USS Norton Sound

USS Norton Sound (AVM-1)
History
United States
Name	Norton Sound
Namesake	Norton Sound
Builder	Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, San Pedro, California
Laid down	7 September 1942
Launched	28 November 1943
Commissioned	8 January 1945
Decommissioned	10 August 1962 11 December 1986
Reclassified	AVM-1, 8 August 1951
Stricken	26 January 1987
Fate	Disposed of by Maritime Administration exchange, 20 October 1988
General characteristics
Class and type	Currituck-class seaplane tender
Displacement	14,000 tons, full load
Length	540 ft 5 in (164.72 m)
Beam	69 ft 3 in (21.11 m)
Draft	22 ft 3 in (6.78 m)
Propulsion	steam turbines, 4 x boilers, 2 x shafts, 12,000 shp (9.0 MW)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement	1,247 as commissioned, 540 after conversion to AVM-1
Sensors and processing systems	Various, including testing of AN/SPG-59, AN/SPY-1 and AN/SPQ-9
Armament	Varied over her career, especially as a test vessel

USS Norton Sound (AV-11/AVM-1) was originally built as a Currituck-class seaplane tender by Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, San Pedro, California. She was named for Norton Sound, a large inlet in West Alaska, between the Seward Peninsula and the mouths of the Yukon, north-east of the Bering Sea.^[1]