the New York City area on 16 May. After taking care of the Curtiss NCs and their crews, and seeing them off towards the Azores, Aroostook next steamed to England, where she rendezvoused with the NC-4, the only airplane to complete the transatlantic flight, at the end of May. The crewmen of Aroostook then disassembled the NC-4 and loaded her onto the ship for the voyage back to United States. In August and early September, Aroostook carried a cargo of naval mines and supplies to California via the Panama Canal. She spent the rest of the year on the West Coast carrying out transportation missions and also as the aviation flagship for the Pacific Fleet. Though she continued to be classified as a "minelayer", and she received the warship designation CM-3 (minelayer) in mid-1920, Aroostooks remaining active service was as an aircraft tender. Throughout the 1920s, she mainly served on the Eastern Pacific Ocean, but she made occasional voyages to the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Seaboard to take part in the annual, massive "fleet problem" exercises. Aroostook also steamed to Hawaii and back in 1925 and 1928, including on the first occasion as the support aircraft tender for a pioneering attempt to fly two patrol planes from the West Coast to Hawaii. Decommissioning and sale, 1931–1947 Taken out of commission in March 1931 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, Aroostook was laid up in reserve for the next decade. With World War II raging in Europe, and the war threatening to spread worldwide soon, she was considered for reactivation as a cargo ship, and in May 1941, she was re-designated AK-44. However, her age and her limited capabilities kept her inactive. In February 1943, Aroostook was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and then transferred to the War Shipping Administration. Regaining the name Bunker Hill, she stayed in port for the rest of the war. Although she was sold in 1947 to a firm headed by Anthony Cornero that planned to use her as a floating casino off of Malibu. The old ship was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard as a "gambling ship" on 17 September 1946. The ship was turned over to the U.S. Maritime Commission on 24 July 1947. On 17 October 1947 the ship was sold to Basalt Rock Co., Inc. for $18,000 for scrapping. Footnotes References External links USS Aroostook : Naval