The second ship in the United States Navy named "Argonne"...for the wooded region in northeastern France near the border of Belgium which consists of the territory between the Aisne and the Meuse Rivers and was the scene of an Allied offensive in the First World War during the autumn of 1918 in which American troops played a leading role in that drive and caused Germany to capitulate...was originally completed in 1920 under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract by the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at Hog Island, Pennsylvania (on the site of what is now the Philadelphia International Airport). On 3 November 1921, Congress authorized the War Department to transfer the ship to the United States Navy.

Accepted preliminarily by the Navy on that date, the vessel was commissioned as USS Argonne on 8 November 1921 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Lieutenant Commander Theodore H. Winters in command. The ship was designated a unit of the Argonne class. On 16 November 1921, the ship was classified as an "AP" (Transport) and assigned Hull Number "4."

When commissioned, the transport-type vessel was 448 feet in length overall, had an extreme beam of 58 feet 3 inches, and had a mean draft of 18 feet 7 inches when at her standard displacement of 8,400 tons. She drew 23 feet 9 inches at her normal tonnage of 11,100 tons and had a mean draft of 24 feet at her full load displacement of 11,400 tons. Ship's company consisted of 398 officers and enlisted men. Armament included four 5-inch/51 caliber, four 3-inch/50 caliber dual-purpose, and two 6-pounder guns. Stowage was provided for 1,568 tons of fuel; which fed the fires under boilers built by the Boiler Division of the Babcock and Wilcox Company at Barberton, Ohio; which provided steam to the geared turbines built by the General Electric Company at Schenectady, New York; which could develop 6,000 shaft horsepower on two propeller shafts; which could drive the ship at 15.5 knots at speed. Eight knots was her economical speed.

Departing the City of Brotherly Love on 24 November 1921 with military and civilian passengers, as well as a senatorial party, USS Argonne's maiden voyage and shakedown took the ship to Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands; Ponce, Puerto Rico; and Santo Domingo City in the Dominican Republic...before she put into Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 22 December 1921. Subsequently returning to Philadelphia for post-shakedown availability, USS Argonne (AP-4) proceeded to the Panama Canal, Panama Canal Zone; via Charleston, South Carolina; and, after a stop at the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California; continued across the Pacific Ocean to Cavite in the Philippine Islands...on her first voyage to that part of the globe.

On 7 April 1922, Commander (later Fleet Admiral) Chester W. Nimitz, along with his wife and three children, embarked on board USS Argonne at Pearl Harbor in the Territory of Hawaii...for passage to the east coast of the United States. Commander Nimitz was on his way to Newport, Rhode Island, to study at the Naval War College. The ship proceeded via the Mare Island Navy Yard, where she underwent an overhaul period, the Panama Canal, Santo Domingo, and Hampton Roads ... bringing her voyage to an end on 21 June 1922.

Over the next two years, USS Argonne operated with the Naval Transportation Service on the through service between New York and Manila in the Philippines. She and transport USS Chaumont (AP-5) provided this important service to the fleet. During this time, the transport ranged from San Francisco, California, to Guam and into the Yellow Sea ... voyaging as far as Chefoo, China.

Selected for conversion to a submarine tender and reclassified "AS-10" (Submarine Tender-10) on 1 July 1924, USS Argonne (AS-10) was transferred to Navy ownership under terms of the executive order dated 6 August 1924...and arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 2 September 1924 with Commander W. Smith as the Commanding officer.

From September of 1924 through March of 1926, USS Argonne lay at the Mare Island Navy Yard in reduced commission, undergoing her transformation from transport to submarine tender. Major alterations to the ship included the installation of a turbo-generator plant, a compressed-air plant, a machine shop, and a low-pressure distilling plant. Also, accommodations were provided for the crew of 32 officers and 312 enlisted men.

Placed in full commission on 25 March 1926, USS Argonne (AS-10) was assigned to the newly formed Submarine Division (SubDiv) 20, which consisted, at that time, of the "V-boats:"

USS V-1 (SS-163)...later USS Barracuda,

USS V-2 (SS-164)...later USS Bass, and

USS V-3 (SS-165)...later USS Bonita.

USS Argonne sailed on 19 May 1926 to take up her duties. From 19 May to 5 June, the submarine tender operated from the west coast California ports of San Francisco, San Pedro, and San Diego...before she sailed to transit the Panama Canal for operations in the Atlantic.

Owing to disorders in Nicaragua, and fears that excesses of violence from the feuding factions might endanger American lives and property, expeditionary forces of Marines were sent to reinforce the Bluejackets and Marines already landed from ships of the Special Service Squadron. USS Argonne participated in one of the early lifts, transporting the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment--which had been encamped at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, undergoing six months of training--from Guantanamo Bay to Bluefields, Nicaragua...between 7 and 10 January of 1927.

Maintaining the necessary neutral zones on the east coast for eight days, the battalion left one company at Rama before proceeding on, in USS Argonne, through the Panama Canal, to the port of Corinto, on the west coast of Nicaragua. There, she disembarked the rest of the battalion on 24 January to maintain the neutral zones between that port and the capital city of Managua...before returning thence into the Caribbean to resume tending operations with Submarine Division 20.

During March of 1927, USS Argonne provided tender services to ships engaged in Fleet Problem VII, in a large-scale exercise that pitted the combined Battle Fleet, Base Force, and fleet submarines against the combined Scouting Fleet, Control Force, and Train Squadron 1. The submarine tender rejoined the Special Service Squadron at the end of that month, however, to resume her transportation duties to Nicaraguan ports.

On 1 July 1927, USS Argonne became part of the Control Force, with which she carried out her previous duties with the Special Service Squadron, until being transferred, with Submarine Division 20, to the Battle Fleet, on 19 November 1927.

USS Argonne operated with the fleet on the Pacific coast ... principally at San Diego, San Pedro, or at the Mare Island Navy Yard ... until she sailed for Hawaiian waters on 18 April 1928, to take part in Fleet Problem VIII, an exercise that pitted light cruisers and a detachment of ships from Pearl Harbor ("Orange") against the Battle Fleet and the Train (the support vessels) ("Blue"). Reaching Pearl Harbor on the 28th, she then based at Lahaina, and carried out tactical exercises with the fleet, ultimately returning to the Mare Island Navy Yard for her annual overhaul on 29 June 1928.

Resuming her active service with the Battle Fleet in the San Diego-San Pedro area from 18 August 1928, she operated there until 15 January 1929...when she sailed for Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone, to take part in Fleet Problem IX, with all available units of the Battle Fleet and Train Squadron 2--these in the main opposed by the Scouting Fleet and the Control Force, and the defense forces of the 15th Naval District and Army units.

Arriving at Balboa on 29 January 1929, the assembled fleet conducted its concentration based on Panama Bay...before setting course back to San Diego on 11 March, and ultimately arriving back in their usual operating areas on the 22nd of March 1929.

Over the next eleven months, USS Argonne provided support services at San Diego with SubDiv 11 and SubDiv 20, as the ships conducted speed and endurance tests, as well as torpedo and sound exercises. During this period, on 15 June 1929, Captain Chester W. Nimitz, who had been a passenger on board the ship seven years before, became her commanding officer. His concurrent billet was that of Commander, SubDiv 20...with his burgee command pennant in USS Argonne.

After overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard, USS Argonne tended SubDiv 11 and SubDiv 20 at San Diego from 11 December 1929 to 15 February 1930 before sailing for Panama on the latter date in company with Destroyer Squadrons, Battle Fleet, for the annual fleet concentration and the year's culmination of training, Fleet Problem X and XI. Each force was augmented to match them more evenly, pitting the Scouting Fleet against the Battle Fleet.

Following the exercises in the Caribbean, USS Argonne accompanied the fleet as it moved up to New York, arriving there on 7 May 1930.

She operated with the fleet at New York, Newport, and Hampton Roads, until 26 May, when she then set course for Panama and back to San Diego, arriving at the latter port on 19 June. She continued her submarine tender operations from there until 1 December 1930. During that time, the ship was transferred to the Control Force, Battle Fleet, on 6 November, on which date she was also transferred from SubDiv 20. Captain Nimitz shifted his burgee command pennant to USS Holland (AS-3) on 5 November, that ship becoming flagship for SubDiv 20.

USS Argonne accompanied SubDiv 11 and SubDiv 19 from San Diego on 1 December 1930, and engaged in maneuvers en route to Pearl Harbor, before she returned immediately to San Diego two days before Christmas...with SubDiv 9 and SubDiv 14.

On 6 January 1931, USS Argonne became flagship for Commander, Fleet Base Force, and steamed from San Pedro, that day, to take part in Fleet Problem XII--an evolution opposing the Battle Fleet to the Scouting Fleet, the latter augmented by the rigid airship USS Los Angeles (ZR-3). Returning to San Pedro on 4 April, she then conducted operations off the west coast of the United States, fleet and tactical maneuvers, until she departed San Pedro with the Battle Force, on 23 January 1932, for the waters of the Territory of Hawaii.

At Pearl Harbor and Lahaina Roads, USS Argonne took part in exercises and provided tender support for the fleet as it carried out Fleet Problem XIII between the west coast of the United States and the Hawaiian Islands; with the Battle Force once more set against the Scouting Force. Returning to San Pedro on 21 March 1932, she spent the next eleven months providing tender support services and operated with the fleet at San Pedro, San Francisco, and San Pablo, until 8 March 1933.

USS Argonne sailed from San Pedro on 8 March 1933, one day after Commander Harry A. Badt relieved Commander C. R. Hyatt as USS Argonne's commanding officer, and as commanding officer of the Aleutian Islands Surveying Expedition. Reaching the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington State, on 13 March, USS Argonne was drydocked, received stores and equipment, fuel oil and gasoline, and ultimately sailed for Dutch Harbor on 6 April. Proceeding thence to Bay of Islands, Adak, the ship surveyed those waters between 10 and 28 April...before the submarine tender proceeded back to Dutch Harbor with USS Swallow (AM-4) (Minesweeper-4) in tow.

USS Argonne remained at Dutch Harbor from 1 to 18 May 1933 ... contacting USS Patoka (AO-9) (Oiler-9) at that port for fuel oil and provisions...but also awaiting better weather in which to conduct her surveys. Finally departing Dutch Harbor on 18 May 1933, the ship returned to the survey area--the waters off Adak in the western Aleutians--on the 20th, remaining in the area for eight days before returning to Dutch Harbor for fuel oil and gasoline. She completed her survey work off Adak from 3 to 16 August before she sailed for the Mare Island Navy Yard, for an overhaul, on 25 August 1933.

USS Argonne, during her time in northern waters, also assisted the Bering Sea Aerological Expedition, with weather surveys and analyses necessary for radio stations in Washington and Alaska.

Remaining as flagship for the Base Force, USS Argonne provided tender services at San Pedro from 4 October 1933 to 9 April 1934. The submarine tender then transited south with the fleet, and supported its operations in Fleet Problem XV, the big war games which again pitted the Battle Force against an augmented Scouting Force. In the course of her operations, the ship operated at Balboa, Colon, Culebra, Ponce, Gonaives, and Guantanamo Bay. She then steamed north with the fleet as it called at New York City, arriving on 2 June 1934...to be reviewed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The ship subsequently provided tender services out of the United States Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, Connecticut...and Newport...before she proceeded to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to participate in the withdrawal of the 1st Marine Brigade on 15 August 1934. "Impressive ceremonies on shore amidst most friendly feelings displayed by the populace" accompanied the departure of the Marines, whose duties as peacekeepers had been taken over by the fully Haitianized Garde d'Haiti. Other ships involved in the lift included USS Woodcock (AM-14) (Minesweeper-14), USS Bridge (AF-1) (Store Ship-1), and USAT (United States Army Transport) Chateau Thierry.

Following leave and liberty at Hampton Roads and at New Orleans, USS Argonne joined the fleet, transited the Panama Canal, and ultimately arrived at San Pedro on 9 November 1934. As Base Force flagship, she provided tender and repair services for minesweepers, tugs, and harbor craft...while maintaining the only major photographic laboratory for photo-triangulation of fleet gunnery exercises. Over the next seven years, she operated principally out of San Pedro, but followed the fleet to the waters of the Territory of Hawaii, or to Panama, to carry out her vital support duties.

On 25 July 1940, The classification of USS Argonne was changed from "submarine tender" (AS) to "auxiliary, miscellaneous" (AG), and she was given Hull Number "31." Eventually, with the movement of the Fleet to Hawaiian waters over the winter of 1939 and the spring of 1940, commencing with the establishment of the Hawaiian Detachment in October of 1939 and the permanent retention of the Fleet in Hawaiian waters upon the conclusion of Fleet Problem XXI in April of 1940, the needs for auxiliaries such as USS Argonne (AG-31) resulted in a change of scene for that ship. During August of 1941, the ship was shifted from San Pedro to Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands.

On the morning of 7 December 1941, USS Argonne--flagship for Rear Admiral William L. Calhoun, Commander, Base Force, United States Pacific Fleet--lay alongside 1010 Dock, when aircraft from six Japanese aircraft carriers a couple of hundred miles northwest of the Hawaiian Islands, and Japanese midget submarines, struck the United States Pacific Fleet as it lay at Pearl Harbor, and neutralized surrounding air and military installations. The ship manned her antiaircraft battery--3-inch guns and .50-caliber machine guns--and commenced fire about 0758...shortly after the raid began.

USS Argonne's crew, wrote Commander F. W. O'Connor, the ship's commanding officer, "performed their duties in accordance with the best traditions of the service," helping to get wounded men from damaged ships, recovering bodies from the water, and "assisting with repair facilities to full capacity." Early in the raid, Corporal Alfred Schlag, United States Marine Corps, from the ship's Marine detachment, manning a .50-caliber machine gun, claimed shooting down an enemy plane as it flew over 1010 Dock and turned toward Ford Island.

Interestingly enough, a member of USS Argonne's crew was actually attacked before his ship was. Motor Machinist's Mate Second Class M. F. Poston was taking flying lessons early that Sunday morning.

Returning from Haleiwa to the KT Flying Service field, flying a light training plane, Poston and Bob Tice, the latter the owner of the flying service (who was flying an accompanying plane) were both attacked by Japanese planes which shot them down. The one attacking Poston's light sport plane shot away the propeller and engine, forcing the Bluejacket to take to his parachute.

Needless to say, following the Japanese attacks, a state of war existed between the United States and the Empire of Japan.

On the evening of 7 December 1941, six fighter aircraft from USS Enterprise (CV-6) (Aircraft Carrier-6), sent to land at the Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor after accompanying a strike group looking for the carriers from which the Japanese raid had been launched, arrived over Pearl Harbor. Tragically, before the planes' friendly character could be established, understandably jittery gunners shot down four of the six planes...and three of the pilots were killed. One .50-caliber bullet fired from the direction of Ford Island penetrated USS Argonne's port side, killing Seaman Second Class Pallas F. Brown and wounding Seaman First Class Leonard A. Price. In a bitter irony, both men had survived the loss of their ship, USS Utah (AG-16), earlier that morning.

USS Argonne (AG-31) remained at Pearl Harbor into the spring of 1942, serving as flagship for the Base Force until Rear Admiral Calhoun moved his flag ashore...to a headquarters at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. That spring, United States Army troopship "President Taylor," while on a voyage to Canton Island, ran aground there. After loading salvage equipment, light trucks, medical supplies, and ammunition, USS Argonne stood out of Pearl Harbor on 6 April 1942 for Canton Island, escorted by USS Breese (DM-18) (Destroyer Minelayer-18), and arrived at her destination on 12 April. She soon sent a salvage party and equipment to attempt salvage of the grounded troopship.

Accompanied by USS Breese and USS Navajo (AT-64) (Ocean Tug-64), USS Argonne cleared Canton Island on 5 May for Pearl Harbor...and arrived there on the 11th. She remained there until 10 July, when, with general cargo on board, she sailed on her second voyage to Canton Island, accompanied this time by USS Southard (DMS-10) (Destroyer Minesweeper-10) and USS Hovey (DMS-11), and arrived at her destination on the 16th, unloading cargo the same day. Departing on the 17th, USS Argonne put into Suva Harbor, Fiji Islands, on the 21st, to unload cargo, and then, two days later, set course for Noumea, New Caledonia, in company with USS Hovey, arriving on 27 July 1942.

On the morning of 1 August 1942, Vice admiral Robert Lee Ghormley broke his flag on board USS Argonne, having shifted his headquarters from Auckland, New Zealand, as Commander South Pacific Force and South Pacific Area. Operation "Watchtower," the invasion of Guadalcanal, began six days later, on 7 August. The direction of the course of the operation, however, appeared to require an infusion of new blood and a more aggressive commander. This soon came, in the form of Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Junior, who arrived at Noumea on 18 October 1942, and was informed, upon arrival, that he was to relieve Vice Admiral Ghormley. Vice Admiral Halsey assumed command on board USS Argonne the same day. Two days later, too early in this billet to journey to Guadalcanal to get a personal look at the situation there, Halsey convened a conference on board USS Argonne at Noumea. Among those present were Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner, commanding the Amphibious Forces, Pacific, and Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, commanding the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal.

Also present were Lieutenant General Thomas Holcomb, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, who by happenstance was in Noumea on an inspection tour of the area, and Army Major General Alexander M. Patch and Army Major General Millard F. Harmon. After a lengthy discussion of the situation on Guadalcanal, Halsey asked those present if the Americans should evacuate or hold. When told by Vandegrift that he would hold--if he got more support--Halsey told the 1^st Marine Division's commander, "All right. Go on back. I'll promise you everything I've got." Guadalcanal would be held.

Vice Admiral Halsey exercised command of the theater from USS Argonne until he shifted his flag ashore...the ship proving "hopelessly inadequate" for the increase in the number of people required on the staff. USS Argonne was not overcrowded...but possessed no air-conditioning system.

USS Argonne remained in Noumea until 16 June 1943, when she sailed for Auckland, New Zealand...arriving at that port on 21 June.

Then the ship proceeded, on 27 July, for Espiritu Santo, in the New Hebrides, and arrived there, accompanied by HMNZS (His Majesty's New Zealand Ship) Inchkieth, on 11 August. After embarking men from Carrier Aircraft Service Unit (CASU) 14, USS Argonne sailed for the Solomons the same day (11 August), reaching Purvis Bay, off Florida Island, on the 13th. While moored at Purvis Bay, the ship conducted repairs to USS Selfridge (DD-357) (Destroyer-357), which had been damaged in an engagement with Japanese destroyers off Vella La Vella on the night of 6 October 1943.

Sailing from Purvis Bay on 1 November 1943, in company with merchantman SS Coutant and escorted by corvette HMNZS Kiwi, USS Argonne arrived at Tillotson Cove, Russell Islands, the same day. The ship remained in the Russells, carrying out repair and salvage work, until 27 April 1944 ... when she stood out for Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Assigned to Service Squadron (ServRon) 10, USS Argonne provided vital service to the fleet at Majuro until 21 August ... when she sailed for Manus in the Admiralty Islands...a base for the operation to secure the Western Caroline Islands. On board USS Argonne was Captain S. B. Ogden, designated as Representative "A" of Commander, ServRon 10, who established his mobile base at Seeadler Harbor upon arrival at Manus on 27 August. From on board USS Argonne, Captain Ogden administered the activities of the ServRon 10 detachment as it rendered key logistics support.

At 0850, local time, on 10 November 1944, USS Argonne lay moored to a buoy in Berth 14, Seeadler Harbor, when USS Mount Hood (AE-11) (Ammunition Ship-11) blew up, 1,100 yards away. "At the time of the explosion," wrote USS Argonne's captain, Commander T. H. Escott, "I was standing outside my cabin...in conversation with the executive officer. By the time we had recovered our stance from the force of the explosion, and faced outboard, the area in the vicinity of Berth 380 (where USS Mount Hood had lay moored) was completely shrouded in a pall of dense black smoke. It was not possible to see anything worth reporting. A second or so thereafter, fragments of steel and shrapnel began falling on and around this ship."

Some 221 pieces of debris, ranging in size from one to 150 pounds, were recovered on board, totalling 1,300 pounds. Several other pieces caromed off USS Argonne's port side into the water alongside, and others landed on YF-681 (Freight Lighter-681) and YO-77 (Oil Barge -77), the latter alongside delivering fuel oil at the time. USS Mindanao (ARG-3) (Internal Combustion Engine Repair Ship-3), suffered heavily, moored in a berth between the disintegrating ammunition ship and USS Argonne. Riddled with shrapnel, USS Mindanao suffered 23 killed and 174 wounded in the explosion. USS Argonne suffered casualties, too, as well as the destruction of a 12-inch searchlight, five transmitting antennas broken away, and steam, fresh-water, and salt-water lines ruptured...as well as extensive damage from concussion.

After repairs and a resumption of work at Manus, USS Argonne sailed for Kossol Passage, in the Palaus, arriving there on 15 December 1944. While anchored in Berth 74, Kossol Roads, the ship again suffered damage at the hands of friendly ships. YMS-275 (Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper-275) lay alongside to the port side...aft. YMS-38 and SC-702 (Submarine Chaser, 110 feet long-702) were moored to the port side, forward. An LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel), attempting to tie up alongside the submarine chaser, accidentally fouled its ramp in the depth charge rack of SC-702, wrenching loose a 300-pound depth charge. The explosion of the sinking depth charge lifted USS Argonne bodily "several inches" and jarred two additional depth charges loose from SC-702's depth charge track-- which, fortunately, did not explode. Damage to USS Argonne was confined mostly to the forward portion of the ship, in the print shop, radio-repair shop, and galleys and pantries...as loose gear came crashing to the deck. After again repairing her own damage, the ship resumed her important service to the fleet, and remained in the Palaus until she sailed for the Philippines on 11 February 1945 to take up support operations for the Okinawa campaign...basing at Leyte.

Arriving at her new base of operations on 15 February 1945, USS Argonne operated out of Leyte into June. She weighed anchor on the 14th of that month and sailed for the Marshall Islands on that date.

USS Argonne remained in the Western Pacific Ocean areas through the end of hostilities with Japan in August of 1945, and the formal surrender by the Empire of Japan on 2 September 1945 on board battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay, and briefly served with the occupation forces in Japanese waters before returning to the United States.

Ultimately returning to the United States after a brief stint with the Naval Transportation Service on "Magic Carpet" (the effort that brought the servicemen home from the war zones throughout the world) service after the termination of the Second World War, USS Argonne (AG-31) was decommissioned at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 15 July 1946.

Deemed not essential to the United States Navy, the ship was transferred to the United States Maritime Commission on 31 July 1946.

The former transport, submarine tender, and miscellaneous auxiliary-type ship was struck from the Navy List on 28 August 1946.

On 14 August 1950, the ship was sold to the Boston Metals Corporation ... and was broken up for scrap the following year.

USS Argonne (AG-31) was awarded one battle star for her service at Pearl Harbor during the Second World War.