USS Vestal (AR-4) was a repair ship in service with the United States Navy from 1913 to 1946. Before her conversion to a repair ship, she had served as a collier since 1909. Vestal served in both World Wars. She was damaged during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and received two battle stars for her World War II service.
Commissioning
The history of USS Vestal (AR-4) began when Erie (Fleet Collier No. 1) was authorized on 17 April 1904; but the ship was renamed Vestal in October 1905, well before her keel was laid down on 25 March 1907 at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Launched on 19 May 1908, Vestal was placed in service as a fleet collier, with a civilian crew, at her builders' yard on 4 October 1909.
Atlantic service 1909–1927
Refitting
Vestal served the fleet as a collier, operating along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies from the autumn of 1909 to the summer of 1910. After a voyage to Europe to coal ships of the Atlantic Fleet in those waters, the ship returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and was taken out of service at the Boston Navy Yard on 25 October 1912. The ship underwent nearly a year's worth of yard work and was commissioned as a fleet repair ship in 1913 under the command of Commander Edward L. Beach, Sr., USN (father of submariner Captain Edward L. Beach, Jr.).
After fitting out, Vestal departed her conversion yard on 26 October for Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she conducted her shakedown between 29 October to 10 November. After touching at Key West, Florida, for coal on 14 November, Vestal moved on to Pensacola, Florida, her base for operations as a repair ship for the Atlantic Fleet. She was attached to the Atlantic fleet and served along the east coast and in the West Indies until spring of 1914 when she was dispatched along with other ships for the occupation of the Mexican port of Vera Cruz. The auxiliary vessel provided repair services at Vera Cruz from 2 May to 20 September before she sailed for Boston, escorting the cruiser Salem to the navy yard there for overhaul.
Vestal then operated off the Virginia Capes and in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before she returned to the Boston Navy Yard on 10 June 1915, after calls at New York City and Newport, Rhode Island She took on stores and provisions at Boston and underwent repairs there before she rejoined the fleet at Narragansett Bay on 19 May 1916.
World War I
Following the U.S. entry into World War I, Vestal was deployed to Queenstown, Ireland, where she provided services for ships of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla. She stayed there for the duration of the war and beyond, finally returning in 1919. For the next six years Vestal served the Scouting Force and Battle Fleet. During the navy-wide assignment of alphanumeric hull numbers on 17 July 1920, Vestal was classified as a repair ship, AR-4.
In 1925 she underwent modification that changed her from a coal-powered ship to an oil-fired one. Soon thereafter, on 25 September, the submarine was rammed and sunk by SS City of Rome and Vestal was called to help recover the submarine. Vestal conducted her salvage operations from October to early December 1925 and again from 27 April to 5 July 1926. During the latter period, the submarine was raised from the bottom. Following the completion of recovery, Vestal was transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1927.
Pacific service 1927–1946 The Pacific Fleet was shifted to a new base at Pearl Harbor following Fleet Problem XXI in the spring of 1940. Vestal also made the move. After returning from the west coast for an overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, Vestal resumed her duties. On 6 December 1941, she was moored alongside , at berth F 7, off Ford Island, to provide services to the battleship during her scheduled period of tender upkeep between 6 and 12 December.
Pearl Harbor
On December 7 shortly before 08:00 Japanese carrier-based aircraft swept down upon Pearl Harbor. At 07:55, Vestal went to general quarters, manning every gun. At about 08:05, her gun commenced firing.
At about the same time, two bombs – intended for the more valuable battleship inboard on Battleship Row – hit the repair ship. One struck the port side, penetrated three decks, passed through a crew's space, and exploded in a storage hold, starting fires that necessitated flooding the forward magazines. The second hit the starboard side, passed through the carpenter shop and the shipfitter shop, and left an irregular hole about five feet in diameter in the bottom of the ship.
The gun jammed after three rounds, and the crew was working to clear the jam when an explosion blew Vestals gunners overboard. Thereafter, maintaining anti-aircraft fire became secondary to saving the ship.
At about 08:10, a bomb penetrated Arizonas deck near the starboard side of number 2 turret and exploded in the powder magazine below. The resultant explosion touched off adjacent main battery magazines, exploding the forward part of the battleship and literally clearing Vestals deck of her crew.
Among those blown overside was her commanding officer, Commander Cassin Young. He swam back to the ship, and countermanded an abandon ship order given by another officer by coolly saying, "Lads, we're getting this ship underway." Fortunately, the engineer officer still had the "black gang" getting up steam.
Oil from the ruptured tanks of the Arizona caught fire in the explosion, which in turn set Vestal ablaze aft and amidships. At 08:45 men forward cut her mooring lines with axes, freeing her from Arizona, and she got underway, steering by engines alone. The naval tug , whose tugmaster had served aboard Vestal just a few months before the attack, pulled Vestals bow away from the inferno engulfing Arizona and the repair ship, and the latter began to creep out of danger. In spite of slowly assuming a list to starboard and settling by the stern, she anchored in of water off McGrew's Point at 09:10.
Continued flooding caused Vestal to settle by the stern and increased the list to six and one-half degrees. At the direction of Commander Young, Vestal got underway again at 09:50, less than an hour after the Japanese attack ended. Vestal intentionally ran aground at Aiea Bay soon thereafter. Commander Young explained his order to run aground in his after-action report: "Because of the unstable condition of the ship...", Young explained in his after-action report, "...(the) ship being on fire in several places and the possibility of further attacks, it was decided to ground the ship." Commander Young was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in saving Vestal.
Despite being damaged herself Vestal participated in some of the post-attack salvage operations, sending repair parties to the overturned hull of the battleship so that welders could cut into the ship and rescue men trapped there after the battleship capsized.
In the days following the attack, Vestals men repaired their own ship because yard facilities were at a premium. Within a week of the raid Vestals crew had pumped out the oil and water that had flooded the compartments below the waterline and cleared out the damaged and gutted holds – all work that had to be completed before the rebuilding process could begin.
Tongatapu
After repairs and alterations and operations at Pearl Harbor Vestal received orders on 12 August 1942 to proceed to the South Pacific. She set sail for Tongatapu in the Tonga Islands. She arrived there two weeks later, on 29 August, less than a month after the launching of Operation Watchtower, the invasion of the Solomon Islands. Over the months that followed the Japanese would contest the Americans and their Australian and New Zealand allies with skill and tenacity.
During Vestals 60 days at Tongatapu she completed 963 repair jobs for some 58 ships and four shore activities. Included were repairs to warships such as (torpedoed by on 31 August); (damaged from grounding at Lahai Passage, Tonga Islands, on 6 September); and (torpedo damage suffered on 15 September).
Repairing USS South Dakota One of the more difficult jobs was the one performed on South Dakota. The battleship had run aground on an uncharted reef and put into Tongatapu for emergency repairs. Vestals divers commenced their work at 16:00 on 6 September and began checking the ship's seams. With only six divers working, Vestals party operated until 02:00 on 7 September and reported the damage as a series of splits extending along some of the ship's bottom. By the next morning, 8 September, Vestals skilled repairmen, together with men of the battleship's crew, managed to mend the damage sufficiently to allow the ship to return to the United States for permanent repairs.
Repairing USS Saratoga When Saratoga put into Tongatapu after being torpedoed by I-26 on 31 August, Vestals divers combined forces with to inspect the damage and later trim and brace the hole. Pumps managed to clear the water out of the flooded fire room and tons of cement were poured into the hole to patch the damaged area. Within 12 days of her arrival at Tongatapu, Saratoga was able to return to the United States.
Nouméa and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
Repairing USS Enterprise
Vestal subsequently sailed for the New Hebrides on 26 October, though a change of orders brought her to New Caledonian waters instead, and she reached Nouméa on 31 October. Her arrival could not have been more timely, as the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands had taken place just days before, from 25 to 27 October. South Dakota and , two of the most heavily damaged ships in the battle, were at Nouméa.
A bomb hit on the latter had buckled a section of the flight deck, aft, bulging it about four feet above deck level. In addition, the hit flooded the after elevator machinery room and blew out bulkheads and damaged furniture in "officer's country." Ordered to sea before the damage was completely repaired, the carrier took with her two Vestal officers and a large repair party of 75 Seabees, who continued work even when Enterprise went to battle stations. Those Vestal men were included in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to Enterprise.
Repairing USS South Dakota
South Dakota, like Enterprise, had suffered major damage. She had taken a bomb hit on one of her gun turrets, had been torn by shrapnel, and had collided with the destroyer during the battle. The destroyer had not only holed the battleship's starboard side but had left an anchor in the wardroom. Even though Vestal repair parties were busy with Enterprises urgent repairs they also went to work on the damaged South Dakota, listing her over to patch the hole on the battleship's starboard side at the waterline. Her craftsmen repaired the wardroom (removing Mahans anchor in the process), patched shrapnel holes, and put sprung hatches and damaged fire mains in order. She was back in action in just five days.
Espiritu Santo
During her time at Nouméa, Vestal completed 158 jobs on 21 ships; she departed that port on 13 November; reached Espiritu Santo three days later; and began a year's schedule of repair service. During the next 12 months, Vestal tackled some 5,603 jobs on 279 ships and 24 shore facilities. Some of the outstanding repair jobs were on ships damaged during the bitter naval engagements in the Solomons in late 1942 and early 1943. There were: , ripped by heavy caliber hits during the night battle off Savo Island on 13 November 1942; and , the latter with a torpedo hole measuring 24 by , a flooded after engine room, and two propeller shafts broken; the New Zealand light cruiser - already famous for her part in the 1939 Battle of the River Plate and the subsequent sinking of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee - which, besides shrapnel and collision damage, had taken a direct hit on her after turret; and the torpedoed and fire-damaged cargo ship .