page_title: USS Wachapreague (AGP-8)
section_title: The Leyte campaign begins
hierarchical_section_title: USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) / United States Navy service / World War II / The Philippines campaign / The Leyte campaign begins
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Navy motor torpedo boat tender USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) refueling a PT boat en route from Palau to Leyte
context_page_description: USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) was a motor torpedo boat tender in commission in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946, seeing service in the latter part of World War II. After her Navy decommissioning, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard from 1946 to 1972 as the cutter USCGC McCulloch, later WHEC-386, the fourth ship of the U.S. Coast Guard or its predecessor, the United States Revenue Cutter Service, to bear the name. In 1972 she was transferred to South Vietnam and served in the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Ngô Quyền. Upon the collapse of South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, she fled to the Philippines, and she served in the Philippine Navy from 1977 to 1985 as the frigate RPS Gregorio del Pilar and from 1987 to 1990 as BRP Gregorio del Pilar.
context_section_description: On 13 October 1944, Wachapreague sailed in company with the motor torpedo boat tenders USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6) and USS Willoughby (AGP-9), the seaplane tender USS Half Moon (AVP-26), and two United States Army craft for Leyte, 1,200 nautical miles (2,222 kilometers) away. The 45 torpedo boats, 15 of which were assigned to each motor torpedo boat tender, were convoyed by the larger ships, refuelled while underway at sea – with Wachapreague slowing to nine knots (17 km/hr) periodically to fuel two torpedo boats simultaneously, one alongside to starboard and one astern, eventually replenishing the fuel supply of all 15 of her brood – and successfully completed the voyage under their own power.  A brief two-day respite at Kossol Roads, Palau, for repairs and a further refueling of the PT boats, preceded the final leg of the voyage.
  While Wachapreague dropped anchor at northern San Pedro Bay off Leyte, her PT boats, fresh and ready for action immediately, entered Leyte Gulf on 21 October 1944, the day after the initial landings on Leyte. On 24 October 1944, Wachapreague shifted to Liloan Bay, a small anchorage off Panoan Island, 65 nautical miles (120 kilometers) south of San Pedro Bay, which scarcely afforded the ship room to swing with the tide. Soon after her arrival at Liloan Bay, Wachapreague contacted the Philippine guerrilla radio network for a mutual exchange of information as to Japanese forces in the area.
caption: USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) refuels a PT boat on 20 October 1944 during the voyage from Palau to Leyte.
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