page_title: USS Tutuila (ARG-4)
section_title: 1950–1962
hierarchical_section_title: USS Tutuila (ARG-4) / Service history / 1950–1962
caption_attribution_description: The U.S. Navy internal combustion engine repair ship USS Tutuila (ARG-4) at anchor circa 1956-57, probably at Charleston, South Carolina (USA). The following ships are alongside (from outboard to inboard): USS Cardinal (MSC(O)-4), USS Lapwing (MSC(O)-48), USS Hawk (MSC(O)-17), USS Fulmer (MSC(O)-47), USS Peregrine (MSF-373).
context_page_description: USS Tutuila (ARG-4) was a Luzon-class internal combustion engine repair ship that saw service in the United States Navy during World War II, The Korean War, and The Vietnam War as well as several smaller actions. Named for the Island of Tutuila, the largest and main island of American Samoa, it was the second US Naval vessel to bear the name. After serving for nearly 30 years Tutuila was sold to the Republic of China in 1972.
context_section_description: Tutuila was laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in Texas, until the summer of 1950, when North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea. As the United States armed forces mobilized to support the United Nations effort, Tutuila received the call to return to active service. Towed to Orange, Texas, she was reconditioned with new shop machinery which replaced her 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun and 40-millimetre (1.6 in) Bofors guns and their magazines. On 7 May 1951, the ship was recommissioned and assigned to the Service Force, Atlantic Fleet.
  Tutuila arrived at Norfolk, on 30 May 1951, and served there until 13 October, when she proceeded to Baltimore, for one week before returning to Hampton Roads, where she remained from 23 October 1951 to 16 June 1952.
  Calling briefly at Guantánamo Bay, from 20 to 23 June, she operated out of Norfolk again from 28 June to 15 August, and from 22 August to 30 October, with a stint at New York City, in between. She continued this routine of east coast operations from 1952 through 1957, with occasional calls at Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Havana, Cuba; and Guantánamo Bay.
  In 1957, the ship paid good will calls to Bermuda, in June, and Nova Scotia, in August, with groups of Explorer Scouts embarked for each cruise. In October 1958, Tutuila again visited Havana, and then proceeded to Philadelphia, where she took part in a special project for reclaiming materiel from ships in reserve before returning to Norfolk. She underwent a major overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard from 31 October 1958 to 21 January 1959, before proceeding to Guantanamo Bay, late in March. But for a round-trip cruise to Port-au-Prince, from 10 to 12 April, the ship served there until summer when she returned to the Virginia capes for antisubmarine exercises. The ship continued her operations out of Norfolk until the autumn of 1962.
  On one occasion, the repair ship encountered merchantman SS William Johnson in distress while en route to Norfolk and, within a short time, Tutuila sent over a repair crew to correct the engineering casualty.
caption: Tutuila with minesweepers, 1959.
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