USS Tangier (AV-8)

USS Tangier (AV-8)

The second USS Tangier (AV-8) was a cargo ship, converted to a seaplane tender in the United States Navy during World War II.

Tangier laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 51) as Sea Arrow on 18 March 1939 at Oakland, California by Moore Dry Dock Company; launched on 15 September 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Joseph R. Sheehan; renamed Tangier (AV-8) on 3 June 1940; acquired by the Navy on 8 July 1940; and commissioned in ordinary on that same day, Commander Clifton A. F. Sprague in command.

Tangier remained at Oakland for over a year, undergoing conversion to a seaplane tender. Finally, on 25 August 1941, she went into full commission and put to sea on her shakedown cruise. At the completion of shakedown training, she was assigned as tender to Patrol Wing 2 (PatWing 2), based in Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 3 November and moored abaft the former battleship Utah now serving as an anti-aircraft training ship. There, she spent the last month of peacetime caring for her complement of seaplanes.