USS Brunswick ( ATS - 3 ) USS " Brunswick " ( ATS - 3 ) was an in the service of the United States Navy from 1972 until her decommissioning in 1996 . Construction and commissioning . The third USS " Brunswick " , she was laid down on 27 May 1968 at Lowestoft , England by Brooke Marine Ltd . ; launched on 14 October 1969 ; sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral David C . Richardson , USN ( Ret . ) ; delivered to the Navy at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 21 November 1972 ; and commissioned there on 19 December 1972 , Lt . Comdr . John B . Haskins in command . " Brunswick " finished out 1972 and began 1973 fitting out at Norfolk . On 13 March 1973 , she got underway for the Pacific Ocean . Along the way she visited Brunswick , Georgia and Montego Bay , Jamaica . She transited the Panama Canal on 29 March and , after visits to Acapulco and San Francisco , arrived in Pearl Harbor on 31 May . She conducted shakedown training during the month of July and , early in August , passed final contractor ' s trials . On 11 September , she began a three - month post - shakedown availability followed by a restricted availability at the Dillingham Shipyard . " Brunswick " completed repairs on 31 January 1974 and began normal operations in the Hawaiian Islands . Operational history . On 22 June she embarked upon her first deployment to the western Pacific . The ship arrived in Sasebo , Japan on 8 July . On the 10th , she got underway for salvage training near Chinhae , Korea . Sixteen days later , she completed that mission and shaped a course — via Subic Bay for fuel — to Singapore . The salvage tug arrived in Singapore on 6 August and remained there until the 30th , serving as standby salvage ship for a task force operating in the Indian Ocean . When " Brunswick " departed Singapore , she headed for the Malacca Strait where she rendezvoused with the task force leaving the Indian Ocean . After steaming with that unit for two days , the ship set off independently for Subic Bay . Between 8 and 11 September , she conducted salvage training in the Subic Bay operating area . Following that , she visited Hong Kong between 16 and 25 September . " Brunswick " returned to Subic Bay on the 28th and spent the next week engaged in target towing duty in the local operating area . She continued operations in the vicinity of Luzon until 22 November at which time she laid in a course for Oahu . " Brunswick " reentered Pearl Harbor on 6 December and commenced a leave and upkeep period that lasted through the end of the year and into 1975 . Standdown ended on 9 January when she put to sea to recover a downed helicopter near Maui . The salvage tug spent the last two weeks of January training in salvage operations near the island of Kauai . For the entire month of February , however , she remained in port at Pearl Harbor . Early in March , " Brunswick " returned to sea briefly for another round of training . Salvage training came at the end of the month . Late in April , the ship conducted surveillance operations on Soviet ships exercising nearby . Following a return to Pearl Harbor from 5 May to 2 June for upkeep , " Brunswick " resumed type training , salvage exercises , and diving drills out of Pearl Harbor . Such operations , as well as local tows , occupied the ship ' s time through the end of 1975 and for the first three months of 1976 . On 12 April 1976 , she departed Pearl Harbor on her way to duty with the United States Seventh Fleet in the Far East . She stopped at Guam from 29 April to 7 May before continuing west to the Philippines . " Brunswick " entered Subic Bay on 15 May . She performed salvage missions and training duty in the Subic Bay area until late May . On 28 May , the ship stood out of Subic Bay for Taiwan . After a port visit at Kaohsiung from 30 May to 7 June , she continued on to Japan , arriving at Numazu on 12 June . She spent two days at Numazu conducting sea bottom surveys for amphibious landing mats before moving on to Yokosuka . " Brunswick " operated out of Yokosuka from 15 June to 2 August , conducting salvage operations in Suruga Wan . On the latter day , she shaped a course for Guam . The salvage tug arrived in Apra Harbor on 9 August and began a two - week availability . On the 26th , she headed for Pearl Harbor . The ship entered her home port on 15 September but remained only a week . On 22 September , she embarked upon a voyage to the west coast of the United States . She arrived in San Francisco , California on the 28th and began preparations to tow the former to Bremerton , Washington . She made the tow between 1 and 10 October and afterward made port visits to Bremerton and to Vancouver , British Columbia . She departed Vancouver for Oahu on 21 October and reentered Pearl Harbor on the 29th . Post - deployment leave and upkeep occupied the period from 30 October to 29 November . Two weeks of duty as standby salvage vessel in the Pearl Harbor area followed . On 13 December , " Brunswick " began a restricted availability that saw her through the end of the year . The availability continued into 1977 . She resumed normal operations on 17 January 1977 and continued so employed through the next three months . On 18 April , after 10 days of preparations in Pearl Harbor , the salvage tug embarked upon another voyage to the west coast of the United States . She arrived at Alameda , California on 25 April . On 3 May , " Brunswick " took the former in tow off Treasure Island and laid in a course for Hawaii . She pulled her charge into Pearl Harbor on 16 May and then resumed local operations . That occupation lasted until 1 July when she set off for Wake Island to salvage a Navy EC - 130Q aircraft . The operation was completed on 18 August , and " Brunswick " returned to Pearl Harbor on the 26th . The ship spent the next month in port preparing for regular overhaul . On 26 September she entered drydock at the Dillingham Shipyard . Undocked on 14 November , the salvage tug moved to the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard to complete the overhaul . " Brunswick " completed the repair period on 26 May 1978 but did not resume active service until 26 June . Salvage training , diver qualifications , and various general ship ' s drills constituted her activity until mid - October when she began preparing for another deployment to the western Pacific . She stood out of Pearl Harbor on the morning of 24 November and shaped a course westward . The first 17 days of December brought her surveillance duty in the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands . On the 18th , " Brunswick " put into Apra Harbor , Guam , where she remained for the rest of 1978 . She departed Guam for the Philippines on 3 January 1979 . The salvage tug reached Subic Bay on the 8th and began a series of training evolutions out of that port . On 31 January , she steamed out of Subic Bay bound for Hong Kong . Her crew enjoyed a week of liberty in the British colony between 2 and 9 February before heading for a rendezvous with . The frigate had suffered an engineering casualty , and " Brunswick " took her in tow on 10 February . The salvage tug pulled " Davidson " into Subic Bay on 14 February , remained there for two days , and then got underway for Japan on the 16th . Originally bound for Beppu , she was rerouted to Sasebo to pick up another tow . She took the barge in tow on 24 February and headed for Pohang , South Korea , and another salvage operation , which took up the period from 26 February to 7 March . Following that , she visited Chinhae and Pusan before returning to Subic Bay on the 24th . She remained only until the 26th when she departed the Philippines for a port visit to Kaohsiung , Taiwan . That visit was significant in that the United States had recently severed diplomatic ties with that country to establish relations with the Peking government . " Brunswick " was one of the first Navy ships to visit Taiwan since the rupture . Serving as a diplomatic barometer , she recorded fair weather as the Taiwanese greeted her and her crew warmly during the six - day call . On 2 April , " Brunswick " stood out of Kaohsiung and set course for Singapore . After three days at sea , she rendezvoused with and embarked 29 Vietnamese refugees whom the frigate had rescued at sea . The salvage tug arrived in Singapore on 7 April and disembarked the refugees . She stayed at Singapore for almost two weeks , heading back to Subic Bay on the 20th . The ship stopped at Subic Bay from 26 to 29 April and then began the voyage to Pearl Harbor with " YC - 1542 " and " YC - 6568 " in tow . She stopped at Guam and picked up an additional tow , , at Midway Island before arriving back in Pearl Harbor on the afternoon of 24 May . Following the usual post - deployment leave and upkeep period , " Brunswick " resumed normal operations out of Pearl Harbor in late June . For the next year , the salvage tug conducted training operations in the Hawaiian Islands and underwent the usual series of inspections and evaluations . Most frequently , she engaged in salvage training and diver qualifications and evaluations . On occasion , however , she towed targets for gunnery drills , served as a training platform for junior officer ship handling exercises , and conducted independent ship ' s drills . Early in June 1980 , " Brunswick " began preparations to deploy to the western Pacific . On 21 June , the ship put to sea bound for the Philippines . On 4 July 1980 , the salvage tug arrived in Apra Harbor , Guam , for what was to have been a short provisioning and fueling stop . A salvage and scuttling mission , however , kept her at Guam for over seven weeks . She finally resumed her voyage west on 25 August . Her first port of call was Hong Kong where she remained for the first 10 days in September . From there , she moved to Singapore , arriving on 15 September . On 1 October , " Brunswick " shaped a course for the Philippines . On 3 October , she rescued 27 Vietnamese refugees on the high seas and brought them into Subic Bay with her on the 6th . On 20 October , the ship departed Subic Bay for Korea . She arrived in Chinhae on 26 October and spent the next two weeks engaged in training exercises with divers of the Republic of Korea Navy . She departed Chinhae on 9 October bound for Japan . After port visits to Sasebo , Numazu , and Yokosuka , " Brunswick " got underway from the latter port on 27 November and laid in a course for Hawaii . The salvage tug arrived in Pearl Harbor on 8 December and began the usual post - deployment leave and upkeep period . The year 1981 opened with " Brunswick " still engaged in post - deployment and holiday standdown . She got underway again on 14 January 1981 for target towing duty . Her return to normal duty in the Hawaiian Islands lasted until 13 April when she began a two - month availability at pierside in Pearl Harbor . She completed repairs on 12 June and got underway to resume local operations on the 16th . That employment continued through September and into October . On 5 October the ship departed Pearl Harbor bound for the west coast with two floating drydocks ( YRDMs ) in tow . She arrived in San Francisco on 14 October and remained there until the 18th . She made port visits to Long Beach and San Diego before departing the latter port on 28 October to return to Oahu . " Brunswick " reentered Pearl Harbor on 4 November . For a month , the salvage tug took up local operations again . On 4 December 1981 she began preparations for overseas movement . Decommissioning . " Brunswick " was decommissioned on 8 March 1996 . On 29 August 1996 she was transferred to South Korea through the Security Assistance Program . She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 December 1996 , and became ATS - 28 " Gwangyang " . In April 2010 , Gwangyang participated in the salvage of the ROKS " Cheonan " ( PCC - 772 ) .