USS Gardiners Bay ( AVP - 39 ) USS " Gardiners Bay " ( AVP - 39 ) was a United States Navy seaplane tender in commission from 1945 to 1958 . Construction , commissioning , and shakedown . " Gardiners Bay " was launched on 2 December 1944 at Houghton , Washington , by the Lake Washington Shipyard , sponsored by Mrs . George L . Richard . She commissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton , Washington , on 11 February 1945 , with Commander Carlton C . Lucas in command . " Gardiners Bay " departed Seattle , Washington , on 1 March 1945 for shakedown out of San Diego , California , which she completed on 20 April 1945 . World War II service 1945 . " Gardiners Bay " then proceeded via Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands to tend seaplane s of Patrol Bombing Squadron ( PBV ) 19 in a 10 - day training period , thence via Saipan and Guam in the Mariana Islands to Kerama Retto , Okinawa , where she arrived on 7 June 1945 with provisions and cargo for Fleet Air Wing 1 . " Gardiners Bay " devoted the following weeks to tending planes for various patrol bombing squadrons based on Kerama Retto . Between 30 June 1945 and 17 July 1945 she was flagship of an Air - Sea Rescue Unit , utilizing Rescue Squadrons 3 and 4 , Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 4 , and three other small seaplane tenders . Eighteen rescue missions were accomplished while in a state of constant alert that saw her men at general quarters for 100 hours . Relieved as flagship by seaplane tender USS " Pine Island " ( AV - 12 ) on 17 July 1945 , " Gardiners Bay " tended planes of Rescue Squadron 6 at Chimi Bay , Okinawa , until 15 August 1945 , the day hostilities with Japan ended , when she put to sea as part of the screen of the United States Third Fleet en route Japan . " Gardiners Bay " received two battle star s for service in World War II . Peacetime service 1945 - 1950 . " Gardiners Bay " entered Sagami Bay , Japan , on 28 August 1945 , shifting on 30 August 1945 to Tokyo Bay as a part of the Seaplane Base Group of the Japan Occupation Forces . On 1 September 1945 she became flagship of the Air - Sea Rescue Unit for the Third Fleet with Rescue Squadron 4 based on board . During this service , which extended to 9 January 1946 , she helped set up the Tokyo Seadrome off the Yokohama Air Station . She was then stationed at Nagoya , Japan , as tender for courier and transient seaplanes , departing on 29 January 1946 for Shanghai , China . She departed Hong Kong on 9 August 1946 , proceeding via Yokosuka , Japan , the Mariana Islands , the Marshall Islands , and Pearl Harbor to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard , where she arrived on 28 November 1946 for overhaul . After fleet exercises along the United States West Coast , " Gardiners Bay " departed San Diego on 7 April 1947 for seaplane tender duties in the Caroline Islands ; Mariana Islands ; Okinawa ; Tsingtao , China ; and Yokosuka . She returned to Seattle on 4 October 1947 , made a cruise to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands between 15 January 1948 and 5 June 1948 , and made another Far East cruise between 15 March 1949 and 14 December 1949 which included seaplane tender operations at Guam ; Yokohama , Japan ; Sasebo , Japan ; Okinawa ; and Manila , the Philippines . Korean War service 1950 - 1953 . " Gardiners Bay " departed San Diego on 27 June 1950 for the first of four long tours supporting United Nations forces in the Korean War . She established a seadrome at Iwakuni , Japan , tending 17 Martin PBM Mariner and eight Royal Air Force Short Sunderland flying boat s for search and reconnaissance in the Tsushima Strait and Yellow Sea area , shifting in September 1950 to Inchon , Korea , where she established an advance base for seaplanes making naval mine reconnaissance runs off the northwest coast of Korea . In October 1950 she established another seadrome at Chinhae , Korea , basing there to tend United States Seventh Fleet aircraft conducting reconnaissance until 16 April 1951 . On her second Korean tour , which lasted from 12 September 1951 to 9 April 1952 , " Gardiners Bay " supported Far East aviation patrol units at Okinawa ; Iwakuni , Japan ; and Manila , Philippine Islands . " Gardiners Bay " spent her third Korean War tour , which lasted from 10 July 1952 to 26 January 1953 , largely as station ship off the Pescadores and at Okinawa . She took time out from this duty in October 1952 for participation in Exercise Surprise off the coast of French Indochina , testing communications between headquarters and ships and aircraft of the United States , the United Kingdom , and France . " Gardiners Bay " s fourth Korean War tour , which lasted from 3 April 1953 to 12 December 1953 , was spent in tending amphibious patrol planes at Chinhae , South Korea , and on stations in the Pescadore Islands , the Philippine Islands , Okinawa , and Japan . The Korean War ended during this tour , in late July 1953 . " Gardiners Bay " received four battle stars for service in the Korean War . Peacetime operations 1954 - 1958 . After returning from her fourth Korean War tour in December 1953 , " Gardiners Bay " made three cruises to support Seventh Fleet operations in the Pacific , from 7 July 1954 to 22 November 1954 , from 28 August 1956 to 14 February 1957 , and from 10 June 1957 to 16 November 1957 . She spent these cruises largely on seaplane tending stations at Okinawa ; Manila ; and in the Japanese ports of Iwakuni , Sasebo , and Yokohama . " Gardiners Bay " returned from her last cruise in U . S . Navy service on 16 November 1957 , arriving at Alameda , California . She decommissioned on 1 February 1958 . Royal Norwegian Navy service 1958 - 1974 . " Gardiners Bay " was transferred to Norway on 17 May 1958 under the Military Assistance Program . She served the Royal Norwegian Navy as a naval cadet training ship under the name of HNoMS " Haakon VII " ( A537 ) until disposed of in 1974 , making voyages worldwide during her Norwegian service .