History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Menemsha |
Namesake | Menemsha Pond, a bight in Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts |
Owner | Bison Steamship Corporation |
Builder | McDougall-Duluth Co., Duluth, Minnesota |
Launched | 31 July 1918 |
Completed | in October 1918 as SS Lake Orange |
Acquired | by the Navy 19 September 1941 |
Commissioned | 20 January 1942 as USS Menemsha (AG-39) |
Recommissioned | 22 October 1943 as USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274) |
Decommissioned | date unknown |
Renamed | USS Menemsha (AG-39), 15 October 1941 |
Stricken | 30 October 1943 |
Fate | Scrapped in 1951 |
General characteristics | |
Type | commercial cargo ship |
Displacement | 2,580 tons |
Length | 261 ft (80 m) |
Beam | 43 ft 6 in (13.26 m) |
Draft | 20 ft 3 in (6.17 m) |
Propulsion | triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, single shaft, 1,200shp |
Speed | 10 knots |
Complement | 58 officers and enlisted |
Armament | one single 4 in (100 mm) gun mount; four single .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine guns; two depth charge projectors |
USS Menemsha (AG-39) was a cargo ship acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was used as a weather-gathering ship, a patrol craft and convoy escort vessel in the North Atlantic Ocean. Although a Navy ship, she was operated by the U.S. Coast Guard, and eventually was transferred to that agency as USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274).
Ordered as the Menemsha (AG-39) was built and launched as the Lake Orange by McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company, Duluth, Minnesota, in 1918; purchased as John Gehm by the Maritime Commission from her owners, Bison Steamship Corp., Buffalo, New York, in 1941; acquired by the Navy 19 September 1941; renamed Menemsha and classified AG-39 on 15 October 1941; converted from a lake cargo hauler to a weather patrol ship by Maryland Drydock Company. Baltimore, Maryland; and commissioned under loan to the U.S. Coast Guard 20 January 1942.
Assigned to duty with the North Atlantic Weather Patrol, Menemsha patrolled various at sea weather stations out of Boston, Massachusetts, and Argentia, Newfoundland. Averaging about 3 weeks a patrol, she braved the perils of the storm tossed North Atlantic Ocean and the menace of German U-boats to gather valuable weather data from her isolated positions.
In addition, Menemsha maintained a constant alert for the enemy undersea raiders as well as for survivors from torpedoed ships. While patrolling south of Newfoundland 20 August 1942, she rescued the only five survivors from the British merchant ship Arletta, torpedoed by U-458 on 4 August while a straggler from Convoy ON 115. Menemsha returned the survivors to Boston 25 August.
Almost 1 year later, Menemsha, on a weather patrol, sighted a German submarine. As she steamed about midway between the Virginia Capes and the Azores on the moonlit night of 11 August 1943, her lookout spotted a surfaced sub, U-760, about 6,000 yards off her starboard bow. She closed for attack and began shelling the U-boat with 4 inch gunfire. During the next half-hour she chased the enemy which responded with "incoherent recognition signals" rather than with torpedoes or return fire. The determined weather patrol ship fired 20 rounds, one of which struck close aboard the fleeing sub's conning tower.
Menemsha broke off attack after suspecting the presence of other enemy U-boats in the area. She rendezvoused with a hunter killer group, headed by USS Croatan, at noon the 12th; however, patrolling aircraft and escorting destroyers failed to flush U-760, who interned herself on the Spanish coast 8 September.
The Navy transferred Menemsha to the Coast Guard 22 October 1943 and she was commissioned as USCGC Menemsha (WAG 274). Her name was struck from the Navy List 30 October 1943. After long and valuable service in the Coast Guard, she was scrapped in 1951.
The second USS Absecon (AVP-23) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1947, converted during construction to serve as a catapult training ship during World War II. The ship was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Absecon (WAVP-374), later WHEC-374, from 1949 to 1972. Transferred to South Vietnam in 1972, she served in the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Pham Ngu Lao (HQ-15) until she was captured by North Vietnam at the conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975. After that, she served in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's Vietnam People's Navy as PRVSN Pham Ngu Lao (HQ-01).
USS Du Pont (DD–152) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II, later reclassified as AG-80. She was the second ship named for Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont.
The first USS Patterson (DD-36) was a modified Paulding-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and later in the United States Coast Guard, designated as CG-16. She was named for Daniel Patterson.
The USCGC Escanaba (WPG-77) was a 165 ft (50 m) "A" type United States Coast Guard cutter stationed on the Great Lakes from her commissioning in 1932 until the start of U.S. military involvement in World War II in 1941. With the outbreak of war, Escanaba redeployed to participate in the Battle of the Atlantic, during the course of which she was ultimately lost with nearly all hands. Struck by either a torpedo or mine in the early morning of 13 June 1943, while serving as a convoy escort, Escanaba suffered a fiery explosion and sank within minutes, leaving only two survivors and one body out of her 105-man crew to be found on the surface by rescuers.
USS Lowe (DE-325) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 and from 1955 to 1968. Between 1951 and 1954 she was loaned to the U.S. Coast Guard as USCGC Lowe (WDE-425). She was scrapped in 1969.
USCGC Campbell (WPG-32) was a 327-foot (100 m) Secretary-class United States Coast Guard ship built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1935-1936 and commissioned in 1936. Seven similar "combat cutters" were built and named for secretaries of the United States Treasury.
The third USS Calypso (AG-35) was launched 6 January 1932 for the United States Coast Guard as USCGC Calypso (WPC-104) by the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. She was initially stationed at San Diego, California, and transferred to Baltimore, Maryland in 1938. She was transferred from the Coast Guard to the U.S. Navy on 17 May 1941 and commissioned the same day.
USS Manasquan (AG-36) was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy at the end of World War I, and was reacquired during World War II and converted into a meteorological patrol vessel, and was also used in testing radio navigation systems.
USS Monomoy (AG-40) was a commercial cargo ship acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was outfitted with guns and depth charges and sent into the dangerous waters of the North Atlantic Ocean to furnish data used to predict storm movement and severe weather conditions to safeguard the continuous movement of merchant convoys, naval warships, and airplanes between North America and the United Kingdom, Murmansk, and other destinations. She served as an escort vessel when required. She was manned by a U.S. Coast Guard crew and was eventually transferred to that agency as USCGC Monomoy (WAG-275).
USS Manhasset (AG-47/YAG-8) – later known as USCGC Manhasset (WIX-276) – was a commercial cargo ship leased by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was armed with guns and depth charges and was used as a weather patrol ship, a convoy escort, and as a patrol craft. She experienced action in the dangerous North Atlantic Ocean, but returned home safely after war's end.
USS Muskeget (AG-48) – originally USS YAG-9 – was a former commercial cargo ship acquired by the United States Navy in 1941 for use during World War II. She was outfitted with a variety of guns, depth charge tracks, Y-guns, and Mousetrap and placed in service as a patrol vessel. Transferred to the United States Coast Guard for use as a weather ship in the North Atlantic Ocean and renamed USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48), she disappeared in September 1942 with the loss of all on board, the only U.S. weather ship lost during World War II. It was later determined that she had been sunk by a German submarine.
USS Humboldt (AVP-21) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1941 to 1947 that served in the Atlantic during World War II. She was briefly reclassified as a miscellaneous auxiliary and redesignated AG-121 during 1945. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Humboldt (WAVP-372), later WHEC-372, from 1949 to 1969.
USS Matagorda (AVP-22/AG-122) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1941 to 1946 that saw service in World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Matagorda (WAVP-373), later WHEC-373, from 1949 to 1967.
USS Rockaway (AVP-29), later AG-123, was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1946. She served in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean during World War II. In 1948, she was loaned to the United States Coast Guard, in which she served as the cutter USCGC Rockaway (WAVP-377), later WAGO-377, WHEC-377, and WOLE-377, from 1949 to 1972.
USCGC Tampa was a United States Coast Guard Cutter that served in the United States Coast Guard from 1921 to 1941, and then in the United States Navy from 1941 to 1947.
USS Forsyth (PF-102) was a United States Navy Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1945 to 1946, which saw service in the final months of World War II and the first months of the postwar period. After her Navy career concluded, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Forsyth (WPF-102) from March to August 1946. In 1947 she was sold to the Government of the Netherlands, for which she served as the civilian weather ship SS Cumulus from 1947 to 1963.
USCGC Comanche (WPG-76) was a United States Coast Guard cutter built by Pusey & Jones Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware, and launched 6 September 1934. She was commissioned on 1 December 1934. She was used extensively during World War II for convoy operations to Greenland and as a part of the Greenland Patrol.
USCGC General Greene (WPC/WSC/WMEC-140), was a 125 ft (38 m) United States Coast Guard Active-class patrol boat, in commission from 1927 to 1968 and the fourth cutter to bear the name of the famous Revolutionary War general, Nathanael Greene. She served during the Rum Patrol, World War II and into the 1960s performing defense, law enforcement, ice patrol, and search and rescue missions.
Vice Admiral James Albert Hirshfield was the sixth Assistant Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. During World War II he was the commanding officer of the USCGC Campbell (WPG-32) during a battle with German U-boats, earning the Navy Cross.
The SS Samoa was a 1,997-ton cargo ship that was able to escape an attack off the coast of California in the early days of World War II. The Samoa was built under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract in 1918 as the SS Muerthe, but was launched as the USS Lake Pepin, named after Lake Pepin, by the McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company of Duluth, Minnesota measured at 3,600 tons deadweight. She had a triple expansion engine steam engine with 1,250 horsepower (930 kW), a 251-foot (77 m) length, 43.5-foot (13.3 m) beam, a draft of 17 feet 8+1⁄2 inches (5.398 m), a top speed of 9.25 knots. The vessel had a crew of 52, with the hull # 9 and O.N.ID # 21699. The USS Lake Pepin was owned and operated by the United States Navy, commissioned at Montreal, Quebec, Canada on 4 September 1918. For World War I she was fitted with one 3"/50 caliber gun. The Navy put her in Naval Overseas Transportation Service as a coal carrier traveling between the United Kingdom and France as a United States Navy Temporary auxiliary ship. Her coal service ended in May 1919. In June 1919 she returned to the US with a cargo of World War I vehicles and weapons and unused ammunition. The US Navy decommissioned the Lake Pepin on 18 June 1919. In 1923 she was, renamed Samoa purchased and operated by the Hammond Lumber Company. In 1936 she was sold to the Wheeler Logging Company of Portland, Oregon. In February of 1941 she was sold to W. A. Schaefer Company.