The decommissioning of the Navy’s oldest active commissioned vessel, the repair ship Jason (AR-8) in June, will mark the end of 71 years of repair ships (ARs) in the U.S. Navy. New repair ships appeared in Navy planning documents in the early 1990s but were dropped from the fiscal year 1995 program, when new requirements reduced the need for Navy tenders from 15 to 4 by the end of the decade.
The Jason (top), the Navy’s first and only heavy hull repair ship, was commissioned 19 June 1944 as ARH-1, a designation revised to AR-8 in September 1957. The Jason, seen here in camouflage in October 1944, was the last of the four-ship Vulcan (AR-5) class and served her entire 51-years as an active unit of the Pacific Fleet.
The Jason’s sister, the Hector (AR-7), was in continuous commission from 7 February 1944 until 3 March 1987, when placed in reserve. Leased to Pakistan on 20 April 1989 and renamed the Moawan, the ship was returned to U.S. custody at Singapore in October 1994 and sold for scrap. At the end of World War II, the four ships also had four twin 40-mm antiaircraft gun mounts and up to 24 single 20-mm mounts. The Hector is seen here in 1975 after removal of her four enclosed 5-inch 38-caliber gunmounts.
The Ajax (AR-6) (third from top) was commissioned on 30 October 1943, placed in reserve in December 1986, and stricken from the Navy List in May 1989 for target service. In their later years, the ships displaced 16,245 tons full load but could still make 19 knots on their steam turbine engines. Their half-century age, steam plants, and large crew requirement of more than 1,000 officers and enlisted personnel helped doom them.
The Vulcan (AR-5), seen here a year after commissioning in June 1941, was active until 27 September 1991 and was finally stricken from the Navy List on 28 July 1992. The only ship of the class built by New York Shipbuilding, at Camden, New Jersey (the others were all built by Todd at Los Angeles), the Vulcan’s keel was laid the day after Christmas in 1939 as part of the naval tender program that also produced the similar-looking Dixie (AS-14)- class destroyer tenders and the Fulton (AS-1 l)-class submarine tenders. The Vulcan was the only ship of her class to have a radar-equipped Mk 37 fire-control system for the 5-inch guns.