USS Bannock
{{short description|Tugboat of the United States Navy}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:USSBannockATF-81.jpg |Ship caption=Bannock in 1944 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1955}} |Ship name=USS Bannock |Ship namesake=Bannock (tribe) |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=7 January 1943 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=28 June 1943 |Ship recommissioned=11 September 1951 |Ship decommissioned=25 November 1955 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified=Fleet Ocean Tug (ATF-81), 15 May 1944 |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours=two battle stars World War II |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Sold for scrap, late 1950s |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|Cherokee|fleet tug}} |Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement=1,646 tons |Ship length={{convert|205|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|38|ft|6|in|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft={{convert|15|ft|3|in|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=diesel-electric, four General Motors 12-278A main diesel engines driving four General Electric generators and three General Motors 3-268A auxiliary services engines, single screw, {{convert|3600|shp|lk=in|abbr=on}} |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed={{convert|16|kn|km/h|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=8 Officers, 68 Enlisted |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=one single 3"/50 caliber gun/50 gun mount, two twin 40 mm gun mounts, two single 20 mm guns |Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
USS Bannock (AT-81/ATF-81) was an ocean-going tug launched 7 January 1943 by Charleston Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Charleston, SC, sponsored by Mrs. Katherine Carswell, widow of Chief Petty Officer Carswell. She was commissioned 28 June 1943 and reported to the Atlantic Fleet. The ship was named for the Bannock Indian tribe in southern Idaho.
Service history
Until April 1944 Bannock engaged in towing along the East Coast and in the Caribbean. On 19 April 1944 she arrived in England and, until June, towed ships and barges in preparation for the invasion of Europe. On 15 May 1944 her designation was changed to ATF-81.
Between 6 June and 21 July Bannock conducted salvage, repair, towing, and fire fighting operations on United States and British Navy ships during and subsequent to the invasion of Normandy. She returned to Boston 26 August 1944 and remained on the East Coast until December when she proceeded to the Pacific. Departing Pearl Harbor 9 February 1945 Bannock sailed to the Western Pacific where, between 6 May and 30 June 1945, she participated in the assault and occupation of Okinawa.
Bannock continued to operate throughout the Western Pacific until 22 January 1946. In the early months of 1946 she worked her way eastward across the Pacific, arriving at San Diego in May. Following pre-inactivation overhaul, she was placed out of commission in reserve 21 February 1947 at Orange, TX.
Bannock was recommissioned 11 September 1951 and reported to the Atlantic Fleet. Between September 1951 and November 1955 she had general and target towing duty along the Eastern Seaboard. She once again went out of commission in reserve 25 November 1955.
Bannock was disposed of through the Security Assistance Program (SAP) on 1 May 1979 to the Italian Coast Guard for service as the oceanographic research ship C.P. 451 Bannock.
Bannock received two battle stars for her service during World War II.
References
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{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/bannock-i.html}}
{{Navajo class tugs}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannock (ATF-81)}}
Category:Cherokee-class fleet tugs
Category:Ships built in Charleston, South Carolina
Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States
Category:Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Italian Navy