 USS Accokeek (ATA-181) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSATA-181 |
| Ordered | 16 August 1943 |
| Builder | Levingston Shipbuilding,Orange, Texas |
| Laid down | 15 June 1944 |
| Launched | 27 July 1944 |
| Commissioned | 7 October 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 29 June 1972 |
| Renamed | Accokeek, 16 July 1948 |
| Stricken | 31 March 1986 |
| Honors and awards | 1battle star (World War II) |
| Fate | Sunk as artificial reef, 20 February 1987 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Sotoyomo-class auxiliaryocean tug |
| Displacement | 835 long tons (848 t) |
| Length | 143 ft (44 m) |
| Beam | 33 ft 10 in (10.31 m) |
| Draft | 13 ft 3 in (4.04 m) |
| Speed | 13knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
| Complement | 5 officers, 44 enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USSAccokeek (ATA-181) was anATA-174 class auxiliaryocean tug in the service of theUnited States Navy, named after theAccokeek tribe of Native Americans.
She was laid down as the unnamedATA-181 on 15 June 1944 atOrange, Texas byLevingston Shipbuilding, launched on 27 July 1944, andcommissioned on 7 October 1944.
After shakedown, she sailed for the Pacific Ocean, transiting thePanama Canal early in January 1945 and stopping in Hawaii in March. Resuming her voyage west, the tug arrived atGuam on 25 March, a week before the assault onOkinawa. For the rest of the war,ATA-181 aided warships damaged in that campaign, towing them from combat intoKerama Retto and thence to bases in theMarianas and in theWestern Carolines.
She stayed in the Far East after the war providing towing and salvage support for the American occupation forces. On 15 October, a severetyphoon struck the anchorage at Okinawa and droveATA-181 aground, but the tug escaped heavy damage and soon returned to duty. Her Far Eastern assignment ended early in the summer of 1946, and she began the long voyage to the east coast of the United States. Steaming viaPearl Harbor, San Francisco, and the Panama Canal,ATA-181 reachedPhiladelphia on 20 November.
Over the next 26 years, she carried out a variety of missions for theUnited States Atlantic Fleet. On 16 July 1948, she becameAccokeek. While she operated most often along the eastern seaboard and in the West Indies, her work also took her to such widely separated locations asLabrador,Ascension Island, and even inland toLake Michigan. Philadelphia served as her home port through most of her postwar career, but that changed on 30 June 1969 whenAccokeek was reassigned toLittle Creek, Virginia. The tug operated from that base for the remaining three years of her Navy service.
Decommissioned atNorfolk Naval Shipyard on 29 June 1972,Accokeek was transferred to theMaritime Administration on 19 September 1972 for layup in itsNational Defense Reserve Fleet. On 31 March 1986,Accokeek was stricken from theNaval Vessel Register. She was sunk as an artificial reef in theGulf of Mexico on 20 February 1987 and is arecreational dive site of theFlorida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail[1]
Wreck location:29°58.475′N85°51.915′W / 29.974583°N 85.865250°W /29.974583; -85.865250[2]
AsATA-181,Accokeek earned onebattle star inWorld War II.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere. This article incorporatespublic domain material fromAccokeek (ATA-181) at theNaval Vessel Register.Online resources
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1987 | |
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