USS Cohoes (AN-78)

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History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
Name: USS Cohoes
Namesake: Cohoes, New York
Builder: Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon
Launched: 29 November 1944
Sponsored by: Mrs. W. W. Johnson
Commissioned: 23 March 1945
Decommissioned: 3 September 1947
Identification:
  • YN-97
  • AN-78 (20 January 1944)
Recommissioned: 1968
Decommissioned: 30 June 1972
Struck: 30 June 1972
Identification: ANL-78
Honors and
awards:
Nine campaign stars for Vietnam service
Fate: sold for scrapping, 1 February 1973
General characteristics
Class and type: Cohoes-class net laying ship
Displacement: 775 tons
Length: 168 ft 6 in (51.36 m)
Beam: 33 ft 10 in (10.31 m)
Draft: 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m)
Propulsion: Diesel-electric, 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)
Speed: 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement: 46 officers and enlisted
Armament: 1 x 3 in (76 mm)/50 gun

USS Cohoes (YN-97/AN-78/ANL-78) was a Cohoes-class net laying ship which was assigned to protect United States Navy ships and harbors during World War II with her anti-submarine nets. Her World War II career was short lived; however, she was recommissioned during the Vietnam War where she earned nine campaign stars.

<i>Cohoes</i>-class net laying ship

The Cohoes-class net laying ships consisted of fifteen ships built near the end of World War II for the United States Navy, the last being commissioned shortly after war's end. They were similar in appearance and construction to the predecessor Aloe class, with slight differences in dimensions and displacement. Unlike previous net-laying classes, names were taken from a variety of place names, rather than from plants. All but two were decommissioned and put into reserve by the end of 1947, but most were reactivated at various times in the early 1950s and remained active until the early 1960s, when seven were transferred through lease or sale to several foreign navies. Two were transferred to other federal agencies; two were reactivated in the late 1960s and these served into the 1970s. Some of those transferred abroad were still active as late as 2007; none were lost in action.

A net laying ship, also known as a net layer, net tender, gate ship or boom defence vessel was a type of small auxiliary ship.

United States Navy Naval warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches. It has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the second largest and second most powerful air force in the world.

Contents

Construction and career

The second ship to be so named by the Navy, Cohoes (AN-78) was launched on 29 November 1944 by Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon; sponsored by Mrs. W. W. Johnson. The ship was commissioned on 23 March 1945, Lieutenant D. B. Little, USNR, in command; and reported to the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Commercial Iron Works

Commercial Iron Works was a manufacturing firm in Portland, Oregon, United States. Established in 1916, the company is best remembered today for its contribution to America's emergency shipbuilding program during World War II.

Portland, Oregon City in Oregon, United States

Portland is the largest and most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Multnomah County. It is a major port in the Willamette Valley region of the Pacific Northwest, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. As of 2017, Portland had an estimated population of 647,805, making it the 26th-largest city in the United States, and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest. Approximately 2.4 million people live in the Portland metropolitan statistical area (MSA), making it the 25th most populous MSA in the United States. Its Combined Statistical Area (CSA) ranks 18th-largest with a population of around 3.2 million. Approximately 60% of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metropolitan area.

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military forces. The ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries old naval tradition.

World War II service

After training at Pearl Harbor, Cohoes sailed 20 June 1945 for Eniwetok, arriving 2 July. She remained at Eniwetok installing, maintaining, and then removing the net line there until 16 October, when she sailed for Ponape, arriving 18 October to lay a mooring.

Pearl Harbor harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii

Pearl Harbor is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It has been long visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is now a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U.S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships here in 1887. The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, was the immediate cause of the United States' entry into World War II.

Pohnpei island in Micronesia

Pohnpei "upon (pohn) a stone altar (pei)" is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei State, one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Major population centers on Pohnpei include Palikir, the FSM's capital, and Kolonia, the capital of Pohnpei State. Pohnpei Island is the largest (334 km²), with a highest point, most populous, and most developed single island in the FSM.

In Langar Roads, she salvaged and re-laid a Japanese mooring buoy, and performed similar operations in the Caroline Islands and in the Marshall Islands until 20 November, when she cleared Kwajalein for Pearl Harbor and San Francisco, California, arriving 12 December for duty at Tiburon Net Depot at Tiburon, California.

Empire of Japan Empire in the Asia-Pacific region between 1868–1947

The Empire of Japan was the historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan.

Caroline Islands archipelago

The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end. Historically, this area was also called Nuevas Filipinas or New Philippines as they were part of the Spanish East Indies and governed from Manila in the Philippines.

Marshall Islands country in Oceania

The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country and a United States associated state near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the International Date Line. Geographically, the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia. The country's population of 53,158 people is spread out over 29 coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets.

Post-war

Cohoes served at Tiburon until 8 April 1946, when she sailed for duty at Astoria, Oregon. She returned to San Francisco 3 September, and remained there until 25 August 1947 when she sailed for San Diego, California, arriving 27 August. There Cohoes was placed out of commission in reserve 3 September 1947.

Astoria, Oregon City in Oregon, United States

Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, it is the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains and the oldest city in the state of Oregon. Astoria is located on the south shore of the Columbia River, where the river meets the Pacific Ocean. The city is named for John Jacob Astor, an investor from New York City whose American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site. Astoria was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 20, 1876.

Vietnam War service

Cohoes was re-commissioned in 1968 and served in the Vietnam War. The Navy journal (DANFS) is not complete at this date, but other sources indicate that Cohoes was active in the Vietnam area based on the numerous campaign stars she was awarded:

Cohoes was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 30 June 1972.

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