Blog

I am reaching out to all Veterans, no matter what rank or rate. Those Veterans that served on any of the Repair Tenders on active duty for your comments. As of 1997 the Molders and Patternmakers ratings were discontinued, and are no longer recognized in the active Navy. Sadly even on  this site they are not recognized. Those same jobs no longer exist in the civilian Naval Shipyards as well. If any of the  Veterans out there had your rates discontinued I would like to hear from you. I would like to know  your comments about creating a Repair Tender Museum. Included would be exhibits showing the History and the importance our jobs were for the Fleet when Tenders were utilized. The Tender Services served the Fleet for over 100 years. Thru the Navy's history they were the backbone of the United States Navy. Keeping  ships like Subs, Destroyers, and other Fast Attack Craft. Sometimes even Carriers repaired and maintained. In foreign ports they created a forward floating base so that they were Battle Ready in the front lines around the globe. A lot of those overseas duty stations no longer exist because of the Tenders Demise. In 1982 the USS Sperry AS-12 was decommissioned and She was laid up on hold for a possible Museum Ship. In 2011 She was sold for scrap! There are as of 2017  only two left in service, The USS Emory S Land AS-39 and The USS Frank Cable AS-40. All the other Support Ships have been scraped. Those existing Ships are outdated and slow (Approximately 18 knots).We do need newer modernized Tenders to continue Servicing our Fleet. to bring back those forward bases that we no longer use, but that is a different story all together. We have today Battleship Museums, Submarine Museums, Destroyer Museums, and  Aircraft Carrier Museums. If not for our Repair Tenders when they were in service those floating museums may not have survived long enough to be Museums. I feel humbled that I was allowed the opportunity to learn a time honored trade in the Navy. We need to preserve our long history and heritage  as Specialized Sailors. Future generations will be able to witness the Pride, Honor, and Integrity, that we had. But most of all the Importance and Necessity of our jobs we did for the Navy in the past. Some of those jobs need to continue now and into the future to keep our Navy Strong and Ready. Repair Tenders were the floating shipyards for the Active Fleet. Providing maintenance, service and a Home Port wherever they were needed around the globe. It is only fitting that a museum, whether in a land facility or on board a ship should be assembled to preserve our History and Contributions that Navy Tenders gave to our Navy. There's an old saying, We Would Be Dead In The Water Without Them. I  encourage all of you Veterans to comment back on what you think. If you have any suggestions about how we can go forward on getting this started, Please contact me. Or if you just want to make a comment, That's ok too. As soon as more info surfaces about this subject, I will post it when I get it.       Thanks