USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6)

USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6) off Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton Washington on 28 November 1943
History
United States
Name:	USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6)
Namesake:	Oyster Bay, New York
Builder:	Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington
Laid down:	17 April 1942
Launched:	17 September 1942
Sponsored by:	Mrs. William K. Harrill
Reclassified:	AGP-6, 1 May 1943
Commissioned:	17 November 1943
Decommissioned:	26 March 1946
Struck:	12 April 1946
Reinstated:	4 January 1949
Reclassified:	AVP-28, 16 March 1949
Struck:	unknown
Fate:	Transferred to Marina Militare, 23 October 1957
History
Italy
Name:	Pietro Cavezzale (A5301)
Namesake:	Pietro Cavezzale, a Silver Medal of Military Valor recipient
Acquired:	23 October 1957
Decommissioned:	October 1993
Struck:	31 March 1994
Fate:	sold for scrapping, February 1996
General characteristics
Class and type:	Barnegat-class small seaplane tender, converted during construction into motor torpedo boat tender
Displacement:	1,766 tons (light); 2,750 tons (full load)
Length:	311 ft 8 in (95.00 m)
Beam:	41 ft 1 in (12.52 m)
Draught:	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Installed power:	6,000 horsepower (4.48 megawatts)
Propulsion:	Diesel engine, two shafts
Speed:	18.6 knots
Complement:	215 (ship's company) 367 (including aviation unit)
Sensors and processing systems:	Radar; sonar
Armament:	1 × single 5-inch (127-millimeter) 38-caliber dual-purpose gun mount 1 × quad 40-mm antiaircraft gun mount 2 × dual 40-mm antiaircraft gun mounts 4 × 20-mm antiaircraft gun mounts 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6), originally and later AVP-28, was a United States Navy motor torpedo boat tender in commission from 1943 to 1946. She saw service in World War II.

From 1957 to 1993, the former Oyster Bay served in the Italian Navy as the special forces tender Pietro Cavezzale (A5301).

Oyster Bay was laid down as a Barnegat-class small seaplane tender designated AVP-28 at Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton Washington, on 17 April 1942, and was launched on 7 September 1942, sponsored by Mrs. William K. Harrill. On 1 May 1943 she was reclassified as a motor torpedo tender and redesignated AGP–6 and, accordingly, completed to a modified design to allow her to fulfill this new role. She was commissioned on 17 November 1943, with Lieutenant Commander Walter W. Holroyd, USNR, in command.

Oyster Bay departed Seattle, Washington, on 7 December 1943 for shakedown at San Diego, California, which lasted for the remainder of 1943.

Oyster Bay got underway from San Diego on 2 January 1944, steaming to Brisbane, Australia, en route Milne Bay, New Guinea, for motor torpedo boat tender operations in support of the New Guinea campaign. She serviced two squadrons of motor torpedo boats beginning on 28 February 1944 and, on 9 March 1944, got underway escorting 15 patrol torpedo boats (PT boats) to Seeadler Harbor in the Admiralty Islands.