USS Vestal (AR-4)

USS Vestal (AR-4) in the 1920s
History
United States
Name:	USS Vestal
Laid down:	25 March 1907
Launched:	19 May 1908
In service:	4 October 1909
Out of service:	25 October 1912
Commissioned:	3 September 1913
Decommissioned:	14 August 1946
Struck:	25 September 1946
Fate:	Scrapped 28 July 1950
General characteristics
Displacement:	12,585 tons
Length:	465 ft 9 in (141.96 m)
Beam:	60 ft (18.3 m)
Draft:	26 ft 0 in (7.92 m) (mean)
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h)

USS Vestal (AR-4) was a repair ship in service with the United States Navy from 1913 to 1946. Before her conversion to a repair ship, she had served as a collier since 1909. The Vestal served in both World Wars. She was damaged during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and received two battle stars for her World War II service.

The history of USS Vestal (AR-4) began when Erie (Fleet Collier No. 1) was authorized on 17 April 1904; but the ship was renamed Vestal in October 1905, well before her keel was laid down on 25 March 1907 at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. Launched on 19 May 1908, Vestal was placed in service as a fleet collier, with a civilian crew, at her builders' yard on 4 October 1909.

Vestal served the fleet as a collier, operating along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies from the autumn of 1909 to the summer of 1910. After a voyage to Europe to coal ships of the Atlantic Fleet in those waters, the ship returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and was taken out of service at the Boston Navy Yard on 25 October 1912. The ship underwent nearly a year's worth of yard work and was commissioned as a fleet repair ship in 1913 under the command of Commander Edward L. Beach, Sr., USN (father of submariner Captain Edward L. Beach, Jr.).

After fitting out, Vestal departed her conversion yard on 26 October for Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she conducted her shakedown between 29 October to 10 November. After touching at Key West, Florida, for coal on 14 November, Vestal moved on to Pensacola, Florida, her base for operations as a repair ship for the Atlantic Fleet. She was attached to the Atlantic fleet and served along the east coast and in the West Indies until spring of 1914 when she was dispatched along with other ships for the occupation of the Mexican port of Vera Cruz. The auxiliary vessel provided repair services at Vera Cruz from 2 May to 20 September before she sailed for Boston, escorting the cruiser Salem to the navy yard there for . As of December 1914, Commander U.T. Holmes was the commanding officer and Lieutenant Commander L.J. Connelly performed as executive officer, Lieutenants E.G. Oberlin and F.M. Perkins serving as staff officers.