World War II Fulton was underway on her
shakedown cruise out of
San Diego when the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. She was ordered at once to
Panama, arriving on 9 December. During the next month, she established advanced seaplane bases in the
Gulf of Fonseca,
Nicaragua, and in the
Galapagos Islands, then returned to San Diego to prepare for Pacific duty. She tended
Pacific Fleet submarines at Pearl Harbor from 15 March to 8 July 1942, putting to sea during the
Battle of Midway. She transported many of the survivors of the sunken aircraft carrier back to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 8 June. She was at Midway until 17 October, and at
Brisbane from 9 November. There she established a submarine base and rest camp, refitted submarines between their war patrols, and acted as tender to other types of ships.
Milne Bay,
New Guinea was her station from 29 October 1943 to 17 March 1944, when she sailed for a west coast overhaul.
Fulton returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June 1944 and gave her services to submarines there for a month, then at Midway from 18 July to 8 September, and then at
Saipan until 25 April 1945. She returned to duty at Pearl Harbor from 7 May to 9 June, and then sailed for
Guam, where she refitted submarines for the last patrols of the war.
Post-war service 1946-1947 Fulton served as tender at Pearl Harbor after a west-coast overhaul from February–May 1946, then sailed for
Bikini Atoll to participate in
Operation Crossroads that summer during the
atomic weapons tests in the
Marshall Islands. She cared for the six submarines assigned to the project and acted as repair ship for other vessels in the task force. On 18 September 1946, she arrived at
Mare Island Navy Yard, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve on 3 April 1947.
1951-1960 , Connecticut (1962).
Fulton was recommissioned on 10 April 1951 and sailed three weeks later for
New London, CT, her home port for the next 40 years until she was decommissioned in 1991. Her primary assignment was as tender for
Submarine Squadron 10 (SubRon 10) at
Submarine Base New London (situated across the
Thames River in
Groton), but she occasionally relieved fellow tender at
Norfolk, Virginia, and also left New London for exercises from
Newfoundland and
Iceland to the
Caribbean. She first crossed the Atlantic in the fall of 1957 for Operation Natoflex, visiting
Rothesay,
Scotland and
Portland,
England before returning to New London. A heightening of her responsibility came on 1 April 1958, when three nuclear submarines were assigned to her squadron. In August, she sailed to
New York City for the arrival of from her historic submerged passage under the
North Pole. From August 1959-January 1960, she underwent a modernization overhaul at the
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in order to be able to service both nuclear and conventional submarines, whether at home or overseas, making her the world's first nuclear support tender. She continued to serve as flagship and tender to Submarine Squadron 10 when it became the first all nuclear submarine squadron. The
Nautilus,
Seawolf,
Skate,
Triton, and
Skipjack were among the historic and innovative submarines assigned to Submarine Squadron 10 during
Fulton's service.
1972-1991 Fulton made a five-month deployment to the
Mediterranean from July to December 1972. Her mission was to prepare for full-time use as an advance refit site for nuclear-powered
fast attack submarines. This was the first deployment of a
World War II-vintage submarine tender to the Mediterranean since World War II.
Fulton returned to New London after a shipyard overhaul in 1976 to continue supporting Atlantic Fleet Submarines. She was modernized in 1983-1984 during an extensive overhaul conducted at
Electric Boat in
Groton, Connecticut and
General Dynamics in
Quincy, Massachusetts. In January 1985, she made a four-month deployment to the Mediterranean where she provided maintenance for the
6th Fleet submarines in
La Maddalena,
Italy. The tender made cruises to
Puerto Rico in January 1986 and
Bermuda in March 1987. From 13 January-12 March 1988, she completed a Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability at Norfolk Shipbuilding Company in
Norfolk, Virginia. She returned to the State Pier in New London and continued to support Submarine Squadron 10 (SubRon 10) submarines until her decommissioning in 1991. In 1988,
Fulton was the flagship of SubRon 10, which included , , , , , , , , , and the torpedo retriever
Labrador (TWR-681). On 30 September 1991, SubRon 10 was disbanded and
Fulton was decommissioned at her berth in New London. She was the fourth oldest commissioned ship in the Navy at the time, exceeded only by the
USS Vulcan (AR-5), USS Jason AR-8, and the . ==Awards==