History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Cree |
Namesake | Cree |
Builder | United Engineering Co., San Francisco, California |
Laid down | 31 March 1942 |
Launched | 17 August 1942 |
Commissioned | 28 March 1943 |
Reclassified | ATF-84, 15 May 1944 |
Stricken | 21 April 1978 |
Motto | Ready |
Honours and awards |
|
Fate | Sunk as a target, 27 August 1978 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Cherokee-class fleet tug |
Displacement |
|
Length | 205 ft (62 m) |
Beam | 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m) |
Draft | 15 ft 4 in (4.67 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) |
Complement | 85 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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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.
Cree was one of 70 such vessels produced in this World War II-era class. Military Sealift Command currently uses fleet ocean tugs from the Powhatan class to accomplish a similar mission today. Cree participated in several classified missions such as Operation Wigwam.
Cree (AT-84) was launched 17 August 1942 by United Engineering Co., San Francisco, California; sponsored by Mrs. T. Colburn; and commissioned 28 March 1943.
From 10 April to 9 May 1943 Cree sailed between San Francisco and San Diego towing target sleds and dry-dock sections. She cleared on 11 May for Seattle and Dutch Harbor, and operated out of Adak from 26 July 1943 to 15 August 1944. Cree screened transports to Kiska, had towing and salvage duties, and aided the distressed Soviet ship Valery Chkalov between 15 December and 23 December 1943. Cree was reclassified ATF-84, 15 May 1944.
Returning to San Francisco on 21 August 1944, Cree sailed on 1 October to serve as retriever tug for a convoy to Eniwetok, returning to Pearl Harbor on`14 November. She cleared on 7 December on another convoy trip to Eniwetok, then continued to Guam and Ulithi on towing duty. She joined the screen of the replenishment group of the 5th Fleet at Ulithi on 8 February 1945 and sortied for the invasion of Iwo Jima, during which she stood by for salvage assignments, until returning to Ulithi to replenish on 5 March. Cree arrived off Okinawa on 16 March for salvage operations on the beachheads until 1 July, when she sailed for overhaul at San Pedro Bay, Leyte.
Cree was based at Pearl Harbor for towing and salvage duties throughout the Pacific until the outbreak of the Korean War. Arriving at Yokosuka on 6 July 1950, she acted as beaching control off Kyuryuhon on 16 and 17 August, transferring salvage equipment to the Korean Navy, buoying swept channels, and supporting the Inchon landings from 15 September to 15 October with salvage and towing services. Returning to Long Beach, California, 16 June for overhaul, Cree operated alternately at Pearl Harbor and in the Pacific islands and along the west coast until 4 August 1959, when she sailed for duty based on Sasebo, Japan, until 19 December. She returned to west coast operations through September 1960 when she sailed for her 1960-61 Far Eastern tour of duty.
In May 1955 Cree participated in Operation Wigwam, an underwater atomic test off of the coast of California.
During the Vietnam War Cree was part of the "Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club" (the US 7th Fleet) with missions including (but not limited to) chasing trawlers and towing floating barracks across the Pacific.
On the morning of 18 January 1978, Cree released the ex-YO-129 as a target for "live" bombing practice by naval aircraft, while steaming off the coast of southern California. Cree then proceeded north to clear the target area, taking her assigned station, but mistakenly became a target when a "Navy jet aircraft" made an attack run on her at 1206, unleashing three 500 lb bombs on the ship and her crew. One bomb struck the mast and exploded in the air close aboard to starboard, showering the tug with fragments. The second bomb fell along the port side, sliced beneath the ship and exploded underwater off the starboard side, "engulfing" Cree in a wall of water. The third slammed into the ship on the port bow, passing through seven bulkheads in the forward part of the ship, before becoming wedged into the passageway between the chief petty officer's quarters and sick bay, though failing to detonate. The damage to the ship was severe, including holing of the mast, destruction of two life rafts, severing of the emergency power cable and fragment damage above the 01 level. Below decks, the ship's gyro was destroyed by the bomb forward, which also damaged the diving locker and bulkheads. The underwater explosion, however, caused the most serious damage, blasting several holes in bulkheads and splitting seams. Motor room B-2 became "a tangled mass of warped frames," with equipment "wrenched from mountings and broken lines." Flooding in excess of 2,000 gallons per minute was reported.
Going to General Quarters, the crew responded immediately, but during their efforts to save the ship, discovered the live bomb where it wedged forward, just 20 feet (6 m) from where the repair party was stationed. Moving aft away from the 500 pounder, the repair party was temporarily relieved by an EOD team from Enterprise (CVN-65) rushed to Cree. Within 45 minutes the team was on board and able to defuse the bomb (first the EOD team called for a ship's electrician to tape up wires around the bomb. They were afraid that any current left in the wires might set the bomb off. Once the wires were taped they defused the bomb). Seven men of the repair party braved "rising water, leaking fuel and oil from broken lines," as well as the absence of light, entering Motor Room B-2 to battle the flooding for two hours before getting it under control.
Additional ships rendering assistance included USS Long Beach, guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones and tug USS Moctobi, providing portable pumps, gasoline and "other supplies." Taken under tow that evening by John Paul Jones, which transferred her to Moctobi early the next afternoon, Cree returned to San Diego on the 19th, her exhausted crew having battled for 27 hours to keep their ship afloat.
The ship was struck from the Navy List on 21 April 1978, and finally sunk as a target on 27 August 1978.
USS Abnaki (ATF-96) was the lead ship of the Abnaki class of fleet ocean tugs in the service of the United States Navy, named after the Abenaki tribe of Native Americans. She was laid down on 28 November 1942 at Charleston, South Carolina by Charleston Shipbuilding & Drydock, launched on 22 April 1943, sponsored by Mrs. James Mayon Jones, and commissioned at the Charleston Navy Yard on 25 November 1943. Abnaki earned three battle stars for service during the Korean War and 10 battle stars during the Vietnam War.
USS Munsee (AT/ATF-107) was an Abnaki-class fleet ocean tug. She is the only ship of the United States Navy to hold the name Munsee, which is the name of a subtribe of the Delaware Indians, still living in Wisconsin and Kansas.
USS Pakana (AT–108) was an Abnaki-class fleet ocean tug. It was named after the Pakana, a Native American tribe of Texas. This ship saw service in the Pacific theater of World War II, and was later transferred to the United States Bureau of Mines for use in Alaska before being deliberately sunk in 1975.
USS Arikara (AT-98) was an Abnaki-class of fleet ocean tug. It was named after the Arikara, a loose confederacy of sub-tribes of American Indians related to the Pawnee. The Arikara inhabited villages in the Missouri River valley.
USS Quapaw (ATF–110/AT-110) was a Abnaki-class fleet ocean tug in the United States Navy. She was named after the Quapaw.
USS Tekesta (AT-93) was Navajo-class fleet tug built during World War II for the United States Navy. Shortly after being built, it was crewed by trained Navy personnel and sent into the Pacific Ocean to provide tug service to damaged ships in battle areas. For successfully performing this dangerous work, she was awarded four battle stars by the war's end.
USS Chickasaw (AT-83/ATF-83) was a Navajo-class fleet tug constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Pacific Ocean in World War II and the Korean War, and was awarded six battle stars for World War II and two battle stars during the Korean War.
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.
USS Mataco (AT-86/ATF-86) 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 and was awarded five battle stars for World War II, four battle stars for the Korean War, and seven campaign stars for Vietnam War service.
USS Yuma (AT-94/ATF-94/T-ATF-94) was a Navajo-class fleet tugboat constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the second U.S. Navy ship named for the Yuma tribe of Arizona.
USS Kewaydin (AT-24) was an Bagaduce-class fleet tug laid down for the U.S. Navy in the closing days of World War I and continued in operation throughout World War II.
USS Arapaho (AT-68/ATF-68) was a Navajo-class fleet ocean tug which served the U.S. Navy during World War II with her towing services. She was assigned initially to support the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and was eventually assigned to support Allied forces in the war zones of the Pacific Ocean, resulting in her crew returning home after the war with four battle stars to their credit.
USS Apache (AT-67/ATF-67) was a Navajo-class fleet tug, later fleet ocean tug, in commission in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1974. She saw service in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
USS Tawakoni (ATF-114) was an Abnaki-class fleet ocean tug that served on active duty with the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1978, seeing action in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. After thirty-four years of service, she was sold to the Republic of China Navy (Taiwan), where she served until November 2020.
ARA Suboficial Castillo (A-6) was an Abnaki-class tug/patrol boat of the Argentine Navy. She previously served in the United States Navy as USS Takelma (ATF-113) from 1944 to 1992. The ship was acquired by Argentina in 1993 and was in service until the 2020s. In 2022, the ship was put up for sale. Suboficial Castillo was used as support ship for both the Argentine Submarine Force and during the summer campaigns in Antarctica in the Patrulla Antártica Naval Combinada with the Chilean Navy to guarantee safety to all touristic and scientific ships that are in transit within the Antarctic Peninsula.
USS Avoyel (ATF-150) was a Navajo-class fleet tug built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Molala (AT-106/ATF-106) was a US Navy Abnaki-class tugboat, named after the Molala people of Oregon.
USS Moctobi (ATF-105) was an Abnaki-class of fleet ocean tug. She served in World War II, Vietnam, and Korea, the last two of which she received battle stars. She was scrapped in 2012.
USS Hitchiti (ATF-103) was Abnaki-class tugboat during the World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The ship was later sold to Mexico as ARM Chac (R-55). Her namesake is a tribe of Creek Indians who lived in Florida and Georgia. The word "Hitchiti" means "to look up the stream."
USS Jicarilla (ATF-104) was Abnaki-class tugboat during the World War II. The ship was later sold to Colombia as ARC Sebastián De Belalcázar (RM-73). Her namesake is a group of the Apache tribe found in the southwestern United States.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.