World War II

Williamsburg departed Halifax, on 8 December, bound for Iceland; via Hvalfjörður; and reached Reykjavík, later in December 1941. She arrived when the newly established Naval Operating Base (NOB), Iceland, encountered difficulties. Rear Admiral James L. Kauffman, the first commandant of NOB Iceland, had arrived in Reykjavík in the battleship Arkansas shortly after the United States entered the war. He found that no quarters existed ashore for himself or his staff. Moreover, while tentative arrangements had been made to assign a station ship to Reykjavík, the congestion of shipping there and the shortage of space made a permanently pier-moored ship impossible. Therefore, it was necessary to have a ship that could be anchored clear of the docks. The problem was solved when Admiral Kauffman transferred his flag from Arkansas to Williamsburg at Hvalfjörður on 23 December. Since the Army's Port Authority in Iceland was also in need of headquarters at that time, its commanding officer and his staff were also accommodated in Williamsburg.

Rear Admiral Kauffman flew his flag in Williamsburg in the spring of 1942. By then, the ship had been moored alongside the main quay at Reykjavík. She provided Kauffman with a headquarters and served as quarters for the communications personnel and the admiral's staff. When Camp Knox – the naval facility on Iceland – was completed in mid-May, Kauffman hauled down his flag and moved ashore to release Williamsburg for other duties.

The gunboat got underway on 18 May, with a party of Army officers embarked, for an inspection tour of the island of Iceland. Led by Major General Charles H. Bonesteel, the party inspected bases at Akureyri, Dalvík, Búðareyri, and Reyðarfjörður. While making the cruise, the ship escorted the British troop and supply vessel SS Lochnagar to these ports. With the inspection trip completed by the end of May, Williamsburg put to sea to contact the disabled merchantman SS Gemini, reportedly suffering from a damaged propeller and under tow by the British tug Jaunty.

Assisted by a PBY, the gunboat searched for Gemini and Jaunty. Escorted by USCGC Duane (WPG-33) and Babbitt, the tug and merchantman finally hove into sight on 1 June; and Williamsburg fell in as additional escort to Reykjavik. Shifting to Hvalfjörður on 4 June, the gunboat underwent tender repairs alongside Melville into the middle of the month. Returning to Reykjavik, soon thereafter, Williamsburg escorted Pegasus on a coastwise supply mission to Akureyri. While en route, a PBY provided air coverage; the gunboat sank a drifting mine with machine gun fire. She returned to Reykjavík on 20 June.

After transporting a party of Army officers and nurses to Hvalfjörður and back to Reykjavík for an inspection trip and a visit to the battleship Washington, Williamsburg operated on local patrol and convoy escort during July 1942. On 12 July, in the midst of one such mission escorting the liberty ship SS Richard Henry Lee, Williamsburg took on board 28 sealed boxes of gold bullion – valued at approximately $1,500,000 – at Seyðisfjörður, and transported it to Reykjavík, where she turned it over to Washington. Williamsburg was then berthed alongside Melville for tender repairs from 14 to 16 July.

Williamsburg next steamed on Weather Station Patrol "Baker" from 18 to 20 July, and towed two buoys from Reykjavík to Hvalfjörður before returning to her home port on 22 July, remaining there until the end of the month.

Williamsburg again served as a VIP transport the following month, taking a USO troupe to Hvalfjörður, where the entertainers put on two shows on 2 August. Eight days later, the converted yacht got underway for Derry, Northern Ireland, for emergency repairs. Underway on 10 August, she joined the Royal Navy trawlers HMT Paynter, HMT Bredon (T223), and HMS Blackfly (FY 117) in escorting Convoy RU-35 consisting of nine merchantmen. Detached at The Minches on 14 August, Williamsburg proceeded independently through the Irish Sea, and arrived at Derry, later that day. She was then drydocked from mid-August into the second week of September.

Her repairs were completed on 10 September, and the gunboat conducted antisubmarine practices in company with a British submarine on 13 and 14 September before getting underway on 15 September for Iceland. Proceeding again independently, she battled her way through a gale that sprung both depth charge tracks and tumbled three depth charges into the sea as she rolled and pitched violently in the storm's fury. While en route, she received dispatch orders to rendezvous with the merchant vessel Medina and screen her at Höfn, during the cargoman's unloading. The gunboat proceeded ahead without sonar (it had developed a casualty en route) and with both depth charge tracks badly sprung. Having no radar, she experienced difficulty finding her charge before she finally made contact with Medina at Berusford, on 18 September. Both ships started for Reykjanes, soon after that.

Detached from escorting Medina on 19 September, Williamsburg rendezvoused with Uranus and relieved Leary as escort the same day. She convoyed the stores ship to Búðareyri, where Uranus delivered supplies to the Army base there. Underway for Seyðisfjörður, on 22 September, Williamsburg spotted an unidentified four-engined bomber overhead at 08:30 but, due to the mist and rain, could not identify the plane. Word soon came, however, that the plane was indeed an enemy - possibly a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor used for anti-shipping and reconnaissance missions by the Luftwaffe. The plane approached again at 09:45 and once more failed to identify itself. Williamsburg crewed her general quarters stations but lost the plane in the swirling mist and fog. The enemy aircraft never came within the gunboat's range.

At Seyðisfjörður, on 24 September, Williamsburg took on board 15 survivors from the merchantmen SS Wilham Hooper and SS Daniel Morgan, both sunk during the ordeal of Convoy PQ 17 at the hands of German planes and submarines. While en route to Reykjavík, with these mariners, the gunboat sighted two drifters well inside the fjord at Aðalvík and moved closer for a better look. After investigation, Williamsburg continued on her way, having found only two Icelandic fishing trawlers. She arrived in Reykjavík on 29 September.

Shifting to Hvalfjörður on 30 September, Williamsburg underwent repairs alongside Melville from 30 September to 3 October, at last receiving repairs to her damaged depth charge tracks. The gunboat subsequently escorted SS Lochnagar on revictualling missions to Búðareyri, Seyðisfjörður, and Akureyri, before she returned to Reykjavík, later in the month.

Following further coastwise convoy escort runs in November and December, Williamsburg underwent a tender overhaul and availability alongside Vulcan through Christmas of 1942.

Upon completing these alterations and repairs on 3 January 1943, Williamsburg resumed her coastwise convoy escort duties and continued the task through January 1943. After getting underway for New York Harbor, on 7 February, the gunboat touched at St. John's, Newfoundland, en route and was briefly diverted to Argentia, to escort Pontiac. Williamsburg eventually arrived at the Bethlehem Steel docks at Hoboken, New Jersey, on 22 February, to receive an overhaul.

After a month of repairs and alterations, Williamsburg sailed for Norfolk, where, after her arrival on 31 March, she soon became the flagship for Rear Admiral Donald B. Beary, Commander, Fleet Operational Training Command, Atlantic Fleet.

Over the next two years, Williamsburg operated primarily in the Hampton Roads-Chesapeake Bay region, occasionally deploying to Newport, Rhode Island, New York, Florida waters, or Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Williamsburg came under the aegis of Commander, Service Force, Atlantic Fleet, on 16 June 1945. On 10 July, she entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for conversion to an amphibious force flagship (AGC). The need for such specialized craft had been realized in the Pacific; with the war with Japan not yet over, Williamsburg was selected for the metamorphosis. The end of the war with Japan – hastened by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – resulted in further work being canceled. Instead, Williamsburg's new employment was to be that of presidential yacht, to replace Potomac, the former Coast Guard cutter and a long-time favorite of the late President Roosevelt.

President Truman on the afterdeck of the yacht, USS Williamsburg, during a vacation in Key West, Florida: (left to right) Charles Murphy, Special Counsel to the President; President Truman; Admiral Robert Dennison, Naval Aide to the President; Charles Ross, Press Secretary.

Presidential yacht

USS Williamsburg, docked at the US Naval Base, Key West, Florida, during President Truman's vacation in 1951

Williamsburg remained at Norfolk into November, undergoing conversion. The ship then sailed for the Washington Navy Yard, where, on 5 November 1945, she relieved Potomac as a presidential yacht and, on 10 November 1945, the erstwhile gunboat was re-designated AGC-369.

In the ensuing years, Williamsburg served two presidents, Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

During President Truman's tenure, she embarked such American and foreign notables as Secretary of State George Marshall, President Miguel Alemán of Mexico; and two successive British prime ministers, Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee. During the ship's first tour as a presidential yacht, she cruised the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay regions, while occasionally venturing into the open sea for cruises to Florida, Bermuda, Cuba, and the Virgin Islands.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower made only one cruise in Williamsburg before ordering her decommissioned. He came on board at Washington, on 14 May 1953, and cruised to Yorktown, Virginia, where he disembarked to visit the ship's namesake, the colonial city of Williamsburg. Re-embarking the Chief Executive at Yorktown later that day, Williamsburg touched at Norfolk, and Annapolis, Maryland, before she returned to the Washington Navy Yard to disembark the President on 18 May.

That proved to be Williamsburg's last cruise as a presidential yacht because President Eisenhower directed that the ship be placed out of commission. Accordingly, she was decommissioned at the Washington Navy Yard on 30 June 1953 and turned over to the Potomac River Naval Command for maintenance and preservation. Subsequently, she shifted to Newport, Rhode Island, and she remained in "special status" from about 2 April 1959. Williamsburg was struck from the Navy list on 1 April 1962.