USS Estes ( AGC - 12 ) USS " Estes " ( AGC - 12 ) was a " Mount McKinley " - class amphibious force command ship , officially named after " A mountain peak and national park in Colorado . " She was designed as an amphibious force flagship , a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large - scale operations . Commissioning . " Estes " was launched on 1 November 1943 at the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington , North Carolina , as " Morning Star " ; acquired by the Navy on 22 February 1944 ; and commissioned on 9 October 1944 , with Commander R . O . Mathews in command . Service history . 1944 . On 20 November 1944 , " Estes " arrived at Pearl Harbor from Naval Station Norfolk , and after training , broke the flag of Rear Admiral William H . P . Blandy , Commander , Amphibious Group One . She sailed from Pearl Harbor on 10 January 1945 for rehearsal landings in the Marianas , and on 16 February arrived off Iwo Jima . As flagship for TF 52 , " Estes " served as control center for the pre - invasion bombardment , and the work of underwater demolition teams preparing the beaches for the assault . She remained off the island through the landings of 19 February , receiving wound ed and supplying and repairing small craft . She arrived at Ulithi on 11 March to make final preparations for the Okinawa assault . 1945 . Again flagship for TF 52 , the amphibious support force , " Estes " was off Okinawa on 24 March 1945 . She landed an underwater demolition group , then sailed with the bombardment group , directing the pre - invasion pounding of the beaches and Japan ese strong points . Using information gained from her contacts with the radar picket destroyer s , she controlled aircraft carrier planes protecting the vast concentration of shipping assembled for the assault on 1 April . After almost a month off the bitterly contested island , she sailed on 20 April to replenish at Saipan and carry Admiral Blandy to Pearl Harbor , where he and his staff disembarked on 19 May . " Estes " continued to San Francisco for overhaul , and equipment installation designed to make her even more effective . On 20 July , she embarked Rear Admiral R . O . Davis , Commander , Amphibious Group 13 , and on 8 August sailed for the Philippines . She arrived at Leyte on 28 August for occupation duty , coordinating the lifting of troops from the Philippines to Japan . After cruising widely in the Philippines on this duty , " Estes " sailed for Shanghai , and upon her arrival on 7 November , broke the flag of Admiral Thomas C . Kinkaid , Commander , 7th Fleet . Before she had completed her tour of occupation duty along the Chinese coast , for part of which she was homeported at Tsingtao , she served as flagship for three succeeding commanders of the 7th Fleet , Vice Admiral Daniel E . Barbey , Admiral Charles M . Cooke , and Admiral Oscar C . Badger . 1946 . In June 1946 , " Estes " became flagship for Naval Forces , Western Pacific , and continued to cruise between Tsingtao and Hong Kong , aside from a 1947 overhaul at Bremerton , until 29 January 1948 , when she departed Tsingtao for San Francisco . Arriving on 16 February , she lay at San Francisco and San Diego until her decommissioning and being placed in reserve on 30 June 1949 . 1950s . " Estes " was recommissioned on 31 January 1951 , and after training off San Diego , sailed on 20 June for Yokosuka and Inchon , where from 25 July to 6 August , she served as flagship for Vice Admiral I . N . Kiland , Commander , Amphibious Force , Pacific . She carried successive Commanders , Amphibious Group One , through the remainder of this tour of duty in the Far East , during which she operated off Korea and in exercises off Japan . Returning to San Diego on 19 April 1952 , " Estes " carried high - ranking observers to the Marshall Islands for nuclear weapons tests in the fall of 1952 . With Rear Admiral F . S . Withington , USN , Commander Amphibious Group 3 and Commander Task Force 9 , embarked , ESTES bade farewell to San Diego 6 July 1953 , setting course for Kodiak , Alaska , and another of the " unusual " operations for the ship — unusual operations that were to become norm . This time , the purpose of " Operation Blue Nose , " as it was called , was to resupply government installations — the " DEW LINE " — in the far north . ESTES arrived Kodiak one week out of San Diego . Proceeding north , the personnel of TF 9 were officially inducted into the " Honorary Order of the Arctic " as " Blue Noses " when the force crossed the Arctic Circle 19 July . While at anchor at Icy Cape , ESTES received the news that a truce had been signed in Korea . Continuing north to Wainwright on 31 July , ESTES pressed on to Point Barrow the following day . At anchor off Point Barrow , ESTES fell temporary victim to a shift in the wind which allowed pack ice to move inshore , immobilizing the ship for the better part of a week . USCGC NORTHWIND ( W - 282 ) proved her mettle and freed ESTES , plus USS ELECTRA ( AKA - 4 ) and USS SKAGIT ( AKA - 105 ) , from the icy confines of the anchorage . The resupply mission complete , ESTES eagerly but cautiously set course for home port San Diego 9 August . Between January and May 1954 , she again sailed for atomic weapons tests at Eniwetok , and on 6 July cleared for the Far East . As control ship for " Operation Passage to Freedom " , the evacuation of refugees from Communist North Vietnam , " Estes " operated from Haiphong from 18 August to 29 October . Between 6 and 11 February 1955 she aided the evacuation of the Tachen Islands resulting from the Taiwan Strait Crisis . " Estes " returned to San Diego on 22 May 1955 . She operated out of there for the next year . Between March and July 1956 , she was again in the Marshalls for weapons tests , and on 31 January 1957 sailed for Yokosuka , where she provided quarters and communications facilities until April , sailing then to visit Hong Kong . She returned to stateside duty on 15 May , voyaging to Pearl Harbor in July and August . The next year found " Estes " sailing north in July to ports in British Columbia , and again in August to call at Seattle . During her 1959 tour of duty in the Far East she directed important amphibious operations off Japan , Okinawa , and Korea , and exercises off Borneo with ships of the Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy . 1960s . She returned to Long Beach in August , and through 1962 operated along the west coast , twice visiting the Pacific Northwest . On 31 October 1969 , " Estes " was decommissioned for the final time . " Estes " received two battle star s for World War II service , and two for Korean War service .