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U.S.S. KITTIWAKE
(ASR-13)PAX PER TRIDENTUM
Click to view crew list
USS KITTIWAKE (ASR-13) - a Chanticleer-class submarine rescue ship
In Commission 1946 to 1994ASR-13 Deployments - Major Events
Add a ASR-13 Shellback Initiation | Add a ASR-13 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
JUL | 1945 | - | Launch Date: 10 JUL 1945 | ||
JUL | 1946 | - | Commissioned: 18 JUL 1946 | ||
JAN | 1954 | - | MAR | 1954 | Caribbean |
MAR | 1962 | - | MAR | 1964 | North Atlantic-Med-Indian Ocean |
APR | 1966 | - | MAY | 1966 | Caribbean |
JUL | 1966 | - | NOV | 1966 | Mediterranean |
APR | 1968 | - | AUG | 1968 | Search for USS Scorpion in the Atlantic Ocean |
JUL | 1969 | - | JUN | 1970 | North Atlantic-Med-Indian Ocean |
JUL | 1974 | - | Shellback Initiation - 19 JUL 1974 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
JAN | 1975 | - | JAN | 1975 | North Atlantic-Med-Indian Ocean |
SEP | 1975 | - | DEC | 1975 | North Atlantic-Med-Indian Ocean |
JUL | 1982 | - | Shellback Initiation - 18 JUL 1982 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
MAY | 1983 | - | JUN | 1983 | PR port o call to corpus christi |
JAN | 1986 | - | APR | 1986 | Space Shuttle Challenger Recovery |
SEP | 1994 | - | Decommissioned: 30 SEP 1994 |
ASR-13 General Specifications
Named for: The kittiwake
Complement: 102 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 1780 tons
Length: 251 feet 4 inches
Draft: 14 feet 3 in
Flank Speed: 16 knots
USS KITTIWAKE (ASR-13)
Kittiwake (ASR-13) was launched 10 July 1945, by Savannah Machine & Foundry Co., Savannah, Ga.;
sponsored by
Mrs. Howard S. Rue, Jr.; and commissioned 18 July 1946, Lt. L. H. Collier in command.
After
shakedown, Kittiwake departed Charleston, S.C., 3 October for Balboa,
Canal Zone, arriving 8 October. Assigned to support and rescue duty with Submarine Squadron 6, the submarine rescue ship
accompanied submarines during sea trials and
maneuvers to monitor diving
operations; to practice underwater rescue procedures; and to recover
practice torpedoes. While based at Balboa, her
operations carried her to the Virgin Islands, to Puerto Rico, and along the Atlantic coast to the Davis
Strait.
Departing Balboa 31
May 1949, Kittiwake arrived Norfolk 6
June to continue duty with SubRon 6. From 17 January to 1 February 1950 she provided divers and equipment during salvage operations to free Missouri
(BB-63), grounded in tidal banks
off Thimble Shoals, Va. During the
1950's she cruised the Atlantic from New England to the Caribbean while
supporting ships of the Silent Service with
a trained and highly skilled crew. And while on station off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Fla., 20 July 1960, she stood ready to assist George Washington (SSB(N)-598) as the mighty nuclear-powered submarine
successfully launched the first two Polaris ballistic missiles ever fired
from a submarine beneath the sea.
Kittiwake continued operating out of Norfolk until 1 August 1961 whne she departed for the
Mediterranean. Arriving Rota,
Spain, 15 August, she cruised the Mediterranean from Spain to Greece while
deployed with the 6th Fleet. After
supporting submarine maneuvers out of Pireaus,
Greece, from 20 September to 9 October, she departed the Mediterranean 8
November and arrived Norfolk the 18th. She
then conducted operations out of Norfolk for the next 18 months. While on duty off Key West 2 February 1963, she sighted a Cuban boat, Jose
Maria Perez; took on board 12 refugees (including 3 children)
fleeing Communist oppression in Cuba; and
carried them to safety at Key West.
Departing
Charleston, S.C., 16 April, Kittiwake arrived St. Nazaire, France, 3 May with two LCU's in
tow. She proceeded to the Mediterranean 10 May and reached Rota the 14th. For more than 2 months she participated
in fleet operations before departing
Rota 31 July for the United States.
Returning to Norfolk 10 August 1963, she resumed training and support operations with submarines, along the Atlantic coast. Through 1964 and 1965, Kittiwake
continued her role in maintaining the readiness of individual submarines which were to carry out their
missions of defense and deterrant
effectively. She escorted them as they
left the East Coast shipyards for sea trials, standing ready to come to their
rescue should difficulties arise. Constant exercise in use of weapons by
submarines was furnished by Kittiwake, such
as running as a target and recovering exercise torpedoes and mines. The
operations ranged from the Virginia Capes to
the Atlantic missile range off Florida. On 6 April 1965, she departed
Norfolk with submarines for exercises off
the coast of Spain, thence to the
Mediterranean Sea.
Kittiwake departed Toulon 31 May 1965, to operate out of Rota, Spain, in support of FBM's of Submarine
Squadron 16: Andrew Jackson, Woodrow
Wilson, James Madison, and Nathan Hale. Following torpedo recovery
and training off the coast of Spain,
she sailed for Holy Loch 30 June
1965, to give support to Submarine Squadron 14. She recovered torpedoes for James
Monroe and John Adams, provided
underway training for men of tender Hunley, then sailed 20 July for Norfolk, arriving 30 July
1965. During the autumn months, Kittiwake
guarded new Polaris submarines, Lewis & Clarke and Simon
Bolivar, during their builders sea
trials prior to commissioning.
Kittiwake operated on the East Coast and in the Caribbean until sailing for the Mediterranean 8 July
1966. She reached
the Bay of Cadiz on the 20th and transited the straits 2 days later. She operated in the
Mediterranean until
emerging at Rota, Spain, 1 September. She headed for Holly Loch, Scotland, on
the 6th and arrived on the llth. Four days later she was ordered to the North Sea to assist in locating and salvaging German
submarine Hai (S-171). She reached the
scene of the tragedy 17 September and remained on hand assisting salvage
operations until the 20th. She continued to
operate off Western Europe until returning to Norfolk 13 November. Kittiwake
operated on the East Coast into 1967.
[Note: The above USS KITTIWAKE (ASR-13) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS KITTIWAKE (ASR-13), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]