USS Panamint ( AGC - 13 ) USS " Panamint " ( AGC - 13 ) was a " Mount McKinley " - class amphibious force command ship named after the Panamint Range of mountains in California . 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 . " Panamint " was laid down as SS " Northern Light " ( MC hull 1354 ) on 1 September 1943 by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company , Wilmington , N . C . ; launched 9 November 1943 ; acquired by the Navy 29 February 1944 ; converted to a general communications vessel at the Todd - Hoboken Yard , Hoboken , New Jersey , N . J . ; commissioned 14 October 1944 , Capt . E . E . Woods in command . Service history . 1944 – 1945 . Following shakedown , " Panamint " got underway 22 November 1944 for Guadalcanal via the Panama Canal , Mare Island , and Pearl Harbor . On 1 March " Panamint " sailed for Cape Esperance , Guadalcanal in company with Transport Group ABLE to stage for the forthcoming invasion of Okinawa . The group proceeded to Ulithi on the 15th , and on the 27th sailed for Okinawa . " Panamint " , part of the Northern Attack Force , served as flagship of Rear Admiral Lawrence F . Reifsnider , Commander Amphibious Group 4 . Going in under plane attacks , on 1 April the transports took station in approach formation . At 08 : 00 the first assault wave passed the line of departure and landed forty minutes later . By 09 : 30 all the assault battalions were ashore . Only sporadic opposition was encountered , and progress was so rapid that by 22 April all organized resistance in the northern two thirds of the island had ceased . On 10 April Admiral Richmond K . Turner designated Commander Amphibious Group 4 , on board " Panamint " , as commander Task Force 51 , Ie Shima Attack Group . Their mission was to capture and defend Ie Shima and to establish air base facilities on the island . Six days later assault landings began on three designated beaches of this small island northwest of Okinawa . Troops of the 77th Infantry Division reached the northwest edge of the island ’ s airfield within three hours after the first waves had landed . By nightfall two - thirds of the island was secured , but enemy resistance was mounting . On the morning of 21 April , Rear Admiral Reifsnider sent the following message to Admiral Turner : " The American Flag Is Now Atop The Pinnacle of Ie Shima . " During the capture of Ie Shima and until mid - June 1945 Amphibious Group 4 retained responsibility for naval support of troop operations in northern Okinawa . For " Panamint " this was a two - and - a - half month period of nightly aerial attacks . Kamikaze planes were in evidence from before D - Day , but the first mass enemy air attack occurred on 6 April . No ships of the Northern Attack Force were hit . Other large scale attacks came on the 12th , 16th , 22nd , and 28th . On the 30th a plane crashed into Liberty ship " S . Hall Young " , 800 yards from " Panamint " , and carrying ammunition . A bomb from the plane pierced the shell plating on both sides of the ship in the vicinity of the No . 5 hold . The plane itself struck the after boom and fell into the hold , starting a fire . " Panamint " ’ s fire and rescue party boarded the " S . Hall Young " and extinguished the fire . On 6 May when a plane approached " Panamint " from the starboard beam , " Panamint " , her sister ships , and shore batteries on Ie Shima commenced firing . The plane circled to port for a suicide dive , but the anti - aircraft fire proved effective . He overshot " Panamint " , splashing 1500 yards off her port bow . On the 11th two enemy planes were sighted low over the water approaching the Ie Shima transport area on the starboard beam . The planes were following an evasive course to get through the screening vessels which had commenced firing . " Panamint " opened fire on one of the planes , which dropped a torpedo . " Panamint " put her rudder hard right at full speed and swung on the anchor to a position paralleling the course of the approaching plane and torpedo . The plane erupted into flames , passed 150 yards astern of " Panamint " , glanced off the cargo boom of Dutch ship , and splashed into the sea . The torpedo passed the stern of the ship . The second plane closed on the starboard bow , dropped a torpedo which passed to starboard and cleared " Panamint " ’ s stern by 30 feet . In the first 45 days , the ships of Amphibious Group 4 were exposed to many " Red Alerts . " Only nine days were free of enemy air raids . Throughout this ordeal " Panamint " directed the Combat Air Patrol attacks in repelling the enemy . On 15 June " Panamint " steamed to Saipan and then on to Pearl Harbor , arriving 8 July . On 12 August 1945 the ship sailed for Adak , Aleutian Islands , where she reported for duty to Commander North Pacific Force and Area . On 29 August Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher , Commander North Pacific Force and Area , hoisted his flag on " Panamint " . Two days later she left Adak with the 9th Fleet and headed west for the occupation of northern Japan . On 7 September the flagship pulled away from the anchored task force and proceeded to a rendezvous point to await the Japanese surrender ship from nearby Ōminato Naval Base . On schedule a Japanese destroyer escort bore down the Tsugaru Strait carrying emissaries to hand over northern Japan , and pilots to guide the American ships through Japanese waters . The commissioners were quickly transferred to " Panamint " . Commodore R . E . Robinson , Jr . , represented Vice Admiral Fletcher , and Rear Admiral Zensuke Kanome was the head of the Japanese delegation . On the morning of the 8th the massive naval force got underway led by a Japanese frigate through the mineswept channel and Tsugaru Strait leading to Ōminato Anchorage . " Panamint " moored off the shattered naval base that afternoon , and the following morning the formal occupation ceremony was held on her decks . Surrender had come so quickly that two weeks passed before American troops arrived to occupy the countryside . On 20 September " Panamint " returned to Adak , and proceeded to Kodiak on 2 October . " Panamint " next served as flagship for Rear Admiral Arthur Dewey Struble , Commander Minecraft Pacific Fleet . Admiral Struble transferred his flag to " Panamint " on 20 November 1945 from the minelayer " Terror " ( CM - 5 ) . Upon leaving this command she departed from Sasebo , Japan , arriving at San Francisco on 28 March 1946 . Post - War . On 1 July 1946 she covered Joint Army - Navy Task Force I ' s " Operation Crossroads " , the atomic bomb test at Bikini , where she served as floating headquarters for congressional , scientific , and U . N . observers . By directive dated January 1947 " Panamint " was placed out of commission in reserve , U . S . Pacific Reserve Fleet , and berthed at San Diego , California . " Panamint " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 July 1960 , approved for disposal on 4 November 1960 and scrapped in 1961 . " Panamint " received one battle star for World War II service .