USS Hector ( AR - 7 ) The USS " Hector " ( AR - 7 ) was a repair ship that served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1987 . World War II . " Hector " was launched 11 November 1942 by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Drydock Company and sponsored by Mrs . Schuyler F . Helm . " Hector " was commissioned 7 February 1944 , with Commander J . W . Long in command . After shakedown along the West Coast , the new repair ship sailed for the Pacific , reaching Pearl Harbor 9 April 1944 . She remained at Pearl Harbor effecting repairs on various ships , primarily landing craft , until she departed for Eniwetok on 5 June . Arriving there 13 June , " Hector " spent the summer at Eniwetok and then sailed for Ulithi 30 September . Her biggest repair job of the war came to her 27 October at Ulithi as the cruiser " Houston " , torpedoed twice by Japan ese submarine s , was towed alongside . Although hampered by a severe typhoon season which twice sent her out to sea for safety , " Hector " managed to repair " Houston " by the end of the year besides aiding many other smaller craft . Hector departed Ulithi 16 February 1945 and 5 days later steamed into Tarragona , Leyte Gulf , to repair ships as the battle for the Philippines raged . This task completed , she returned to Ulithi 30 March and continued on to Saipan 22 May . After the war ended 1 September , " Hector " remained in the Pacific to prepare various ships for return to the United States . Korean War . Departing Saipan 21 January 1946 , " Hector " reached Long Beach , California 3 February . After serving as a repair ship there , she sailed for her first WestPac cruise 7 May 1947 , thereby settling into a peacetime schedule interrupted 3 years later by the outbreak of Korean War . " Hector " sailed into Yokosuka 18 September 1950 . From there she continued to Inchon , Korea , arriving at the scene of the Inchon Invasion , 25 September . For the remainder of the Korean War " Hector " alternated repair service along the Korean coast and in Japan with normal duty out of Long Beach . In 1954 she was presented with the Battle Efficiency Plaque for the year 1953 - 1954 , and again in 1955 was awarded the same plaque for the year 1954 - 1955 . Thereafter , as before the Korean War , " Hector " alternated 4 to 6 months of service and exercises along the California coast with 6 - and 8 - month WestPac cruises . During these cruises the repair ship , operating in support and service of the United States Pacific and Asian defenses , visited such ports as Yokosuka , Hong Kong , Shanghai , Guam , and Eniwetok . Serving intermittently as flagship for both Service Squadrons 1 and 3 , " Hector " also was a major participant in the Navy ' s People to People program in Asia . Her deployments to the Western Pacific continued into the 1960s . Vietnam . " Hector " operated in the Far East from Japan to the Philippines between June 1963 and January 1964 . After providing repair services for ships at Long Beach during the remainder of 1964 and the first 6 months of 1965 , she underwent a modernization overhaul at Long Beach between July 1965 and February 1966 to increase her repair capabilities . Thence , she resumed fleet services out of Long Beach until departing for the Far East 5 August . She arrived Subic Bay later that month , and during the next 6 months repaired and serviced ships in the Philippines , Taiwan , and Japan . She returned to the West Coast in March 1967 and into mid - 1967 " Hector " continued to maintain a high state of readiness and provide repair services at Long Beach . Hector departed for WESTPAC via Pearl Harbor on 3 January 1972 arriving in Sasebo 26 January where she served as the flagship for COMSERVGRU THREE . While providing service to the fleet during this deployment Hector visited Vung Tau , Vietnam , Hong Kong , DaNang , Vietnam , Subic Bay RP , Okinawa , and Keelung , Taiwan . On 26 Aug Hector was relieved as COMSERVGRU THREE Flagship and departed Sasebo for the USA and arrived in Long Beach on 9 September 1972 . In 1972 Hector was awarded a MERITORIOUS UNIT COMMENDATION that read in part the following : For meritorious service from 26 January to 25 August 1972 in direct support of United States SEVENTH Fleet combat operations in Southeast Asia . USS HECTOR contributed materially to the success of these operations by rendering vital fleet repair services to united States and friendly naval forces operating in the Republic of Vietnam . Hector also received a Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation and three additional Vietnam Service Medals during this deployment . Hector serviced the fleet as needed in many ports of call including various locations . Hector provided maintenance repairs as well as damage repairs on ships from combat actions , notable the USS Higbee and USS Bucannan . 1974 began with Hector in Sasebo , Japan , and after visiting Yokosuka , that deployment ended with her return to Long Beach in the middle of February . In March , Hector ' s homeport was shifted to Mare Island , Vallejo , California . She underwent overhaul in Richmond , CA in April , and visited San Diego during the same year . End of Vietnam and Beyond . During the evacuation of Saigon in 1975 ( Operation New Life ) , HECTOR aided in setting up camps in Guam for Vietnamese refugees , for which Hector earned her first Humanitarian Service Award . During the same year , she completed conversion to Navy Distillate fuel and renovation to her crew ' s galley , mess decks and scullery . During her deployment in 1977 , Hector was called on to replenish desperately needed stores to combatant ships that had departed Pearl Harbor quickly in order to observe Soviet cruise missile triangulation operations . During this operation , the infamous " Hector Missile " was built to confuse the enemy . In July , Hector was forced to cancel an R & R visit to Keelung , Taiwan in order to evade Typhoon Vera , which struck northern Taiwan . She proceeded on to her next scheduled port , Subic Bay RP . During the spring of 1978 , Hector provided Fleet Repair Service in Seattle , WA . Her deployment in September began with a visit to Papeete , Tahiti , and later to Subic Bay , RP ; Keelung , Taiwan ; Pusan , Korea and finished the year providing FRS in Yokosuka , Japan . In 1980 , she received a major overhaul , and HECTOR became one of the first ships in the Pacific Fleet to have women officers report aboard . ( One of whom was Ensign Darlene Iskra who served aboard as Diving Officer 1980 - 82 who went on to make Naval History in 1990 by becoming the first woman to command a Naval vessel , the USS Opportune . ) In 1981 , HECTOR began her 25th deployment , visiting Yokosuka Japan ; Diego Garcia ; Mombasa , Kenya , Melbourne , Australia , Auckland , New Zealand , Tonga , Samoa , Western Samoa . While in Pearl Harbor , Hector sent a team to rescue 12 passengers of a plane which crashed 200 yards off Hector ' s quarter . For this she was commended by Commander in Chief , US Pacific Fleet . In October 1981 , Hector ' s homeport was again shifted , from Mare Island to Oakland , CA . In June 1982 the first ten enlisted women reported aboard Hector at the Naval Supply Center in Oakland , California . HECTOR received the Navy " E " Ribbon for the period 1 Jan 1982 - 30 June 1983 . In 1983 , HECTOR spent a month repairing ships in Bremerton , WA . During the month of April , HECTOR temporarily served as the Logistic Command Center while Commander Task Force 73 was embarked for FLEET EX 83 - 1 , the largest military exercise in the North Pacific since World War II . In 1984 , during the ship ’ s 26th deployment , HECTOR steamed over 35 , 000 miles . She also provided disaster relief to the storm battered island of Madagascar . On this deployment Hector received two Humanitarian Medals . One was for the rescue of 28 Vietnamese refugees from a small wooden craft . For the second award , a group of Hector volunteers spent several days in a leper colony doing maintenance on local homes , and other facilities , while in Madagascar . They also provided some much - needed medical service including dental work , amputations , etc . , all with field tools and in a damaged gazebo . Her home port was changed from Alameda to San Diego in 1985 , and the HECTOR celebrated her 42nd birthday on the high seas . During transit up the Willamette River to Portland , OR in August , Hector ' s aft mast was snapped off as a result of coming into contact with the Burnside Bridge . At the beginning of 1986 , HECTOR provided FRS to the Midway Battle Group in Yokosuka , Japan . HECTOR ' s stay in Subic Bay was extended to 1 & 1 / 2 months during January to February due to Philippine elections and civil unrest . She later visited Al - Masirah , Ohman and Pattaya Beach , Thailand . After 43 years of faithful and productive service to the fleet from the entire West Coast to numerous ports of the Pacific and Southeast Asia , the USS HECTOR AR - 7 Deck Log was closed 31 March 1987 in San Diego , and she was duly decommissioned . On 20 April 1989 , HECTOR was leased to Pakistan and renamed MOAWIN . She was returned to U . S . custody at Singapore in 1994 , and on 17 October of that year was sold to Ruby Enterprises of India . Subsequently , the USS HECTOR AR - 7 suffered an ignominious demise by cutting torches at a nondescript scrap metal yard somewhere on the coastline of India .