USS Albemarle (AV-5) was one of only two Curtiss-class seaplane tenders built for the United States Navy just prior to the United States' entry into World War II. Named for Albemarle Sound on the North Carolina coast, she was the third U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. Albemarle was laid down on 12 June 1939 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, and launched on 13 July 1940, sponsored by Mrs. Beatrice C. Compton, the wife of the Honorable Lewis Compton, Assistant Secretary of the Navy. She was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 20 December 1940, with Commander Henry M. Mullinnix in command. She was transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) James River Fleet at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Placed in the custodial care of MARAD, Albemarle was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 September 1962. On 27 March 1965, the ship was reinstated on the Navy Vessel Register and received a new name and classification as USNS Corpus Christi Bay (T-ARVH-1), named for Corpus Christi Bay in the southern Texas Coastal Bend; the ship was transferred to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) on 11 January 1966. Converted at the Charleston Naval Shipyard to an Aircraft Repair Ship, Helicopter, the conversion project was nicknamed Operation Flat Top. The seaplane ramp was replaced by a superstructure topped with a helicopter landing pad. The ship was fitted out with dozens of shops and equipment necessary to repair and maintain helicopters. During the Vietnam War Corpus Christi Bay participated in several campaigns from 1966 to 1969. Last anchored off Vung Tau, the ship left for the US in late 1972, stopping at Guam and Hawaii before transiting the Panama Canal and returning to its home base at Corpus Christi, Texas, arriving in December, 1972. The ship was once again struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 December 1974. On 17 July 1975, the ship was sold to Brownsville (Texas) Steel and Salvage, Inc. for scrapping. Equipment The ship was long, compared to destroyers of the day which were about long. She had a very wide beam and drew over three fathoms when fully loaded. Her four high-pressure Babcock & Wilcox boilers turned two geared turbines that could produce a respectable 19.7 knots, faster than most auxiliaries of the day. Her cruising range was at 12 knots was sufficient to navigate halfway around the world. She