USS Penobscot (ATA-188)
{{short description|Tugboat of the United States Navy}}
{{other ships|USS Penobscot}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header = |Ship country = United States |Ship flag = {{USN flag|1945}} |Ship name = |Ship namesake = An Indian tribe of Algonquian stock, inhabitants of eastern Maine |Ship owner = |Ship operator = |Ship registry = |Ship route = |Ship ordered = |Ship awarded = |Ship builder = Levingston Shipbuilding Company, Orange, Texas |Ship original cost = |Ship yard number = |Ship way number = |Ship laid down = 11 September 1944 as Rescue Ocean Tug (ATR-115) |Ship launched = 12 October 1944 |Ship sponsor = |Ship christened = as ATR–115 |Ship completed = |Ship acquired = |Ship commissioned = |Ship recommissioned = |Ship decommissioned = |Ship maiden voyage = |Ship in service = 12 December 1944 as USS ATA-188 |Ship out of service = 1971 |Ship renamed = USS Penobscot (ATA-188) 16 July 1948 |Ship reclassified = |Ship refit = |Ship struck = 28 February 1975 |Ship reinstated = |Ship homeport = *Pearl Harbor, Hawaii |Ship identification = *{{IMO Number|8424226}}
|Ship motto = |Ship nickname = |Ship honours = |Ship honors = |Ship captured = |Ship fate = sold c. 1975; in commercial service |Ship notes = |Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header = |Header caption = |Ship class = Sotoyomo |Ship type = Auxiliary ocean tugboat |Ship tonnage = 534 tons |Ship displacement = |Ship length = {{cvt|143|ft}} |Ship beam = {{cvt|33|ft}} |Ship height = |Ship draught = |Ship draft = {{cvt|13|ft}} |Ship depth = |Ship hold depth = |Ship decks = |Ship deck clearance = |Ship ramps = |Ship ice class = |Ship power = |Ship propulsion = diesel-electric engines, single screw |Ship sail plan = |Ship speed = 13 knots |Ship range = |Ship endurance = |Ship test depth = |Ship boats = |Ship capacity = |Ship troops = |Ship complement = 45 officers and enlisted |Ship crew = |Ship time to activate = |Ship sensors = |Ship EW = |Ship armament = one single 3"/50 caliber gun gun mount and two twin 40 mm gun mounts |Ship armour = |Ship armor = |Ship aircraft = |Ship aircraft facilities = |Ship notes = }} |
USS Penobscot (ATA-188/ATR–115) -- a Sotoyomo-class auxiliary fleet tug—was originally placed in service by the U.S. Navy as USS ATA–188 until she was renamed USS Penobscot (ATA-188) 16 July 1948. She served in the Pacific Ocean during World War II, and on the U.S. East Coast after the war’s end. She was finally decommissioned in 1971.
Built in Orange, Texas
The third ship to be so named by the U.S. Navy, Penobscot (ATA–188), an auxiliary ocean tug, was laid down as ATR–115 by Levingston Shipbuilding Company, Orange, Texas, 11 September 1944; launched 12 October; and placed in service 12 December.
World War II service
Following shakedown Penobscot was designated for duty in the Far East. Assigned homeyard at Pearl Harbor, she provided extensive advanced base towing services and called at numerous islands as events in the march towards victory in the Pacific reached a crescendo. With the end of hostilities, the ocean tug operated for a short time out of Chinese ports.
Post-war service
In April 1946 Penobscot returned to home waters and was assigned to the 3rd Naval District. From this point she commenced a lengthy career of east coast towing operations. As a 3rd Naval District ship homeported at New York City and berthed at the Naval Supply Center, Bayonne, New Jersey, she spent an average of half of each year away from home port, ranging from Maine to the Caribbean Islands.
In addition to towing assignments, Penobscot conducted torpedo and naval mine recovery operations, and provided a wide range of services to ships of the Fleet. One demonstration of her operational flexibility occurred in May 1967 when she assisted USNS Mission Capistrano in oceanographic research off Bermuda.
In July 1967 she shifted from the 3rd Naval District List to the Service Force, Atlantic Fleet. After overhaul at Coastal Shipyard and Drydock Company, Staten Island, New York, that autumn, Penobscot resumed her multifarious tasks, nearly every aspect of which involves the rendering of service to the Fleet.
Decommissioning
After being decommissioned in 1971, she was laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and was sold after being struck from the Navy List 28 February 1975.
As of 2014 she was in commercial service under then name American Lady.{{cite web|url=http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1962018|title=AMERICAN LADY|website=ShipSpotting|access-date=12 April 2018}}
References
- {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p4/penobscot-iii.htm}}
- [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/38/38188.htm NavSource Online: USS Penobscot (ATA-188) – ex - USS ATA-188 (1944 - 1948)]
{{Sotoyomo class tug}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penobscot}}
Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States