USS Unimak ( AVP - 31 ) USS " Unimak " ( AVP - 31 ) was a United States Navy " Barnegat " - class small seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1946 . Construction , commissioning , and shakedown . " Unimak " was laid down on 15 February 1942 at Harbor Island , near Seattle , Washington by Associated Shipbuilders , Inc . She was launched on 27 May 1942 , sponsored by Mrs . H . B . Berry , the wife of Captain H . B . Berry , the personnel officer of the 13th Naval District , and commissioned on 31 December 1943 with Commander Hilfort C . Owen in command . She was engaged in shakedown and fitting - out into late January 1944 . World War II service . Operations in Central America , the Galápagos Islands , and the Caribbean . " Unimak " departed San Diego , California , on 20 March 1944 , bound for the Panama Canal Zone . Arriving at Balboa , Panama , on 28 March 1944 , " Unimak " operated on the Pacific coast of Central America into April 1944 , providing logistics support to advanced seaplane bases at Santa Elena Bay , Ecuador , and at Aeolian Bay , Battra Island , in the Galápagos Islands . She soon shifted to Coco Solo on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal and transported men and materiel to Barranquillas , Colombia , arriving there on 25 April 1944 . After escorting the merchant ship SS " Genevieve Lykes " back to Coco Solo on 23 June 1944 and 24 June 1944 , " Unimak " conducted routine exercises with patrol planes into July 1944 . On 4 July 1944 she received reports that a tanker near her position had been torpedo ed , and headed for the damaged ship . When she arrived on the scene late that day , " Unimak " found the tanker still underway , making for the Panama coast . She immediately commenced screening the disabled ship and , aided by an escort of United States Army and U . S . Navy planes , shepherded the tanker safely to Colón , Panama , late on the afternoon of 5 July 1944 . Soon thereafter , " Unimak " shaped her course towards the last reported position of Navy blimp " K - 53 " . At 15 : 32 hours on 9 July 1944 , she sighted two yellow rubber life rafts and the wreckage of the crashed blimp floating on the water . At 15 : 58 hours , " Unimak " took on board nine survivors and sank the unsalvageable blimp by collapsing the bag with 40 - millimeter gunfire . She then landed the survivors at Portland Bight , Jamaica . On 13 July 1944 , " Unimak " joined with destroyer in hunting for a submarine reported to be lurking nearby . Within a few days , word of a crashed plane sent the two ships speeding for the last reported position of the aircraft . When they arrived at the crash site , they found widespread debris and small floating pieces of the crashed plane . It was noted in the ship ' s diary that they recoved a " mutilated unidentifiable crewmember ' s body " that was " badly blasted and burned " . The aviator was buried at sea with full military honors on 16 July 1944 at 10°14 . 5 ' N , 78°53 ' W . " Unimak " remained in the Caribbean through the autumn of 1944 , tending patrol planes , conducting logistics support missions for advanced seaplane bases , and occasionally towing targets for the patrol planes training in the area . On 15 December 1944 , seaplane tender relieved " Unimak " , releasing her to steam north via Norfolk , Virginia , to Boston , Massachusetts . Voyages to England . Arriving at Boston at the end of December 1944 , " Unimak " underwent availability at the Boston Navy Yard for the entire month of January 1945 . She got underway for England on 14 February 1945 , but an engineering casualty forced her to return to Boston for a major propeller shaft alignment which lasted into March . On 7 April 1945 , " Unimak " got underway for the British Isles and proceeded , via Bahia Praia in the Azores , to Bristol , England , on the first of two voyages to England to bring back supplies and men from decommissioned U . S . Navy patrol plane squadrons in the British Isles , and was engaged in these activities when the war with Germany ended in May 1945 . On the second voyage , from 5 June 1945 to 15 June 1945 , " Unimak " transported the men and material of Patrol Bomber Squadron 103 ( VPB - 103 ) and Patrol Bonber Squadron 105 ( VPB - 105 ) from Bristol to Norfolk . Transfer to the Pacific . Departing Hampton Roads , Virginia , on 20 July 1945 , bound for the United States West Coast , " Unimak " transited the Panama Canal on 26 July 1945 and arrived at San Diego on 3 August 1945 . She got underway for Pearl Harbor , Hawaii on 12 August 1945 . She was en route when hostilities with Japan ended on 15 August 1945 bringing World War II to a close . Post - World War II U . S . Navy service . " Unimak " operated in the Hawaiian Islands until 7 September 1945 , when she headed for the Aleutian Islands . She operated in the Northern Pacific — calling at Adak , Kodiak , and Attu , Alaska , and once at Petropavlovsk - Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union — into November 1945 before heading southward to prepare for inactivation . Reporting for inactivation in December 1945 , " Unimak " was decommissioned on 26 July 1946 and placed in reserve . She remained in reserve until transferred to the Coast Guard on 14 September 1948 . United States Coast Guard service . The Navy loaned " Unimak " to the United States Coast Guard on 14 September 1948 and she was commissioned as Coast Guard cutter USCGC " Unimak " ( WAVP - 379 ) in 1949 . She was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and reclassified as WHEC - 379 in 1966 , and the Navy permanently transferred her to the Coast Guard on 26 September 1966 . During her first period in commission ( 1949 - 1975 ) , she was stationed successively at Boston , Massachusetts ; Cape May , New Jersey ; and Yorktown , Virginia , and was used to patrol ocean stations , providing weather reports and data , conducting law - enforcement and search - and - rescue operations , and providing communications assistance to ships and aircraft in the North Atlantic . She also conducted United States Coast Guard Reserve training cruises . She was redesignated WTR - 379 in 1969 . She was decommissioned in 1975 , but recommissioned in 1977 , again designated WHEC - 379 , and stationed at New Bedford , Massachusetts . She was used primarily for fishing patrol , but also conducted law enforcement and search and rescue operations , during her second period in commission . " Unimak " was decommissioned and transferred to the Navy in April 1988 , and was sunk as an artificial reef off the Virginia coast .