USS White Sands ( ARD - 20 ) USS " White Sands " ( ARD - 20 ) , ex - USS " ARD - 20 , ex - USS " ARD ( BS ) - 20 , later AGDS - 1 , was a United States Navy auxiliary repair dock in service from 1944 to 1947 and from 1966 to 1974 . Construction and commissioning . " ARD - 20 " was laid down on 20 December 1943 by the Pacific Bridge Company at Alameda , California , and was launched early in 1944 . She was placed in service on 31 March 1944 with Lieutenant Commander Gutav Jones , USNR , as officer - in - charge . First period in service , 1944 - 1947 . After training at the Drydock Training Center at Tiburon , California , " ARD - 20 " departed San Francisco Bay on 11 June 1944 under tow by the merchant ship SS " Stratford Point " . She stopped briefly at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands before arriving at her assigned base , Seeadler Harbor , at Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands , on 12 August 1944 . As a unit of the United States Seventh Fleet ' s Service Squadron 3 , " ARD - 20 " repaired battle - damaged ships at Manus for the next eight months . On 16 April 1945 , the auxiliary fleet tug USS " ATA - 170 " towed " ARD - 20 " out of Seeadler Harbor and set a course for Morotai Island , located just north of Halmahera in the northern Molucca Islands . The two vessels arrived at Morotai on 29 April 1945 . " ARD - 20 " conducted repairs at Morotai until 24 July 1945 , when she was towed to the repair base at Manicani Island , located near Samar in the Philippine Islands , where she spent 19 months . " ARD - 20 " departed Manicani on 25 February 1947 , under tow by the merchant ship SS " Robert Eden " , and arrived in Apra Harbor , Guam , on 9 March 1947 . Later in 1946 , the merchant ship SS " Robert Hartley " towed her by way of Pearl Harbor , Territory of Hawaii , to San Pedro , California , where the two vessels arrived on 11 September 1947 . " ARD - 20 " was placed out of service on 7 October 1947 and berthed with the San Pedro Group , Pacific Reserve Fleet . Second period in service , 1966 - 1974 . Eighteen years later , in October 1965 , " ARD - 20 " was moved to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard at Terminal Island , California , where work began on her modernization and conversion into a bathyscaphe support ship . Reclassified as a bathyscaphe support auxiliary repair dock ( ARD ( BS ) ) , she was placed in service on 14 September 1966 as USS " ARD ( BS ) - 20 " and assigned to the Submarine Force , United States Pacific Fleet , to conduct Chief of Naval Operations - sponsored research projects related to deep submergence vehicle s and their operation . On 9 March 1968 , " ARD ( BS ) - 20 " was named USS " White Sands " , and her hull designation was shortened back to ARD - 20 . From 1968 , " White Sands " conducted tests with the bathyscaphe " Trieste II " in various open ocean environments . Those tests took place near the Undersea Weapons Center near San Clemente Island off California . In February 1969 , " White Sands " , carrying " Trieste II " , departed the United States West Coast , towed by the fleet ocean tug USS " Apache " ( ATF - 67 ) to participate in the search for the nuclear submarine USS " Scorpion " ( SSN - 589 ) — which had been lost in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores in 1968 — employing " Trieste II " and supported by " Apache " and the high - speed transport USS " Ruchamkin " ( APD - 89 ) . " White Sands " concluded her part in the " Scorpion " assignment early in August 1969 and was towed , via the Panama Canal , to San Diego , California , where she arrived on 7 October 1969 . At San Diego , " White Sands " resumed her research assignment with deep submergence vehicles . On 1 August 1973 , she was reclassified an auxiliary deep submergence support ship and redesignated AGDS - 1 . Final disposition . Late in the summer of 1974 . " White Sands " was placed out of service . Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in September 1974 , and she was sold for scrapping .