WELCOME!

his website is the home page of the USS Tidewater AD31 Association. Here is where you'll find out the names of our membership, when we meet, and how to join. Our roster is made up of plank owners, kiddie cruisers, old chiefs and old salts from way back during the time that AD31 was in service to the Atlantic Fleet.

Born in Charleston and home ported in Norfolk, the USS Tidewater served as a Destroyer Tender to just about anybody who needed us. Our ranks were made up of shipfitters, dentists, barbers, electronics technicians, telephone repair guys, machinists, divers, molders, metalsmiths, doctors, chaplains, and some really fine cooks - just about any trade in existence. We were the Navy's repair shop and general store. And ships tied up alongside of us to have their radar calibrated, their screws replaced, their captain's toothaches worked on and any major overhaul that didn't require actually pulling into Portsmouth for drydock.

We were it!

And the memories of it all are here. Peruse our pages and learn about how we did it, and the fun we had doing it. We have hundreds of photos in our archives that will bring it all back to you.

The Tidewater Association is a growing organization. We started our business of forming the association at a steering committee meeting aboard the USS Yorktown in 2003. Actually it was in the CPO Mess below decks. 22 sailors and their guests got together, drew up by laws, elected officers and had lunch. We spent the week-end remembering old times with each other. Some of us didn't know anyone else at the start of the week-end and by the time it was over, we were all good friends.

We've grown our numbers since then, and we get together now every two years for a reunion. We have added about 10 to 20 new sailors to our ranks each year. So if you're an old Tidewater salt, or a Friend of the Tidewater, or a family member, or have some connection to Charleston and Norfolk through the Tidewater, we invite you to join us in membership.

Check us out here online and then, if you decide this is for you, please click on the "join" button and fill out our online form. We'll send you a packet of information including a membership application form. If you have already decided that you want to join, just click here and you can print our membership application on your own printer, and then mail it in to us with your membership fee.

You're not too old to join the Navy again. We muster topside on the 01 deck at 0600 - or as soon as you get there.