USS Chain
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:USNS Chain (T-AGOR-17) underway c1961.jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1943}} |Ship name= |Ship namesake= |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Basalt Rock Company |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=date unknown |Ship launched=3 April 1943 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=*USS Chain (ARS-20),
|Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=9 November 1946 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service=*USNS Chain (T-AGOR-17)
|Ship out of service=Unknown |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck=30 December 1977 |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification={{IMO|7738515}} |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Scrapped, June 1979 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= |Ship tonnage=1,441 tons |Ship displacement=1,630 tons |Ship length={{convert|213|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|39|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|14|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=diesel-electric, twin screws, 2,780hp |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed=15 knots |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=120 |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=four 40 mm guns, four M2 Browning machine guns |Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
USS Chain (ARS-20/T-AGOR-17) was a Diver-class rescue and salvage ship commissioned by the United States Navy during World War II. Her task was to come to the aid of stricken vessels.
Chain (ARS 20) was launched 3 June 1943 by Basalt Rock Company in Napa, California; sponsored by Mrs. P. F. Roach; and commissioned 31 March 1944.
World War II service
Chain sailed from San Diego, California on 14 May 1944, bound for the Panama Canal, and Trinidad, which she reached 2 June. She towed barge YF-324 to Recife, Brazil, where on 2 July she joined the U.S. 4th Fleet for operations as tug and salvage ship from Recife and Bahia, Brazil, until 18 June 1945, when she cleared Recife for Norfolk, Virginia. Her essential support played an important, if humble, part in enabling the 4th Fleet to carry out its mission of protecting the South Atlantic Ocean.
= Convoying Italian submarines =
After overhaul and training at Norfolk, on 22 September 1945 Chain cleared for Key West, Florida, where she made rendezvous with three Italian submarines. Sailing east, her little convoy was enlarged by four additional Italian submarines at Bermuda, and she arrived at Taranto, Italy, with her charges 3 November. Chain returned by way of Palermo, Sicily, where she took the covered lighter YF-445 in tow,{{Cite web |title=USS CHAIN – War Diary, 11/1-30/45 |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77602544?objectPage=2 |website=National Archives}} to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving 31 December 1945.
Grounded in Block Island Sound
Chain operated along the U.S. East Coast, towing barges and decommissioned ships until she grounded in Block Island Sound 29 March 1946. Quickly floated by Coast Guard Cutter Dix, Chain{{'s}} bottom was heavily damaged, and from 3 April until 25 June, she was repaired at New London, Connecticut.
Post-war decommissioning
She left New London astern 25 June, steaming to Orange, Texas, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 9 November 1946.
Reassignment as research vessel
She was assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) in 1958, and reclassified Oceanographic Research Ship USNS Chain (T-AGOR-17). She was operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute as one of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System research vessels.{{cite web |title=Historical List of all UNOLS Vessels |publisher=University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System |url=https://www.unols.org/ships-facilities/unols-vessels/historical-list-all-unols-vessels |access-date=13 September 2019}}
Final decommissioning
Chain was struck from the Naval Register on 30 December 1977 and scrapped in June 1979.
References
{{reflist}}
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c5/chain.htm}}
External links
- {{navsource|09/37/3720|Chain}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20111010123441/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencysmall/basalt.htm] Basalt Rock Company Shipbuilding History
{{Diver class rescue ships}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chain (ARS-20}}
Category:Diver-class rescue and salvage ships
Category:Ships built in Napa, California
Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States
Category:University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System research vessels