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U.S.S. SALISH
(ATA-187)Click to view crew list
USS SALISH (ATA-187) - a Sotoyomo-class auxiliary fleet tug
In Commission 1944 to 1972ATA-187 Deployments - Major Events
Add a ATA-187 Shellback Initiation | Add a ATA-187 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUG | 1944 | - | Keel Date: 29 AUG 1944 | ||
SEP | 1944 | - | Launch Date: 29 SEP 1944 | ||
DEC | 1944 | - | Commissioned: 7 DEC 1944 | ||
MAY | 1959 | - | JUN | 1959 | Tongue of the Ocean Bahamas. Deep Sea 3 Point Mooring |
JUN | 1960 | - | DEC | 1960 | Project Artemus/Install Argus Island Bermuda |
OCT | 1963 | - | OCT | 1963 | Towing ex USS FOGG from Norfolk Va. ran into Hurricane Ginny |
FEB | 1972 | - | Decommissioned: 10 FEB 1972 | ||
FEB | 1972 | - | FEB | 1972 | Transferred to Argentina Navy as :ARA Alferez Sobral A-9 |
ATA-187 General Specifications
Complement: 45 to 49 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 835 tons
Length: 143 feet
Beam: 33 feet 10 inches
Draft: 13 feet 2 in
Flank Speed: 13 knots
USS SALISH (ATA-187)
ATA-187 (ex-ATR-114) was laid down on 29 August 1944 by the Levingston Shipbuilding Co.,
Orange, Tex.; launched on 29 September
1944; and commissioned on 7 December
1944, Lt. Thomas G. Lewis in command.
Designated for duty with
Service Division 101 in the Pacific, ATA-187 completed shakedown
early in January 1945, and departed New
Orleans for Hawaii on the 18th with APL-10
in tow. She reached Pearl Harbor on 4 March; exchanged the barracks ship
for two lighters; and continued across
the Pacific. At Guam, she changed tows
again and sailed for the Ryukyus pulling two floating derricks. On 22 April,
she delivered her charges to the Hagushi anchorage, Okinawa; then, retraced her route back to Guam, whence she
made a second run, with a power barge and a yard ferry, to Okinawa. She completed that run at Buckner Bay on 22 May; assisted in downing an enemy
bomber the next day; and, at the end
of the month, departed for Ulithi and
the Philippines. From the former, she towed
an oil barge and two lighters to the latter, arriving in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on 27 June.
Then ordered east, the
ocean-going, auxiliary tug cleared San Pedro Bay in mid-July and entered
San Francisco Bay on 17 August, two days after the cessation of hostilities in the Pacific. Overhaul took her into September; and, on the 12th, she resumed towing
activities with a run from Astoria,
Oreg., to Pearl Harbor. During October,
she delivered barracks ships to Eniwetok.
In November, she commenced target towing services for surface and aviation units training in Hawaiian waters. In April 1946, she completed a
run between Hawaii and California;
then returned to Hawaii to prepare for Operation "Crossroads,"
the atomic bomb test series scheduled for the summer at Bikini.
In May, the ATA joined
Joint Task Force I and moved into the
Marshalls, where, into the fall, she provided
towing services. On 26 November 1946, the tug received final radiological clearance and headed for New Orleans, her new home port.
On 20 January 1947, the
ATA, named Salish on 16 July
1948, arrived at New Orleans, her base for the next 14 years. During that period, towing activities, for the active and reserve fleets, took her between gulf, east coast, and Caribbean ports. Support
operations saw her off the Texas coast for radio experiments run by the University of Texas between July and
September 1947; off the Virginia capes and in the British West Indies for survey and cable laying
operations from June to December 1956
and from October to December 1959;
in the Bahamas for mooring operations
in May and June 1959; and in the Bermuda Islands for cable laying operations from June to September 1960.
In July 1961, Salish was
transferred to the east coast and, for the next ten years, was
homeported at Mayport, Fla. From there, she
continued her diverse towing
operations; but, was assigned, more frequently than before, to support experimental projects, including the MONOB I and Flip projects, and to
cable-laying and mooring operations
off the Florida coast, in the Bermuda
area, and in the Caribbean.
Ready for rescue and
assistance operations throughout her career, she was herself the recipient of
aid in October 1963 when she was
damaged by hurricane Ginny while
towing a DE. Relieved of her tow by a Coast
Guard tug, she underwent repairs and, in November, resumed her services to the fleet. Two of her most notable salvage missions came in April 1966
and in January 1971. During the
first, she assisted fire-fighting and
salvage operations for MV Viking Princess which was located, on
fire and drifting, in the Windward Passage. The second involved the storm damaged Brazilian freighter, Amazonia, loaded
with lye, malt, raw plastics, bulk
newsprint, and heavy mining equipment.
For the latter operation, conducted off
Bermuda, she was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation.
In November 1971, Salish returned to Mayport from three weeks duty providing services to Fleet Training
Group, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and
prepared for transfer to the Argentine
Navy. She was decommissioned on 10
February 1972; transferred the same day;
and recommissioned in the Argentine Navy as Alferez Sobral.
ATA-187 received one battle star for her World War II service.
[Note: The above USS SALISH (ATA-187) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS SALISH (ATA-187), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]