USS Naubuc (AN-84)

Last updated
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameNaubuc
NamesakeA town in Hartford County, Connecticut
BuilderMarine Iron and Shipbuilding Company, Duluth, Minnesota
Laid down31 December 1943
Launched15 April 1944
Sponsored byMrs. Harold E. Ford
Commissioned15 March 1945
Decommissioned6 September 1946
Stricken1 September 1962
Identification
  • YN-109 (31 December 1943)
  • AN-84 (15 March 1945)
Stricken1 September 1962
Reinstated1 June 1967
IdentificationYRST-4 (March 1968)
Stricken1 September 1975
FateSold, 1 September 1975, for scrapping
General characteristics
Class and type Cohoes-class net laying ship
Displacement
  • 775 tons
  • 873 after conversion
Length
  • 168 ft 6 in (51.36 m)
  • 105.5 ft (32.2 m) after conversion
Beam33 ft 10 in (10.31 m)
Draft10 ft 10 in (3.30 m)
Propulsion Diesel-electric, 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)
Speed12.3 knots (22.8 km/h; 14.2 mph)
Complement46 officers and enlisted
Armament

USS Naubuc (YN-109/AN-84/YRST-4) 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 due to the war coming to an end, and she was inactivated only to be commissioned again some time later as a tender for salvage craft. [1]

Contents

Construction and career

The second ship to be so named by the Navy, Naubuc was laid down on 31 December 1943 with the identification number YN–109 by the Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Co., Duluth, Minnesota. The ship was launched on 15 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Harold E. Ford; and commissioned on 15 March 1945, Lt. (jg.) W. M. Bauer in command with the identification number AN-84. [1]

Following a delayed shakedown off the U.S. East Coast, Naubuc departed Boston, Massachusetts on 24 April 1945, en route to California. Arriving at San Pedro, California on 7 June, she completed intensive net training drills and headed west, anchoring in Pearl Harbor 17 July. [1]

By 1 August she was at Eniwetok, whence she continued on to the Philippines, performing her specialized services of laying and tending protective nets around ships arid across harbor entrances at Leyte until after the cessation of hostilities. Encoute to CONUS in October, she stopped at Kwajalein and Pearl Harbor, arriving at San Francisco, California, 1 December. [1]

On completion of an abbreviated tour in the Panama Canal Zone, Naubus reported at San Diego, California, 2 January 1946, for duty in the 11th Naval District. [1]

Post-war inactivation

Ordered to Seattle, Washington, for inactivation the following month, she decommissioned and entered the 19th Fleet, at Astoria, Oregon, 6 September 1946. She remained in the Columbia River Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet, until struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 September 1962. She was then transferred to the custody of the U.S. Maritime Administration and placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. [1]

Reinstatement as a tender

Reacquired five years later, Naubuc was reinstated to the Naval Vessel Register 1 June 1967 arid scheduled to be converted to a Salvage Craft Tender. In March 1968 she was reclassified (ARST–4) and assigned to the 13th Naval District for conversion. [1]

Cable laying/implantment vessel

During conversion Naubuc was essentially rebuilt. All original propulsion and steering machinery was removed and the ship reequipped for precise navigation and station keeping. Propulsion and steering was by means of four 12-cylinder diesel engines that powered four rotating thrusters mounted on vertical shafts. She was configured as a cable laying and implantment vessel with a cable drum located in the bow along with a cable guide going over the stern. The four thrusters allowed the vessel to stay "on station". When underway, however, only the two bow or stern thrusters were operated at any one time. The vertical thruster shafts increased the vessel's draft significantly. The thrusters were easily damaged by impact with the bottom. [2] [3] The conversion radically changed the outward appearance of the vessel and the length was shortened to 105.5 ft (32.2 m) with 873 tons displacement. [4] [5]

The vessel was put into service by the Military Sealift Command as USNS Naubuc operated under contract with the Navy's Supervisor of Salvage by Merritt Division of Pacific Marine Salvage Company assigned to Naval Underwater Systems Center (NUSC). [2] [3]

Naubuc was assigned to implant and lay cable off Bermuda for the Long Range Acoustic Propagation Project (LRAPP) Test Bed three dimensional suspended array that took place in December 1970. The array reused components of the earlier unsuccessful Sea Spider acoustic experiment array that was attempted in 1969 north of Hawaii in the Pacific. The Bermuda array reused Sea Spider components and was essentially the same trapezoidal taut cable configuration anchored in 14,400 ft (4,389.1 m) of water with the 3,000 ft (914.4 m) horizontal component suspended 3,800 ft (1,158.2 m) below the surface. The Test Bed array was successfully planted but it was not successful due to cable shorts caused by twisting and kinking of the cable to shore. [3] [6]

During the summer of 1971 the vessel supported CURV III in recovery of inoperative underwater acoustic array towers of the Azores Fixed Acoustic Range (AFAR) in the Azores off Santa Maria Island. [2] Naubuc was last used as a support vessel for a cable underwater recovery vehicle in the Tongue of the Ocean, off Andros Island.[ citation needed ]

Final decommissioning

On 1 September 1975 Naubuc was struck from the Navy List and sold by Navy Sale. [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

SOSUS Cold war passive, fixed array undersea surveillance system.

The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was a passive sonar system developed by the United States Navy to track Soviet submarines. The system's true nature was classified with the name and acronym SOSUS themselves classified. The unclassified name Project Caesar was used to cover the installation of the system and a cover story developed regarding the shore stations, identified only as a Naval Facility (NAVFAC), being for oceanographic research. In 1985, as the fixed bottom arrays were supplemented by the mobile Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) and other new systems were coming on line, the name itself changed to Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS). The commands and personnel were covered by the "oceanographic" term until 1991 when the mission was declassified. As a result, the commands, Oceanographic System Atlantic and Oceanographic System Pacific became Undersea Surveillance Atlantic and Undersea Surveillance Pacific, and personnel were able to wear insignia reflecting the mission.

USS Nahant (YN-102/AN-83) was the third ship to be named Nahant. Originally the ship was authorized as YN-102, Nahant was reclassified AN–83 on 20 January 1944; laid down 31 March 1945 by the Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon; launched 30 June 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Hazel H. Childs; and commissioned 24 August 1945, Ensign R. F. Cella in command.

USS <i>Zebra</i> (AKN-5) Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Zebra (AKN-5) was an Indus-class net cargo ship in the service of the United States Navy in World War II. The ship was originally the Matthew Lyon, an EC2-S-C1 Liberty ship, operated for the War Shipping Administration (WSA) as a cargo vessel by an agent until severely damaged by torpedo in August 1943. While at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides awaiting likely scrapping the Navy acquired the vessel under bareboat charter to be used as a net cargo ship transporting reclaimed anti-submarine netting.

USS <i>Thor</i> Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Thor was a cable repair ship that supported Project Caesar, the unclassified name for installation of the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS). Originally the Artemis-class attack cargo ship Vanadis (AKA-49) which was briefly in commission from 9 July 1945 to 27 March 1946, it was converted in 1955 after nine years in the reserve fleet.

USS <i>Cree</i> (ATF-84) Tugboat of the United States Navy

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.

USS <i>Widgeon</i> (AM-22) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Widgeon (AM-22/ASR-1) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. Later converted to a submarine rescue ship. Widgeon was named by the Navy after the widgeon, a freshwater duck.

USS <i>Viking</i> (ARS-1) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Flamingo (AM-32) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy near the end of World War I. After service overseas clearing mines after the Armistice, the ship was laid up until 1922 when she was transferred to the United States Department of Commerce for use by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Renamed USC&GS Guide, the ship operated as a survey vessel along the West Coast of the United States for 17 years, making significant contributions to navigation, hydrographic surveying, and oceanography. In June 1941, Guide was transferred back to the Navy, converted into a salvage ship, and renamed USS Viking (ARS-1). As Viking, she worked primarily from bases in California until 1953, when she was sold for scrapping.

USNS <i>Neptune</i>

USNS Neptune (ARC-2), was the lead ship in her class of cable repair ships in U.S. Naval service. The ship was built by Pusey & Jones Corp. of Wilmington, Delaware, Hull Number 1108, as the USACS William H. G. Bullard named for Rear Adm. William H. G. Bullard. She was the first of two Maritime Commission type S3-S2-BP1 ships built for the US Army Signal Corps near the end of World War II. The other ship was the Albert J. Myer, which later joined her sister ship in naval service as the USNS Albert J. Myer (T-ARC-6). The ship was built by Pusey & Jones Corp. of Wilmington, Delaware as Hull Number 1108.

USS <i>Aeolus</i> (ARC-3) Attack cargo ship converted into a cable repair ship

USS Aeolus (ARC-3) began service as USS Turandot (AKA-47), an Artemis-class attack cargo ship built by the Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc. of Providence, Rhode Island. In 1954 she was converted into a cable repair ship to support Project Caesar, the unclassified name for installation of the Sound Surveillance System SOSUS. Aeolus was the first of two ships, the other being USS Thor (ARC-4), to be converted into cable ships. Aeolus performed cable duties for nearly thirty years, from 1955 to 1973 as a commissioned ship and from 1973 until 1985 as the civilian crewed USNS Aeolus (T-ARC=3) of the Military Sealift Command (MSC). The ship was retired in 1985 and sunk as an artificial reef in 1988.

USS <i>Portunus</i> (ARC-1)

USS Portunus (ARC-1) was an LSM-1-class landing ship medium acquired by the U.S. Navy for use during World War II as a landing craft for troops and, later, as a cable repair ship.

USS <i>Hunting</i>

USS Hunting (E-AG-398) was built as the LSM-1-class landing ship medium LSM-398 at the Charleston Navy Yard and launched in the first week of 1945. After service in the Atlantic as a landing ship the vessel was converted in 1953 to a sonar research vessel for the Naval Research Laboratory. Hunting was unique among Navy research vessels of the time in having a center well through which large towed "fish" could be transported and lowered to operating depths. The work contributed to sonar improvements and understanding ocean acoustics.

USS Chinquapin (YN-12/AN-17) was an Aloe-class net laying ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. Originally ordered as USS Fir (YN-2), she was renamed and renumbered to Chinquapin (YN-12) in October 1940 before construction began. She was launched in July 1941, and completed in October 1941. Placed in service at that time without being commissioned, she was commissioned in January 1943, and decommissioned in March 1946. She was placed in reserve at that time and scrapped in 1976.

USS Catclaw (AN-60/YN-81) was an Ailanthus-class net laying ship which served with the U.S. Navy during World War II. Catclaw served in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean theatres of the war. Post-war she was decommissioned in China, and transferred to the Republic of China.

USS Satinleaf (AN-43/YN-62) was an Ailanthus-class net laying ship which served with the U.S. Navy in the western Pacific Ocean theatre of operations during World War II. Her career was without major incident, and she returned home safely after the war with two battle stars to her credit.

USS Hackberry (YN-20/AN-25) was an Aloe-class net laying ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally ordered and laid down as USS Maple (YN-20) but renamed shortly before her October 1941 launch. She was later transferred to the French Navy as Araignée (A727).

USS Larch (AN-21/YN-16) was an Aloe-class net laying ship which was assigned to serve the U.S. Navy during World War II with her protective anti-submarine nets.

USS Cinchona (AN-12/YN-7) was an Aloe-class net laying ship which was assigned to serve the U.S. Navy during World War II with her protective anti-submarine nets.

USS Oneota (YN-110/AN-85) 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 due to the war coming to an end, but she was retained post-war sufficiently long to participate in atomic testing at Bikini Atoll.

USS Passaconaway (YN-114/AN-86) – sometimes called USS Skakamaxon -- 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 due to the war coming to an end, but, post-war, she continued salvage operations, including those at Bikini Atoll, before being struck from the Navy in 1947.

Mine planter

Mine planter and the earlier "torpedo planter" was a term used for mine warfare ships into the early days of World War I. In later terminology, particularly in the United States, a mine planter was a ship specifically designed to install controlled mines or contact mines in coastal fortifications. This type of ship diverged in both function and design from a ship operating as a naval minelayer. Though the vessel may be seagoing it is not designed to lay large numbers of mines in open sea. A mine planter was designed to place controlled minefields in exact locations so that they might be fired individually or as a group from shore when observers noted a target to be at or near a designated mine's position. The terms and types of specialized ship existed from the 1860s where "torpedoes" were made famous in the American Civil War until the demise of large, fixed coastal fortifications brought on by the changes of World War II.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Naval History And Heritage Command (August 12, 2015). "Naubuc II (AN-84)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "NAUBUC/CURV III Partnership". The Faceplate. Vol. 3, no. 1. Washington, D.C.: Supervisor of Diving. Spring 1972. pp. 12–13. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 TECHNICAL DIAGNOSTIC ANALYSIS OF LRAPP TEST BED PROGRAM FAILURE (Report). 2 August 1971. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  4. ↑ Priolo, Gary P. "Photo — YRST-4 ex USS Naubuc (AN-84) (1945 - 1968)". NavSource Online. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  5. ↑ "Oceanographic Resources of Washington — Table 10". U. S. Department of Commerce NOAA. 30 June 1971. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  6. ↑ LRAPP Test Bed Array Cable Failure Analysis (PDF) (Report). 30 July 1971. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 1, 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "Naval Vessel Register — Vessels Names - N". NAVSEA Shipbuilding Support Office. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  8. ↑ Priolo, Gary P. (23 September 2016). "YRST-4 ex USS Naubuc (AN-84) (1945 - 1968)". NavSource Online. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.