USS Estes (AGC-12)

USS Estes (AGC-12) was a Mount McKinley-class amphibious force command ship, officially named after "A mountain peak and national park in Colorado.". An alternative source of the name is "for the mountain range in Colorado near Estes Park", found at http://www.ussestes.org/ShipInfo/History.htm . However, the range near Estes Park is the Front Range; there is no mountain range named "Estes" in Colorado either..

She was designed as an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations.

Commissioning

Estes was launched on 1 November 1943 at the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, North Carolina, as Morning Star; acquired by the Navy on 22 February 1944; and commissioned on 9 October 1944, with Commander R. O. Mathews in command.

Service history

1944

On 20 November 1944, Estes arrived at Pearl Harbor from Naval Station Norfolk, and after training, broke the flag of Rear Admiral William H. P. Blandy, Commander, Amphibious Group One. She sailed from Pearl Harbor on 10 January 1945 for rehearsal landings in the Marianas, and on 16 February arrived off Iwo......
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