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Nueces APL 40

- formerly IX 503, formerly USS NUECES (APB 40) -



NUECES APL 40 is one of the Navy's non self-propelled barracks ships. Originally laid down as APB 40 at Boston Naval Shipyard, Boston, Mass., January 2, 1945; launched May 6, 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Dorothy E. Dunnell; USS NUECES (APB 40) was commissioned as self-propelled barracks ship on November 30, 1945, Lt. Leonard I. Berkowitz in command.

NUECES provided quarters for deactivation crews at Green Cove Springs, Fla. Her status changed March 1946 to inactive in commission but her service to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet continued until 1947 when she was assigned to the 6th Naval District. APB 40 decommissioned on September 30, 1955, and at the end of the decade joined the mothballed ships at Orange, Tex.

During the escalating war in Vietnam, operations to deny the Communist forces use of the waterways in the South brought her reactivation. Converted to provide a mobile operating base for river patrol squadrons or as a command ship in support of army infantry battalions, NUECES recommissioned on May 3, 1968. Before the end of the year she crossed the Pacific Ocean and was positioned at Vung Tau near the coastal access to Saigon. Into 1970, NUECES continued her duty but was again decommissioned on March 13, 1970, at Long Beach, Calif.

Subsequently laid up at San Diego, NUECES was reclassified as IX 503, lost her name, and served as messing and berthing barge at US Naval Ship Repair Facility, Sasebo, Japan, from November 1975 on. Her name was restored in 1986 and on July 3, 2001, she was again reclassified as APL 40 and relocated to Ship Repair Facility Yokosuka, Japan.

General Characteristics:Keel laid: January 2, 1945
Launched: May 6, 1945
Commissioned as USS NUECES (APB 40): November 30, 1945
Decommissioned: September 30, 1955
Recommissioned: May 3, 1968
Decommissioned: March 13, 1970
Reactivated as IX 503: November 1, 1975
Builder: Boston Naval Shipyard, Boston, Ma.
Length: 328 feet (100 meters)
Beam: 50 feet (15.24 meters)
Draft: 11.2 feet (3.4 meters)
Displacement: 2,189 tons light
Accommodations: 39 Officers, 1295 Enlisted
Homeport: Yokosuka, Japan


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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show NUECES APL 40 at Yokosuka, Japan, on August 3, 2019.



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