USS Cook Inlet (AVP-36)

USS Cook Inlet (AVP-36) 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 one battle star for her service.

Construction and commissioning
Cook Inlet (AVP-36) was laid down on 23 August 1943 at Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton, Washington. She was launched on 13 May 1944, sponsored by Mrs. H. K. Stubbs, wife of Captain Stubbs, and commissioned on 5 November 1944 with Commander W. P. Woods in command.

World War II Pacific Theater operations
Cook Inlet departed San Diego, California, on 15 January 1945 and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 21 January 1945. She tended seaplanes at Hilo, Hawaii, from 25 January 1945 to 31 January 1945.

Cook Inlet arrived off Saipan on 26 February 1945 to serve with the escort and patrol group based there, and from 2 March 1945 to 14 March 1945 was on an air-sea rescue station during the invasion of Iwo Jima. Cook Inlet rescued 27 survivors of downed bombers. She was still on duty at Iwo Jima when hostilities with Japan ended on 15 August 1945, bringing World War II to a close.

Cook Inlet received one battle star for World War II service.

Post-World War II U.S. Navy service
Cook Inlet remained on duty off Iwo Jima until 29 November 1945, when she sailed to Jinsen, Korea, for duty as station tender. She then returned to the United States, calling at Iwo Jima and Pearl Harbor before reaching San Francisco, California, on 22 January 1946.

Decommissioning
Cook Inlet was decommissioned and placed in reserve in the Pacific Reserve Fleet on 31 March 1946.

United States Coast Guard service


The U.S. Navy loaned Cook Inlet to the United States Coast Guard on 20 September 1948, and transferred her permanently to the Coast Guard on 26 September 1966. She was commissioned as the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Cook Inlet (WAVP-384) on 15 January 1949 and was redesignated a high endurance cutter and reclassified as WHEC-384 on 1 May 1966. Throughout her Coast Guard career of almost 23 years, her home port was Portland, Maine, from which she patrolled ocean stations in the North Atlantic, reporting weather data and conducting law-enforcement and search-and-rescue operations. She also served in the Vietnam War for several months in 1971.

The Coast Guard decommissioned Cook Inlet on 27 December 1971.

South Vietnamese service
Cook Inlet was transferred to South Vietnam on 27 December 1971 and was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy as patrol vessel RVNS Tran Quoc Toan (HQ-06). When South Vietnam collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975, Tran Quoc Toan fled to Subic Bay in the Philippines.

Acquisition for spare parts by the Philippines
The Republic of the Philippines took custody of Tran Quoc Toan, and she was formally transferred to the Philippine Navy in April 1976. She was never commissioned into active service, instead being cannibalized for spare parts. She was discarded in 1982 and probably scrapped.