| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Laid down | 10 January 1943 |
| Launched | 22 June 1943 |
| Commissioned | 5 January 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 1 July 1971 |
| Reclassified | 15 May 1944 |
| Stricken | 25 June 1992 |
| Honors and awards |
|
| Fate | Transferred to theChilean Navy, 1 July 1971 |
| History | |
 Chile | |
| Name | Aldea (ATF-63) |
| Acquired | 1 July 1971 |
| Decommissioned | 14 August 1992 |
| Fate | Sunk as target, 1992 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 1,589 tons |
| Length | 205 ft 0 in (62.48 m) |
| Beam | 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m) |
| Draught | 15 ft 4 in (4.67 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h) |
| Complement | 85 |
| Armament | 1 x3 in (76 mm); 2 x40 mm |
USSArikara (AT-98) was anAbnaki-class offleet ocean tug. It was named after theArikara, a loose confederacy of sub-tribes of American Indians related to thePawnee. The Arikara inhabited villages in theMissouri River valley.
TheArikara was laid down on 10 January 1943 atCharleston, South Carolina, by theCharleston Shipbuilding & Drydock Company; launched on 22 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Taylor F. McCoy; andcommissioned on 5 January 1944.
On 15 January, the tug departed Charleston bound forHampton Roads, Virginia. After arriving there on the 17th, she conducted shakedown training inChesapeake Bay until the 26th. Following a post-shakedown repair period in theNorfolk Navy Yard, she stood out of the bay and shaped a northerly course. After stopping briefly at New York,Arikara moved on toCasco Bay, Maine, where she operated between 10 February and 2 March towing targets and participating inantisubmarine warfare training. She returned to New York on 4 March and began preparations for service overseas. Towing barges, the tug put to sea on 25 March as part of Task Force (TF) 67 bound for the British Isles. She reachedFalmouth, England, on 20 April and, after delivering the barges, reported for duty with the 12th Fleet.
On the 24th,Arikara moved toLee-on-the-Solent to join the British tug fleet in preparing for the invasion of Europe. During the remainder of April and all of May, she towed to dispersal points on the southeastern coast of England portions of the two "mulberries," artificial harbors to be erected on the French coast after the initial assault to provide logistical support for the movement of all Allied armies inland. On 15 May 1944, she was reclassified a fleet tug and redesignated ATF-98. Throughout the period leading up to the invasion,Arikara helped to repelGerman air attacks; and, though near misses shook her considerably, she suffered neither hits nor significant damage from shell fragments.
On the afternoon of 5 June, the tug stood out ofWeymouth, England, on her way to the sector of theNormandy coast code-named by Allied planners as "Omaha Beach". After the first waves of assault troops stormed ashore, the tug began her primary assignment, clearing wrecks from the beach area reserved for the erection of the artificial harbors. Soon, however, German fire began to take such a heavy toll of landing craft thatArikara had to abandon salvage operations in favor of the even more urgent work of rescue and repair. Her work enabled the less heavily damaged landing craft to remain in action, thus maintaining the flow of troops and supplies during the critical phase of the assault on "Omaha" Beach.
That phase past, the tug resumed salvage and towing work on the 7th. In all, she spent almost a month supporting the consolidation of the Normandy invasion. Though she came under air attacks and fire from shore batteries, her only major damage came from the explosion of a nearby mine while she was towing the disabled FrenchfrigateLa Surprise back to England for repairs. Her main engine room rapidly took on water which rose to within six inches of her main electric motor before her crew managed to check the leaks.Arikara completed her mission successfully, and, after 24 hours of feverish activity, her crew had her repaired and back in action off Normandy.
Early in July,Arikara andUSS Pinto received orders to return to England. From there, the two tugs set out on 12 July in a convoy bound for the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. Her convoy arrived atOran, Algeria, on the 21st; butArikara remained there only until the end of the month. She headed for Italy on 1 August, reachedNaples on the 3d, and joinedRear AdmiralSpencer S. Lewis' TF 87, code-named "Camel" Force, for the mid-August invasion of southern France. Staged throughAjaccio, Corsica,Arikara's unit, the force's salvage and fire-fighting group, arrived offSt. Raphael on the Mediterranean coast of France on the morning of 15 August, the day of the assault. For more than a fortnight, the tug remained in the transport area, salvaging damaged ships and landing craft, fighting fires, and keeping the approaches to the beach clear of wrecks. On 2 September, she moved to theGulf of San Tropez, France, and began clearing wreckage fromFrench Riviera ports. She also towed ships toPalermo, Sicily, where they underwent repairs. In addition, she made towing voyages toNaples,Marseilles,Bizerte, and Oran.
Late in October at the latter port,Arikara joined a convoy bound for the United States and headed home. She arrived in Norfolk on 7 November and remained in that vicinity into December. Late in that month, she voyaged toTrinidad where she took YFD-6 in tow before continuing on to thePanama Canal.Arikara reached the Canal Zone on 3 January 1945, transited the canal, and delivered her tow atCristóbal on the 5th. The following day, she andBannock (ATF-81) got underway for Hawaii. The tug enteredPearl Harbor later in January but remained there only until resuming her westward voyage on 4 February, bound ultimately for theRyukyu Islands. After stops atEniwetok andGuam, she reachedUlithi Atoll, in theCarolines, on 17 March. There, she reported for duty with Service Squadron (ServRon) 10 and began preparations for the conquest ofOkinawa.
Ten days later, she departed Ulithi as part of Task Group (TG) 50.8, the 5th Fleet Logistics Support Group, and headed for the Ryukyu Islands. To begin the campaign, during the last week in March, American forces tookKerama Retto, a small group of islands about 15 miles west of southern Okinawa. Then, on 1 April, the main assault force landed on Okinawa proper.Arikara spent the next 11 weeks based at Kerama Retto assisting ships and craft damaged in the struggle for Okinawa. On the night of 2 April, the tug went to the assistance ofUSS Dickerson after that high-speed transport had suffered a devastating suicide crash from aKawasaki Ki-45 "Nick" twin-engine reconnaissance/ground attack aircraft.Arikara's crew managed to extinguish the fires raging on board theDickerson, and the tug took her in tow for Kerama Retto. In spite ofArikara's efforts,Dickerson proved to be beyond economical salvage and was towed out to sea on 4 April and sunk.
AlthoughArikara's main mission at Okinawa was the removal and salvage of damaged landing craft,kamikaze attacks continued to add to her burdens. On 11 May, a horde of suicide planes attackedUSS Evans andUSS Hugh W. Hadley on picket station no. 15 to the northwest of Okinawa.Arikara sped to the aid ofEvans, which had sustained four suicide crashes in rapid succession.Arikara moved alongside her, put five pumps on board, made fast a hawser, and towed the destroyer into Kerama Retto for repairs.
A bit over a week later, on 17 May,USS Longshaw — her officers and crew drained by long hours at general quarters and a night of illumination fire in support of the troops ashore — ran aground on a reef nearNaha while en route to yet another call fire mission.Arikara rushed to her aid. Just when she began taking up slack on the towline, a Japanese shore battery opened up on the stranded destroyer with uncanny accuracy. The enemy artillerists straddledLongshaw immediately, and quickly scored four hits. One of the four caused a forward magazine to detonate blowing off the bow forward of the bridge. WithLongshaw a total loss,Arikara parted the towline and moved off to see to her own defense and to rescue survivors.Longshaw was later destroyed by "friendly" gunfire and torpedoes.
Arikara performed salvage work in the Ryūkyūs well into June. On the 19th of that month, she took kamikaze-damagedEvans in tow and set course for the Marianas. The tug arrived atSaipan on 25 June and remained there until 11 July. From Saipan, she sailed toLeyte where she stayed through 18 August when she got underway for Japan. The tug stopped at Okinawa before proceeding on toKyushu. She returned to Okinawa briefly in September and then continued on to thePhilippines. On 9 October, while still en route to Leyte, the ship weathered a severetyphoon. After reachingSubic Bay, she underwent repairs until getting underway late in November for China. Upon reachingTsingtao,Arikara began towing and salvage work in support of occupation forces.
Late in February 1946,Arikara left China to resume operations in the eastern and Central Pacific. During the next few years, her towing and salvage operations took her to such varied locales as the Panama Canal Zone, the west coast of the United States, Hawaii, Okinawa, and the Marianas.
In January 1950, the tug resumed occupation duty upon her arrival atYokosuka and, for the next five months, provided towing and salvage services in Japan. However, on 25 June 1950,North Korean forces surged south across the 38th parallel into South Korea. Thus,Arikara entered her second war. She was assigned to TF 90, the Amphibious Force, Far East. Due to the skeletal nature of American naval forces in Oriental waters, her assignments early in July consisted of the unlikely duty of escorting shipping between Japan and Korea until an escort group of more suitable warships could be assembled. The tug also served as a communications ship and landing control vessel during amphibious operations atPusan on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula. In addition, she performed her familiar salvage and rescue operations.
After completing her initial missions at Pusan and between that port and Japan,Arikara moved to other areas of the Korean peninsula. On 5 September, she departed Yokosuka with Task Unit (TU) 90.04.3, the Pontoon Movement Unit, on her way toInchon on the western coast of Korea. The tug supported the amphibious assault at Inchon from mid-September to mid-October, before heading, on the 16th of the latter month, forWonsan on the northeastern coast of Korea. The 20 Octoberamphibious assault on Wonsan, mooted by the arrival of rapidly advancing Republic of Korea (ROK) ground forces, was transformed into an enormous reinforcement and logistical support operation.Arikara spent about a month at Wonsan helping to clear the harbor and to increase its efficiency.
During the latter part of November, she completed upkeep atSasebo. Towing and salvage operations in Japanese waters occupied her during December 1950 and early January 1951. Then, on 12 January, the tug shaped a course back to the United States. Voyaging by way of the Marianas and Hawaii, she arrived inLong Beach, California, in March. By the beginning of April,Arikara was atBremerton, Washington, undergoing repairs; and she remained there until heading back to Hawaii on 11 June. For the remainder of 1951, she operated out of Pearl Harbor making only two voyages to destinations outside the Hawaiian operating area. In July, the ship towed an AFDB to Guam; in August, she returned to Pearl Harbor; and, in October and November, she made a round-trip voyage to Subic Bay in the Philippines.
On 3 January 1952,Arikara departed Pearl Harbor to deploy again to the western Pacific. By the end of the month, she was back in the Korean combat zone. During that tour of duty in the Far East, the tug served once more at Wonsan, as well as atCho Do and Pusan, and stayed in the waters between Japan and Korea until the beginning of August. That fall,Arikara moved to theMarshall Islands to supportOperation Ivy, a nuclear bomb test conducted at Eniwetok Atoll in November 1952. Although the conflict lasted into the summer of 1953, the tug saw no additional service in the Korean combat zone.
By the time that an armistice ended hostilities in Korea on 27 July 1953,Arikara had already settled into a schedule of operations out of Pearl Harbor that included towing missions from Hawaii toJohnston andKanton Island islands and duty in theAleutians. In the fall of 1954, the tug began peacetime deployments to the Far East and, for the remainder of her Navy career, she alternated between assignments in the western Pacific with the 7th Fleet and operations out of her home port, Pearl Harbor. During the first 12 years of that period, the tug's Far Eastern itinerary included mostly Japanese, Korean, and Philippine ports of call while her operations out of Pearl Harbor took her to the waters off the coast of Alaska and surrounding the Aleutians, as well as to islands in the Central Pacific.
Late in 1964, American involvement in the conflict inSouth Vietnam increased dramatically. As a consequence,Arikara began to visit the Vietnamese coast more frequently. By the fall of 1966, the tug found herself calling at such places asVũng Tàu andDa Nang to provide towing and other support services for Navy units engaged in fightingcommunist insurgency andNorth Vietnamese aggression in South Vietnam. Her deployments to Asian waters along with the concomitant service in Vietnam continued into 1970.
Late in February of that year,Arikara returned to Pearl Harbor from her final tour of duty with the 7th Fleet. She served actively in the Hawaiian Islands and in Alaskan waters for another 16 months. On 1 July 1971, the tug was decommissioned and simultaneously transferred toChile as a loan under the military assistance program. She was commissioned in theChilean Navy asAldea (ATF-63). She was decommissioned by the Chilean Navy on 14 August 1992 and later sunk as a target.
Arikara earned three battle stars during World War II, five battle stars during theKorean War, and three battle stars for service in theVietnam War.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere. This article includes information collected from theNaval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in thepublic domain. The entry can be foundhere.
| |||||||||||||||||
