The contract for the first four Powhatan-class tugs was awarded to Marinette Marine Co. on 12 September 1975.[1] The Navy exercised its option to buy an additional three ships under this contract on 27 February 1978.[2]Apache was the last ship delivered under this contract.
Apache was laid down on 22 March 1979 at the company's Marinette, Wisconsin, shipyard. She was launched on 28 March 1981. Apache was christened by Mrs. John R. Young.[3] At the time of the launch, Commander Young was on the staff of Vice Admiral Clarence R. Bryan who, as commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, was in charge of buying ships for the Navy and dealt directly with Marinette Marine on the Powhatan-class tug contract.[4] The ship was delivered to the Navy on 23 July 1981.[5]
Her hull was built of welded steel plates. She was 225feet 11inches (68.86m) long at the waterline and 240feet 1inch (73.18m) overall, with a beam of 42 feet (13m), and a draft of 15 feet (4.6m). She displaced 2,260 tons fully loaded.[2]
Electrical power aboard the ship was provided by three 400 Kw generators. These were powered by four Detroit Diesel 8v-71 engines.[6]
Powhatan-class tugs had global range in order to support the U.S. fleet across oceans. Apache's tankage was consequently large. She could carry 206,714 U.S. gallons (782,500L) of Diesel oil, 6,100 U.S. gallons (23,000L) of lube oil, and 6,000 U.S. gallons (23,000L) of drinking water.[6] Her unrefueled range at 13 knots was 10,000 miles (16,000km)[2]
Apache's aft deck was largely open to accommodate a number of different roles. It had 4,000 square feet (370m2) of working space.[8] The towing system could produce as much as 90 short tons of bollard pull.[9][8] She had a 10-ton capacity crane for moving loads on the aft deck.[7] There were connections to bolt down shipping containers and other equipment.
Like all MSC ships, Apache was crewed by civilian mariners. At launch, her complement was 16 civilian crew and a 4-person military detachment of communications specialists. The ship could accommodate an additional 16 people aboard for transient, mission-specific roles.[2][7]
All the ships of the Powhatan-class were named after Native American tribes.[9]Apache was named after the Apache people of the southwest United States.
One of the primary missions of fleet tugs was to tow damaged or disabled capital ships. For this mission, Apache could employ one of two winches. The main towing winch for large, long distance tows was a single drum, closed-loop SMATCO 66 DTS-200 electro-hydraulic drive winch. With a mechanically, pneumatically, or hydraulically actuated band brake and an air-actuated dog brake this was capable of holding 500,000 lbf of tension. The winch had 2,500 feet (760m) of 2+1⁄4-inch IWRC 6×37 wire rope with a poured end fitting and a breaking strain of 424,000 lbf (1.89 MN). The cable weighs approximately 8.5 lb per foot (12.6 kg/m), making the weight of the wire approximately 21,500 lb (10.75 short tons) excluding the weight of any chain bridle used on the ship being towed.[6][10][11]
The second winch was a Lake Shore traction machine capable of handling up to 15-inch (380mm) synthetic hawsers used for smaller, shorter distance tows. The traction machine was capable of line pulls of up to 200,000lbf (890kN).[6][11]
The stern employed a tow-pin box capable of capturing either the wire or synthetic towing lines, as well as Norman pins at the quarters.[6]
Service history
Apache tows ex-Iowa on her way to reactivation in 1982
In the summer of 1987, Apache was deployed on a 3-week research mission to study the current state of the sunken Civil War ship USS Monitor. The tug hosted 24 NOAA scientists and technicians who examined the wreck with an unmanned submersible called "Deep Drone".[13]
On 1 December 1996, Apache arrived in Norfolk with USS Gonzalez in tow. The guided-missile destroyer had damage both propellers grounding on a coral reef and required a tow to the shipyard for repairs.[16]
The ship was crossing the Atlantic to begin a deployment in the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet in November 2001 when she rescued four people from a sinking 80-foot sailboat approximately 1,400 miles southwest of the Azores.[17]
In December 2002, Apache and an embarked detachment from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 trained Croatian Navy divers off Split.[18]
Apache fights fire on Tahoma Reefer in Monrovia in 2006
While on a six-month deployment with the Sixth Fleet in 2006, Apache, with an embarked detachment of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2, held joint diving and salvage exercises with similar units of the French, Croatian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Israeli, and Ghanaian[19] navies.[20] Her visit to Haifa, Israel was cut short when she sailed on 13 July 2006 as a precautionary measure due to fighting in the area.[21] During this same deployment, Apache arrived in Monrovia on 9 August 2006 as part of a United States effort to strengthen relations with Liberia. She and her embarked detachment of divers were asked to survey wrecks in the harbor and assist in the repair of the port's commercial pier. During this visit, she rescued seven fishermen whose vessel had capsized. She also evacuated the crew and fought a fire aboard the cargo ship Tahoma Reefer.[22]
While deployed with the Sixth Fleet, in August 2022, Apache embarked the Navy's Cable-operated Unmanned Recovery Vehicle (CURV) 21 to locate and salvage an F/A 18E Super Hornet which had blown off the deck of USS Harry S. Truman.[23]
El Faro search
On 1 October 2015 the American-flagged containership El Faro sank in high winds and seas near the eye wall of Hurricane Joaquin east of the Bahamas. All thirty-three crew aboard died when the ship went down, the worst American maritime casualty of the century.[24]Apache played a prominent role in investigating the wreck, garnering more press coverage than perhaps any other mission she undertook.
On 19 October 2015 Apache fueled and sailed from Norfolk to search for the wreck. For this mission she had embarked a side-scan sonar system called Orion, a voyage data recorder locator called the Towed Pinger Locator 25,[25] the unmanned recovery vehicle CURV 21, and the specialists who could operate these tools.[26]
Technicians aboard Apache ready Orion side-scan sonar for deployment during El Faro search
Apache's first mission was to recover the voyage data recorder. This was an immediate priority because the batteries in the black box were not expected to last more than 30 days. Bad weather in the Atlantic forced Apache to divert from a direct course to the wreck site, so she had little more than four days to search before the expected end of the batteries.[27]Apache was unable to locate the voyage data recorder using the TPL-25 hydrophone. Assuming that the batteries had died, Apache next deployed the Orion side-scan sonar system.
The sonar found the bulk of a ship resting on the bottom in 15,000 feet (4,600m) of water on 31 October 2015. Using the cameras on CURV 21, Apache was able to confirm the wreck as El Faro. On 11 November 2015 the bridge of the ship, which had been torn from the hull, was located about a mile away. However, the voyage data recorder which was mounted on a bridge mast was no longer attached.[28]Apache refueled in Puerto Rico, and returned to the scene of the sinking to search for the mast until the $1 million contract with the National Transportation Safety Board ran out.[29]
In Mid-April 2016 the voyage data recorder was located by RV Atlantis.[30] On 5 August, with a new $500,000 contract between the Navy and NTSB in place, Apache was dispatched from Virginia Beach with CURV 21 aboard. She recovered the device on 26 August 2016. She took the black box to Naval Station Mayport.[31]
Decommissioned ship tows
Vessels which are retired from Navy service are often towed to various inactive ship maintenance facilities where they are held in reserve. Ultimately, they are towed on to their final fate. These decommissioned ships do not have full crews and cannot sail under their own power. Apache was frequently employed to tow decommissioned ships.
A ceremony was held for the inactivation of Apache at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia on 26 August 2022.[53]Rear Admiral Michael Wettlaufer, commander of the Military Sealift Command spoke at the event.[54] The ship was stricken on 30 September 2022.[5]
Honors and awards
Apache and her crew earned a number of awards and honors during her years of service. These include:[55][53]
Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US military services as well as for other government agencies. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's ocean transport needs. The MSTS was renamed the Military Sealift Command in 1970.
Six ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Powhatan or USNS Powhatan, named in honor of Powhatan (1550–1618), an Indian chief in tidewater Virginia; the father of Pocahontas.
USS Grapple (ARS-53) is a Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ship in the United States Navy. Her home port is Norfolk, Virginia. On 13 July 2006 Grapple was decommissioned from US Navy service and converted to civilian operation by Military Sealift Command. She was redesignated as USNS Grapple.
USS Atakapa (ATF-149) was an Achomawi class of fleet ocean tug. It was named after the Atakapa Native American tribe that once inhabited territory which is now southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.
USS Cree (AT/ATF-84), a Cherokee-class fleet tug, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the Cree, an indigenous people of North America whose people range from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.
USNS Catawba is a Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command for the United States Navy. She is currently based in Manama, Bahrain. She was launched in 1979 and is the last ship of her class still in service. In December 2020, the Navy announced its intention to retire Catawba during fiscal year 2023.
USS Lipan (AT-85) was a Navajo-class fleet tug constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. Her purpose was to aid ships, usually by towing, on the high seas or in combat or post-combat areas, plus "other duties as assigned." She served in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and the Korean War. She was awarded two battle stars for World War II and four battle stars for the Korean War.
Rescue and salvage ships are a type of military salvage tug. They are tasked with coming to the aid of stricken vessels. Their general mission capabilities include combat salvage, lifting, towing, retraction of grounded vessels, off-ship firefighting, and manned diving operations. They were common during World War II.
USNS Mohawk (T-ATF-170) was a United States Navy Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command from 1980 to 2005.
USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO-187) is a United States Navy fleet replenishment oiler and the lead ship of her class. Her mission is to resupply U.S. Navy and allied ships at sea with fuel oil, jet fuel, lubricating oil, potable water, and dry and refrigerated goods, including food and mail.
USNS Narragansett (T-ATF-167) is a Powhatan-class fleet ocean tugboat of the US Navy. She was launched in 1979 and inactivated in 1999, but has since been employed in a number of roles. She is still in service as of 2023 as a training support vessel for Carrier Strike Group 4.
USS Apache or USNS Apache has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to:
USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE-13) is a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship of the United States Navy. As part of the Navy's Combat Logistics Force, her mission is to deliver ammunition, provisions, dry stores, refrigerated food, spare parts, potable water, and diesel and jet fuel to U.S. Navy and allied ships while at sea. The ship is named for civil rights movement activist Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran who was assassinated in 1963. The Navy announced the naming on 9 October 2009.
USNS Navajo (T-ATF-169) was a United States Navy Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command which was in service from 1980 to 2016. She spent the bulk of her career in the Pacific and is currently moored in Pearl Harbor, awaiting disposal.
USNS Powhatan (T-ATF-166) was the lead ship of the United States Navy Powhatan-class fleet ocean tugboats. She was in service with the U.S. Navy from 1979 to 1999, and then was leased to a private towing and salvage company. At the end of the lease in 2008, the ship was sold to the Turkish Navy which recommissioned her as TCG Inebolu.
USNS Sioux (T-ATF-171) was a United States Navy Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC). She was in service from 1981 to 2021 and spent the bulk of this time supporting the Pacific Fleet.
The Powhatan class of fleet ocean tugs consists of seven ships built for the United States Navy, and operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC). The lead ship of the class was launched in 1978 and the last ship in MSC service will be deactivated in 2023. During their service life, the Powhatan's were the most powerful tugs owned by the Navy.
The Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force is a division of the US Navy. The 42 ships of the Military Sealift Command's Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force are the supply lines to U.S. Navy ships at sea. These ships provide virtually everything that Navy ships need, including fuel, food, ordnance, spare parts, mail and other supplies. NFAF ships enable the Navy fleet to remain at sea, on station and combat ready for extended periods of time. NFAF ships also conduct towing, rescue and salvage operations or serve as floating medical facilities. All NFAF ships are government owned and crewed by civil service mariners. Some of the ships also have a small contingent of Navy personnel aboard for operations support, supply coordination and helicopter operations.
1 2 3 4 5 Polmar, Norman (1997). Ships and Aircraft of the United States Fleet (16thed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p.252. ISBN1-55750-686-8.
↑ Slade, Rachel (2018). Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm and the Sinking of the El Faro. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN9780062699879.
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