_underway_c1970.jpg) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSCree |
| Namesake | Cree |
| Builder | United Engineering Co.,San Francisco,California |
| Laid down | 31 March 1942 |
| Launched | 17 August 1942 |
| Commissioned | 28 March 1943 |
| Reclassified | ATF-84, 15 May 1944 |
| Stricken | 21 April 1978 |
| Motto | Ready |
| Honours and awards |
|
| Fate | Sunk as a target, 27 August 1978 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Cherokee-classfleet tug |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 205 ft (62 m) |
| Beam | 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m) |
| Draft | 15 ft 4 in (4.67 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 16.5knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) |
| Complement | 85 officers and enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USSCree (AT/ATF-84), aCherokee-classfleet tug, was a ship of theUnited States Navy named for theCree, anindigenous people of North America whose people range from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.
Cree was one of 70 such vessels produced in this World War II-era class.Military Sealift Command currently uses fleet ocean tugs from thePowhatan class to accomplish a similar mission today.Cree participated in several classified missions such asOperation Wigwam.
Cree (AT-84) was launched 17 August 1942 by United Engineering Co.,San Francisco, California; sponsored by Mrs. T. Colburn; and commissioned 28 March 1943.
From 10 April to 9 May 1943Cree sailed betweenSan Francisco andSan Diego towing target sleds and dry-dock sections. She cleared on 11 May forSeattle andDutch Harbor, and operated out ofAdak from 26 July 1943 to 15 August 1944.Cree screened transports toKiska, had towing and salvage duties, and aided the distressedSoviet shipValery Chkalov between 15 December and 23 December 1943.Cree was reclassifiedATF-84, 15 May 1944.
Returning to San Francisco on 21 August 1944,Cree sailed on 1 October to serve as retriever tug for aconvoy toEniwetok, returning toPearl Harbor on`14 November. She cleared on 7 December on another convoy trip to Eniwetok, then continued toGuam andUlithi on towing duty. She joined the screen of the replenishment group of the5th Fleet at Ulithi on 8 February 1945 and sortied for the invasion ofIwo Jima, during which she stood by for salvage assignments, until returning to Ulithi to replenish on 5 March.Cree arrived offOkinawa on 16 March for salvage operations on the beachheads until 1 July, when she sailed for overhaul at San Pedro Bay, Leyte.
Cree was based at Pearl Harbor for towing and salvage duties throughout the Pacific until the outbreak of theKorean War. Arriving atYokosuka on 6 July 1950, she acted as beaching control off Kyuryuhon on 16 and 17 August, transferring salvage equipment to the Korean Navy, buoying swept channels, and supporting theInchon landings from 15 September to 15 October with salvage and towing services. Returning toLong Beach, California, 16 June for overhaul,Cree operated alternately at Pearl Harbor and in the Pacific islands and along the west coast until 4 August 1959, when she sailed for duty based onSasebo, Japan, until 19 December. She returned to west coast operations through September 1960 when she sailed for her 1960-61 Far Eastern tour of duty.
In May 1955Cree participated inOperation Wigwam, an underwateratomic test off of the coast of California.
During the Vietnam WarCree was part of the "Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club" (theUS 7th Fleet) with missions including (but not limited to) chasing trawlers and towing floating barracks across the Pacific.
On the morning of 18 January 1978,Cree released the ex-YO-129 as a target for "live" bombing practice by naval aircraft, while steaming off the coast of southern California.Cree then proceeded north to clear the target area, taking her assigned station, but mistakenly became a target when a "Navy jet aircraft" made an attack run on her at 1206, unleashing three 500 lb bombs on the ship and her crew. One bomb struck the mast and exploded in the air close aboard to starboard, showering the tug with fragments. The second bomb fell along the port side, sliced beneath the ship and exploded underwater off the starboard side, "engulfing"Cree in a wall of water. The third slammed into the ship on the port bow, passing through seven bulkheads in the forward part of the ship, before becoming wedged into the passageway between the chief petty officer's quarters and sick bay, though failing to detonate. The damage to the ship was severe, including holing of the mast, destruction of two life rafts, severing of the emergency power cable and fragment damage above the01 level. Below decks, the ship's gyro was destroyed by the bomb forward, which also damaged the diving locker and bulkheads. The underwater explosion, however, caused the most serious damage, blasting several holes in bulkheads and splitting seams. Motor room B-2 became "a tangled mass of warped frames," with equipment "wrenched from mountings and broken lines." Flooding in excess of 2,000 gallons per minute was reported.
Going toGeneral Quarters, the crew responded immediately, but during their efforts to save the ship, discovered the live bomb where it wedged forward, just 20 feet (6 m) from where the repair party was stationed. Moving aft away from the 500 pounder, the repair party was temporarily relieved by anEOD team fromEnterprise (CVN-65) rushed toCree. Within 45 minutes the team was on board and able to defuse the bomb (first the EOD team called for a ship's electrician to tape up wires around the bomb. They were afraid that any current left in the wires might set the bomb off. Once the wires were taped they defused the bomb). Seven men of the repair party braved "rising water, leaking fuel and oil from broken lines," as well as the absence of light, entering Motor Room B-2 to battle the flooding for two hours before getting it under control.
Additional ships rendering assistance includedUSS Long Beach, guided missile destroyerUSS John Paul Jones and tugUSS Moctobi, providing portable pumps, gasoline and "other supplies." Taken under tow that evening byJohn Paul Jones, which transferred her toMoctobi early the next afternoon,Cree returned to San Diego on the 19th, her exhausted crew having battled for 27 hours to keep their ship afloat.
The ship was struck from theNavy List on 21 April 1978, and finally sunk as a target on 27 August 1978.
_insignia.jpg)
%2c_in_the_1960s_(NH_85751-KN).png)
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1978 | |
|---|---|
| Shipwrecks |
|
| Other incidents |
|
