UNS Matador

The twin-hulled seaplane tender had a small flight deck perched on the top of two hulls. Cranes and other heavy lifting equipment lined the sides of the tender while an 'island' sat on the starboard side of the flat top deck.

The ship's length was measured at 84m with a beam of 28.5m wide. The flight deck had two steam catapults for the F/A -1N Sea Cobras to launch out and deck space for helicopter type aircraft to land and takeoff. Inside the belly of the tender held eight Sea Cobras tightly parked together with two elevators to bring the planes to the top.

To retrieve the seaplanes once they were launched, the Sea Cobras had to land on the sea surface and be picked up by cranes. The seaplane tender was built by using the two old ships bought from the Isles. The hulls were stripped down and refurbished with new materials before the top flight and hangar decks were welded over the two hulls.

It was armed with two 3" guns, one on each side of the hull, eight dual 20mm mounts and twelve .50 caliber guns for self-defense. A crew of 139 manned the ship, which barely filled up half the required manpower needed to fully crew the ship.