USS Endeavor was a 200-foot AFDL-1 Class Small Auxiliary floating drydock in service with the United States Navy during World War II. Built and delivered by Chicago Bridge and Iron in Morgan City, Louisiana in September 1943, she entered service as USS AFD-1. She was redesignated AFDL-1 on 1 August 1946. In 1986, she was decommissioned, struck from the Naval Register and transferred to the Dominican Republic and redesignated DF-1. She is currently in Active Service as of 2017.[1] [2]
It also shares the name with the Endeavour space shuttle, an orbital space vehicle used by NASA as an active participant in the construction of the International Space Station. Both vessels use the British English spelling of the word, rather than the American English form, in honor of the British HMS Endeavour, the ship of Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery (1768–1771).[3]