USS Kermit Roosevelt ( ARG - 16 ) USS " Kermit Roosevelt " ( ARG - 16 ) was a internal combustion engine repair ship that saw service in the United States Navy during World War II . She was the only U . S . Naval vessel to be named for Kermit Roosevelt I , the second son of President Theodore Roosevelt and a soldier who served in two world wars . Originally built as SS " Deal Island " , a Maritime Commission type ( EC - 2 - S - C1 ) hull , under Maritime Commission contract ( MCE 2680 ) at the Bethlehem - Fairfield Shipyard , Inc . in Baltimore , Maryland , keel was laid down 30 August 1944 ; she was renamed USS " Kermit Roosevelt " ( ARG - 16 ) on 29 September 1944 ; launched on 5 October ; sponsored by Mrs . Kermit Roosevelt ( Roosevelt ' s widow ) ; acquired by the Navy 21 October ; and commissioned on 31 May 1945 with Commander C . W . Scribner in command . Service history . After shakedown along the Virginia coast , " Kermit Roosevelt " departed Norfolk , Virginia , on 21 July for duty in the Pacific Ocean . Steaming via Pearl Harbor and Okinawa , she arrived Tsingtao , China , on 16 October and began service as a station repair ship . A unit of ServRon 10 , she supported U . S . Naval forces aiding the Chinese Nationalist s on the Chinese mainland . She departed Tsingtao 11 March 1946 and arrived Hong Kong on 16 March for five months of similar duty . Thereafter serving briefly at Guam and Saipan , she returned to Bremerton , Washington , on 3 February 1947 . Clearing San Pedro Bay 21 April , " Kermit Roosevelt " returned to Tsingtao 4 September and provided ship repair services there until 28 February 1949 . Then she continued operations in the Philippines and the Pacific until departing Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands for the West Coast 8 June . Steaming via Pearl Harbor , she reached San Diego , California , on 24 July . On 23 January 1950 she sailed for the Central Pacific ; and , before returning to San Diego 12 June , she provided repair facilities at Kwajelein and Majuro in the Marshall Islands , Truk in the Caroline Islands , and Nauru in the Gilbert Islands . Between 10 July 1950 and 23 October 1953 " Kermit Roosevelt " made four deployments to the Far East . Operating out of Sasebo , Japan , she repaired ships engaged in the Korean War and in the Strait of Formosa . From 10 October to 27 November 1950 she supported Task Group 95 . 6 at Wonsan , Korea , and during 13 – 23 December she performed similar duty at Hungnam for ships of Task Group 79 . 2 . And while operating out of Pusan from 7 August to 16 September 1953 , she helped salvage SS " Cornhusker Marine " . " Kermit Roosevelt " returned to Long Beach , California , on 23 October 1953 and operated along the West Coast until she again sailed for the Far East 6 October 1954 . Between then and 30 April 1956 she made two more deployments to the Western Pacific , where she provided important repair services for the Seventh Fleet . After returning to the United States in 1956 , " Kermit Roosevelt " operated out of Long Beach until she departed 1 October 1959 for Bremerton , Washington arriving 7 October . She decommissioned on 31 October and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet . Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 January 1960 , and she transferred to the Maritime Administration 23 June . On 25 August 1960 she was sold to Zidell Explorations , Inc . for scrap . " Kermit Roosevelt " received three battle star s for Korean War service . References .