 USCGCTamaroa (WMEC-166) in 1990, formerly USSZuni (ATF-95) fleet tug (in 1943). | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States Navy | |
| Name | USSZuni (ATF-95) |
| Builder | Commercial Iron Works |
| Laid down | 8 March 1943 |
| Launched | 31 July 1943 |
| Commissioned | 9 October 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 29 June 1946 |
| Stricken | 19 July 1946 |
| Nickname(s) | "The Mighty Z" |
| Fate | Transferred to US Coast Guard |
 United States Coast Guard | |
| Name |
|
| Commissioned | 29 June 1946 |
| Decommissioned | 1 February 1994 |
| Fate | Scuttled 10 May 2017, 33 nautical miles off coast ofCape May, New Jersey |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Cherokee-classtugboat |
| Displacement | 1,731 long tons (1,759 t) |
| Length | 205 ft 6 in (62.64 m) |
| Beam | 39 ft 3.25 in (11.9698 m) |
| Draft | 18 ft (5.5 m) |
| Propulsion | 4 ×General Motors model 12-278 diesels withdiesel-electric drive: 3,010 shp (2,240 kW) |
| Speed |
|
| Range | 15,000 nmi (28,000 km; 17,000 mi) at 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (1990) |
| Complement | 10 officers, 74 enlisted (1990) |
| Sensors & processing systems | Radar: SPN-25 (1961); no sonar. |
| Armament |
|
USCGCTamaroa (WAT/WMEC-166), originally theUnited States NavyCherokee-class fleet tugUSS Zuni (ATF-95), was aUnited States Coast Guardcutter. Following the U.S. Coast Guard custom of naming cutters in this class of ship afterNative American tribes, she was named after theTamaroa tribe of theIlliniwek tribal group.
The ship was one of 70 of her class built for the U.S. Navy. As thefleet tug USSZuni, she saw action inWorld War II, including in theMarianas,Philippines, andIwo Jima operations. After the war, she was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard in 1946.
The bulk ofTamaroa′s U.S. Coast Guard career was spent patrolling, working in drug interdiction, and fisheries protection. She was the first Coast Guard cutter to arrive at the sinking ocean linerAndrea Doria in 1956.
Tamaroa was involved in the landmark 1969tort case,Ira S. Bushey & Sons, Inc. v. United States, 398 F.2d 167 (2d Cir. 1968), which held theUnited Statesvicariously liable for the damage caused byTamaroa to adrydock after an intoxicated U.S. Coast Guard seaman returning to his bunk aboardTamaroa on 14 March 1963 opened drydock water valves, flooding and sinking the drydock and causingTamaroa to list and slide off her blocks. In its ruling, the court found that an employer (in this case, theUnited States Government) will be held liable underrespondeat superior if the actions of the employee (in this, a U.S. Coast Guard seaman) arise out of the course of his or her employment (in this case, as a U.S. Coast Guard seaman returning to his ship after leave) and cause damage (in this case, to Bushey & Sons′ drydock). The court held that "the ship is liable for anything ship-connected persons cause it to do."[1][2]
Tamaroa is perhaps most famous for a rescue described in the 1997 bookThe Perfect Storm (bySebastian Junger) and depicted in the 2000 movieThe Perfect Storm; on October 31, 1991,Tamaroa (led by Commander Lawrence Brudnicki) had been attempting to rescue the crew of the sailing vesselSatori the previous day when the cutter was diverted to assist the Air National Guard aircrew, she rescued four out of the five crewmen of a downedNew York Air National Guard helicopter. The fifth aircrewman was never found and presumed drowned.[3]
After the Coast Guard decommissioned her in 1994,Tamaroa was donated to theIntrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum inNew York City. She was noticed tied up next to themuseum shipIntrepid in 1994 by a former crewman who began a campaign to restore her. After several unsuccessful attempts, the Zuni Maritime Foundation, a non-profit organization inRichmond,Virginia, formed. The foundation attempted to preserve the ship in an operational condition, and use her to educate the public. This ultimately proved unsuccessful.
Prior to scuttling, parts of theTamaroa were removed by the Black Dog Salvage company for two episodes of the TV show "Salvage Dawgs". Her main mast was repurposed as a flagpole for the Ballast Point microbrewery in Roanoke, VA. Having been tied up inNorfolk, Virginia, and environmentally cleaned, she was selected in 2016 for use as anartificial reef. Her sinking, originally scheduled for 30 October 2016, was delayed by rough seas and related issues. She finally wasscuttled at 13:00 on 10 May 2017 in theAtlantic Ocean about 33nautical miles (61 km) fromCape May,New Jersey, at a depth of 120 feet, forming anartificial reef. Her wreck is now arecreational dive site, part of theDel-Jersey-Land Inshore Reef.[4][5][6]
Media related toUSCGC Tamaroa (WMEC-166) at Wikimedia Commons
38°31′09″N74°30′45″W / 38.5191°N 74.5125°W /38.5191; -74.5125
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 2017 | |
|---|---|
| Shipwrecks |
|
| Other incidents |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
