Island for Alamagan, Bering Strait spotted a “Dumbo” orbiting ten nautical miles (18.5 kilometers) southwest of Guguan and altered course to investigate. She picked up the 11-man crew of that ditched B-29 and then shaped a course for her lifeguard station.

Bering Strait remained at sea, 28 nmi from Pagan Island, from 11 to 14 March 1944, at which time she relieved her sister ship, seaplane tender USS Cook Inlet (AVP-36), at another air-sea rescue station. Returning to Saipan for logistics on 16 March 1945, Bering Strait disembarked the 20 airmen taken on board since 10 March 1945 before sailing for Guam.

Honored for her life saving performances
Bering Strait's performance of her rescue function earned her accolades from the Commanding General of the United States Army Air Forces 313th Bombardment Wing who, upon the ship’s detachment from lifeguard duties, sent her a message: “Since you have been our guardian angel of the seas you have returned safely to us 50 combat crewmen. Many of them are flying against the enemy again. We are grateful for the splendid work you have done and wish you all the best of luck.”

Supporting the invasion of Okinawa
On 18 March 1945, Bering Strait began preparations for Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa. Underway on 19 March 1945, she escorted seaplane tender USS Hamlin (AV-15) to Saipan and completed the preparations for “Iceberg” by loading VH-3 equipment between 20 and 23 March 1945. This work accomplished, she sailed for Kerama Retto on 23 March 1945 in company with three large seaplane tenders and three of her sister ships, as Task Group (TG) 51.20.

Reaching her destination on 28 March, Bering Strait anchored in the Kerama Retto passage, and TG 51.20 established a seaplane base that day. The next day, VH-3 arrived and flew its first “Dumbo” mission.

On "L-day," 1 April 1945, the invasion of Okinawa commenced. The first "Dumbo" mission of the invasion for VH-3 proved successful, as the squadron commander, Lieutenant Commander W. H. Bonvillian, rescued the three-man crew of a Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber from Torpedo Squadron 29 (VT-29). Antiaircraft fire had brought the plane down in a rice paddy, and the three crewmen deemed it prudent to take to their rubber boat and head out to sea where Lieutenant Commander Bonvillian's Mariner picked them up.

Acting as control tender at Kerama Retto
For the next three months, Bering Strait served as the coordinating control tender at Kerama Retto, not only tending seaplanes but also conducting sonar searches to guard against midget submarine incursions. Planes under her direction carried out 268 missions during April, May and June 1945, rescuing 105 men, who represented 39 different squadrons - 26 U.S. Navy, ten U.S. Marine Corps, two U.S. Army Air Force and one British Royal Navy. The aircraft carrier-based squadrons among that number came from 23 ships, including the British fleet carrier HMS Formidable.

Twice during April 1945, one of Bering Strait's planes was forced down by friendly fire and compelled to taxi back to base. On 23 April 1945, one of her PBMs transferred a severely wounded U.S. Marine to the seaplane tender USS St. George (AV-16) for medical treatment. A little over a month later, on 24 May 1945, her PBMs rescued a pilot from the waters at the mouth of Ariake Bay, on southern Kyūshū. Similar rescues took place on 2 June 1945, when Bering Strait-based PBMs rescued the crew of a crashed Consolidated PB2Y Coronado from inside Kagoshima Bay, as well as a pilot from the fleet carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Later that month, on 14 June 1945, Bering Strait-based Mariners rescued pilots under fire from Japanese guns at Kikai Shima in the northern Ryukyu Islands.

Rescuing crews of kamikaze-damaged ships
Pilots and aircrew proved not the only beneficiaries of Bering Strait's controlled rescue missions. On 27 May 1945, two kamikaze suicide aircraft crashed destroyer USS Braine (DD-630). One Bering Strait-based PBM rescued ten men from the ship while a second stood by in case the need arose to fly critically hurt sailors to medical treatment. On other occasions, Bering Strait's planes escorted damaged aircraft to safety, or directed ships to the assistance of survivors in the water.

Under constant attack by kamikaze planes
The ship’s stay at Kerama Retto likewise proved eventful, as, during that three-month period the ship went to general quarters 154 times; there was one day, 6 June 1945, on which the ship stood to battle stations six times. On 5 May 1945, two of her men suffered injuries when hit by shrapnel from friendly fire bursting too close to the ship during an attack by Japanese planes; she herself then fired on a Japanese plane attempting to crash on the nearby St. George. On 21 June, Bering Strait's guns shot down a Nakajima E4N Type 00 “Jake” reconnaissance floatplane. During that same raid, just after one kamikaze had crashed seaplane tender USS Curtiss (AV-4), a second overflew Bering Strait and headed for seaplane tender USS Kenneth Whiting (AV-14). Bering Strait took the suicider under fire and shot it down short of its target.

Operations at Chimu Bay
Relieved of her duties as coordinating control tender on 30 June 1945, Bering Strait shifted to Chimu Bay, Okinawa, on 15 July. She tended four PBMs from VH-3 until 7 August, when she transferred them to another seaplane tender and assumed duties tending six planes from Rescue Squadron 1 (VH-1). Twice during her first months at Chimu Bay weather compelled her to undertake typhoon evasion, once from 19 to 20 July 1945 and again between 1 and 3 August 1945.

Hostilities with Japan ended on 15 August 1945, bringing World War II to a close, while Bering Strait was operating at Chimu Bay.

Military honors and awards
Bering Strait was awarded three battle stars for her World War II service.

Post-World War U.S. Navy service
Departing Okinawa on 26 September 1945, Bering Strait headed for Japan to support the occupation of that country. Reaching Sasebo, Japan, soon thereafter, she remained at that port until her sister ship Cook Inlet relieved her on 30 December 1945, then departed for the United States. Proceeding via Pearl Harbor, Bering Strait reached San Francisco, California, on 21 January 1946 and commenced pre-inactivation overhaul.

Decommissioning
Bering Strait was decommissioned at Naval Air Station Alameda, California, on 21 June 1946, and placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

United States Coast Guard service


The U.S. Navy loaned Bering Strait to the United States Coast Guard on 14 September 1948, and struck from the Navy List and transferred her permanently to the Coast Guard on 26 September 1966. Commissioned in 1949 as USCGC Bering Strait (WAVP-382) and reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC-382 in 1966, she served as a Coast Guard cutter until the beginning of 1971. For nearly 22 years, she patrolled ocean stations in the Pacific Ocean, first based at Seattle, Washington, and, later, at Honolulu, Hawaii, reporting weather data and engaging in search-and-rescue and law-enforcement operations. During the Vietnam War, Bering Strait participated in Operation Market Time coastal surveillance operations off Vietnam, serving two tours (in 1967-1968 and in 1970).

South Vietnamese service
The Coast Guard decommissioned Bering Srait in South Vietnam on 1 January 1971, and she was commissioned in the Republic of Vietnam Navy as patrol vessel RVNS Tran Quang Khai (HQ-02).

After the collapse of South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975, Tran Quang Khai fled to Subic Bay in the Philippines.

Philippine Navy service
The Philippine Navy took her over in 1975, and she was formally acquired by the Republic of the Philippines on 5 April 1976. Commissioned as frigate BRP Diego Silang (PF-9), she served in the Philippine Navy decommissioned in June 1985. She was discarded in July 1990 and probably scrapped.