USS Curtiss (AV-4) was the first purpose-built seaplane tender constructed for the United States Navy. She was named for Glenn Curtiss, an American naval aviation pioneer that designed the Curtiss NC-4, the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Construction Curtiss was laid down on 25 March 1938, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, of Camden, New Jersey. The ship was launched on 20 April 1940, sponsored by Mrs H. S. Wheeler, and commissioned on 15 November 1940. Design The Curtiss class were the first seaplane tenders built from the keel up for the US Navy, the previous tenders had been converted from cargo ships. They were designed to provide command facilities for forward operating long-range patrol seaplane squadrons. To accomplish this, they were heavily armed with four /38 caliber dual-purpose guns, and contained repair and maintenance facilities, along with supplies for operating in forward areas for many months. The ships had a large seaplane deck located at the stern with the maintenance shops located in the superstructure just forward of it. They were built with three large cranes, one located at the starboard extreme of the stern, the second was at the aft of the superstructure on the port side, with the remaining crane located midship on the starboard side. The starboard crane at midship was removed from both ships during WWII and replaced with a Oerlikon cannon gun tub. Two of the 5-in guns were staggered on opposite sides of the rear superstructure, with the remaining two in a superfiring configuration at the bow of the ships. Designed to displace , they were in length, with a beam of , and a draft of . They produced from four Babcock & Wilcox boilers turning a pair of geared turbines and shafts, and were capable of a speed of . Along with their 5-in guns, they were armed with three quad Bofors anti-aircraft (AA) guns, and two twin 40-mm AA guns. During WWII both forward 5-in guns in were enclosed, while only the front forward 5-in gun in Curtiss was enclosed. Two dual 40-mm and 12 20-mm AA guns were also added. Service history World War II Curtiss operated out of Norfolk, Virginia, and in the Caribbean for training and in fleet exercises through the spring of 1941. She was one of 14 ships to receive the early RCA CXAM-1 radar. On 26 May, she got underway for