USS Amphion ( AR - 13 ) USS " Amphion " ( AR - 13 ) was the lead ship of her class of repair ship built for the United States Navy during World War II . The second U . S . Navy vessel to be named , she was not commissioned until January 1946 , five months after the end of the war . She was decommissioned in September 1971 and transferred to the Imperial Iranian Navy as IIS " Chahbahan " . She was purchased outright by Iran in March 1977 . After the 1979 Iranian Revolution she remained in service with the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy through at least 1985 . Her fate beyond that date is not reported in secondary source s . Career . " Amphion " was laid down on 20 September 1944 at Tampa , Florida , by the Tampa Shipbuilding Company and launched on 15 May 1945 ; sponsored by Mrs . Howard D . Orem , the wife of Captain Howard D . Orem , the aide and flag secretary to Admiral Ernest J . King ; and commissioned at her builder ' s yard on 30 January 1946 , Captain Noble W . Abrahams in command . Designed and built to carry out a primary mission of making emergency and routine repairs to ships of the fleet during periods of technical availability , " Amphion " was equipped with a wide variety of repair shops : shipfitter , carpentry , pipe and copper , sheet metal , welding , canvas , watch , optical , foundry — in short , facilities that employed skilled artificers capable of repairing hardware from precision watches to heavy machinery and hulls . " These shops are limited in what they can do , " boasts an early history of " Amphion " , " only by the size of their equipment . " Her modern engineering plant could generate enough electricity for not only herself but ships moored alongside undergoing repairs . Her distilling plant could produce water for herself and for other vessels . Following shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay area and availability at her builder ' s yard , " Amphion " joined the Atlantic Fleet ' s service force and was homeported at Norfolk , Virginia Operating at and out of Norfolk and Newport , Rhode Island , for the first decade of her service , she provided her repair services principally on the east coast of the United States . She also deployed to Bermuda on occasion , as well as to bases in Newfoundland and the Caribbean , carrying out port visits to such places as Ciudad Trujillo , the Dominican Republic ; San Juan , Puerto Rico ; and St . Thomas , Virgin Islands . During the summers of 1957 and 1958 " Amphion " deployed to the Mediterranean , servicing ships of the 6th Fleet and visiting ports in France , Greece , Crete , Sicily , and the Balearic Islands . Through the 1960s she operated along the Atlantic coast of the United States . In 1965 , she supported naval contingency operations off the Dominican Republic ; and , in 1968 , she visited ports in Scotland and England . " Amphion " departed Norfolk for the last time under the stars and stripes on 18 August 1971 . After visiting Recife , Brazil 29 to 31 August , and Mombasa , Kenya 18 to 22 September , the repair ship reached her destination , Bandar Abbas , Iran , on 28 September . Decommissioned on 2 October 1971 , " Amphion " was turned over to the Imperial Iranian Navy on that day . Renamed IIS " Chah Bahar " to honor the Iranian port of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman , the ship was first commanded in Iranian service by Lieutenant Commander Arabshahi and based at Bandar Abbas . Purchased outright by Iran on 1 March 1977 , " Amphion " s name was stricken from the U . S . Naval Vessel Register on the same date . " Chah Bahar " remained in service with the Iranian Navy into 1985 .