USS Rehoboth ( AVP - 50 ) The second USS " Rehoboth " ( AVP - 50 / AGS - 50 ) was in commission in the United States Navy as a seaplane tender from 1944 to 1947 and as an oceanographic survey ship from 1948 to 1970 . Construction , commissioning , and shakedown . " Rehoboth " was laid down on 3 August 1942 at Houghton , Washington , by the Lake Washington Shipyard . She was launched on 8 November 1942 , sponsored by Mrs . R . P . McConnell , and commissioned on 23 February 1944 , with Commander Robert Crawford Warrack , Jr . , in command . World War II service . " Rehoboth " was originally operated as a Barnegat - class seaplane tender . Following shakedown off San Diego , California , " Rehoboth " transited the Panama Canal on 25 April 1944 and reached Norfolk , Virginia , on 14 May 1944 . On 17 May 1944 she sailed for Casablanca carrying men and cargo of Blimp Squadron 14 . Returning to Norfolk on 9 June 1944 , she carried cargo and personnel for Fleet Air Wing 7 in the United Kingdom from 8 July 1944 to 9 August 1944 , then sailed south to Recife , Brazil , reporting to Commander , Fleet Air Wing 16 , for duty on 31 August 1944 . She transported passengers and cargo between various Brazilian ports until 15 January 1945 , when she departed Natal , Brazil , for Bristol , England , carrying personnel and cargo for Commander , Fleet Air Wing 7 . On 14 February 1945 she returned to Norfolk , whence , until mid - June 1945 , she carried men and equipment to Bristol and Avonmouth in England . Peacetime service 1945 - 1947 . " Rehoboth " retransited the Panama Canal on 18 August 1945 , and after calls at San Diego and Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , she arrived off Okinawa on 2 October 1945 . There for two weeks she tended planes of Air - Sea Rescue Squadron 6 ( VH - 6 ) , then steamed to Jinsen ( now Incheon ) , Korea , where she took command of a seadrome and tended planes of Patrol Bombing Squadron 20 ( VPB - 20 ) . In mid - November 1945 she crossed the Yellow Sea , and from 18 November 1945 to 21 December 1945 she tended a detachment of VH - 6 . On 25 December 1945 she arrived at Shanghai , China , to tend Air - Sea Rescue Squadron 1 ( VH - 1 ) and Patrol Bombing Squadron 25 ( VPB - 25 ) seaplane s . On 25 January 1946 , " Rehoboth " got underway for Nagoya , Japan , thence proceeded to Kobe , Japan , on 17 February 1946 , where she set up an auxiliary seadrome area . On 24 March 1946 she arrived at Sasebo , Japan , where she assumed seadrome control . " Rehoboth " continued to serve in Japanese waters until August 1946 when she returned briefly to the Chinese coast , then operated off Australia and in the Philippines . In November 1946 she returned to Japan , whence she sailed east in 1947 . Arriving at San Diego on 18 March 1947 , she continued on , transited the Panama Canal at the end of March 1947 , and reached Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on 9 April 1947 . She was decommissioned on 30 June 1947 . Oceanographic survey operations 1948 - 1970 . " Rehoboth " commenced conversion to an oceanographic survey ship in 1948 . She recommissioned on 2 September 1948 , and commenced oceanographic survey work under the direction of the Navy Hydrographic Office , predecessor of the Naval Oceanographic Office , being redesignated AGS - 50 in August 1949 . Equipped with a small laboratory and machinery to take Nansen cast s , which provide the oceanographer with the temperature and samples of sea water at different depths , and to drill for core samples , she traveled over in the North Atlantic and adjacent seas during her first six years of operation . In February 1952 , while crossing the Atlantic , " Rehoboth " discovered and accurately positioned an underwater mountain range with heights up to 12 , 000 feet ( 3 , 658 m ) above the ocean floor . In March 1952 she discovered and charted a 7 , 000 - foot ( 2 , 134 m ) undersea mountain near Bermuda and in August 1953 she became the first ship to anchor in over 2½ miles ( 4 , 023 m ) of water . Employed on special projects in 1953 and 1954 , she returned to oceanographic survey work in the Atlantic and Caribbean in 1955 . Transferred to the Pacific in 1956 , " Rehoboth " departed Philadelphia on 15 February 1956 . Transiting the Panama Canal on 22 February 1956 , she was diverted to an area northwest of the Galapagos Islands to search for the raft " Cantuta " , which she found after four days . On 9 March 1956 " Rehoboth " reached San Francisco , and for the next year operated off the United States West Coast . On 4 March 1957 she proceeded to Pearl Harbor for three months of work in Hawaiian waters . For the next nine months she operated in the eastern Pacific . In April 1958 she extended her range to the Marshall Islands and in 1960 to the Western Pacific . In October 1960 she also added operations off the coast of South America . For the next four years her missions spanned the Pacific from equatorial to arctic climes . In September 1965 " Rehoboth " completed operations in the northern Pacific and in November 1965 commenced survey operations in the South China Sea , conducting in December 1965 a hydrographic survey of the coast of South Vietnam from the Mekong Delta to Cape Padaran . After completing survey operations in the South China Sea in February 1966 , " Rehoboth " sailed east , arriving at San Francisco , California , on 23 March 1966 . Overhaul and United States West Coast operations followed . In 1967 she conducted operations in the northern and western Pacific . In California waters from December 1967 until 14 March 1968 , she then departed San Francisco for Yokosuka , Japan . She undertook survey operations in the Philippine Sea until August 1968 , returning to San Francisco on 26 September 1968 , where she remained for the balance of the year . She operated off the California coast in early 1969 until deploying to the Far East in August 1969 , returning in December 1969 to San Francisco . Final decommissioning and disposal . " Rehoboth " again was decommissioned and was struck from the Navy List on 15 April 1970 . She was sold for scrapping in September 1970 .