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U.S.S. ACCOKEEK
(ATA-181)Click to view crew list
USS ACCOKEEK (ATA-181) - a Sotoyomo-class auxiliary fleet tug
In Commission 1944 to 1972ATA-181 Deployments - Major Events
Add a ATA-181 Shellback Initiation | Add a ATA-181 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
JUN | 1944 | - | Keel Date: 15 JUN 1944 at Levingston Shipbuilding Orange Texas | ||
JUL | 1944 | - | Launch Date: 27 JUL 1944 | ||
OCT | 1944 | - | Commissioned: 7 OCT 1944 | ||
JUN | 1972 | - | Decommissioned: 29 JUN 1972 |
ATA-181 General Specifications
Complement: 5 Officers and 44 Enlisted
Displacement: 835 tons
Length: 143 feet
Beam: 33 feet 10 inches
Draft: 13 feet 3 in
Flank Speed: 13 knots
USS ACCOKEEK (ATA-181)
The
auxiliary ocean tug ATA-181 was laid down on 15 June 1944 at Orange,
Tex., by the Levingston Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 27 July 1944; and commissioned on 7
October 1944, Lt.
C. M. Lacour in command.
After
shakedown, she sailed for the Pacific, transiting the Panama Canal early in
January 1945 and stopping in Hawaii in March. Resuming her voyage west, the tug arrived at
Guam on 25
March, a week before the assault on Okinawa. For the rest of the war, ATA-181 aided
warships damaged in that campaign, towing them from combat into Kerama Retto and thence to
bases in the Marianas and in the
Western Carolines.
She
stayed in the Far East after the war providing towing and salvage support for the
American occupation forces. On 15 October, a severe typhoon struck the
anchorage at Okinawa and drove ATA-181 aground; but the tug escaped heavy damage and soon returned to duty. Her Far
Eastern assignment ended early in the summer of 1946, and she began the long voyage to the
east coast of the United States.
Steaming via Pearl Harbor, San Francisco,
and the Panama Canal, ATA-181 reached Philadelphia on 20 November.
Over
the next 26 years, she carried out a variety of missions for the Atlantic
Fleet. On 16 July 1948, she became Accokeek. While she operated most
often along the eastern seaboard and in the West Indies, her work also took her
to such widely separated locations as Labrador, Ascencion Island, and even inland
to Lake Michigan. Philadelphia served as her home port through most of her postwar career, but
that changed on 30 June 1969 when Accokeek was reassigned to Little
Creek, Va. The tug operated from that base for the remaining three years of her Navy
service. Decommissioned
at Norfolk on 29 June 1972, Accokeek was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 19 September 1972 for layup in its National Defense Reserve
Fleet (NDRF). At the end of 1987, Accokeek
still appeared on the Navy list and remained at the NDRF facility at James River, Va.
As
ATA-181, Accokeek earned one battle star in World War II.
[Note: The above USS ACCOKEEK (ATA-181) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS ACCOKEEK (ATA-181), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]