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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSQuapaw |
| Namesake | Quapaw |
| Builder | |
| Laid down | 28 December 1942 |
| Launched | 15 May 1943 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. N. Lehman |
| Commissioned | 6 May 1944 |
| Reclassified | ATF–110, 15 May 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 30 April 1948 |
| Recommissioned | 5 December 1950 |
| Decommissioned | 30 August 1985 |
| Stricken | 28 January 1992 |
| Home port | 1970:Pearl Harbor |
| Honors and awards |
|
| Fate | Sank as a result of neglect, 11 December 2011; scrapped 2012 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Abnaki-classfleet ocean tug |
| Displacement | 1,646 tons |
| Length | 205 ft (62.48 m) |
| Beam | 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m) |
| Draft | 15 ft 3 in (4.65 m) |
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Complement | 85 |
| Armament |
|
USSQuapaw (ATF–110/AT-110) was aAbnaki-classfleet ocean tug in theUnited States Navy. She was named after theQuapaw.
Quapaw was laid down byUnited Engineering Co.,Alameda, California, 28 December 1942; launched 15 May 1943; sponsored by Mrs. N. Lehman; and commissioned 6 May 1944. She was redesignatedATF–110 on 15 May 1944.
Quapaw steamed forSan Francisco after shakedown out ofSan Pedro andSan Diego, California, through 16 June. She departed San Francisco 21 June 1944, en route to theAdmiralty Islands. After calling atHonolulu, where she delivered an Army barge, a dump scow, and a derrick, she steamed 12 July via theEllice Islands andMilne Bay,New Guinea, arrivingManus, Admiralty Islands 14 August.
Following several harbor tow assignments, she departed 17 August with a deck cargo of 7,500 bbls. of aviation gasoline and 49 motor torpedo boat engines, and with a gasoline barge in tow. These she delivered toMios Woendi Lagoon, whence she steamed toMaffin Bay where she received orders to stand by in preparation for the landings onMorotai Island.
With a convoy ofliberty ships, minesweepers, and landing craft, together with screening destroyers,Quapaw enteredMorotai Harbor the morning of 16 September 1944. She remained through 1 October, primarily engaged in retractingLSTs from the beach ofPitoe Bay.
From 20 October 1944 through 1 January 1945,Quapaw was operating inSan Pedro Bay in support of the Leyte operation. Her assignments entailed salvage, firefighting, and towing operations.
On 6 December 1944,Quapaw stood byLiberty shipSS Antoine Saugrain after that ship had been torpedoed the previous day.[1]
Landings were made atLingayen 9 January 1945 andQuapaw was assigned patrol of both attack areas to render all necessary assistance. She retracted landing ships, made repairs and conducted towing operations until 21 February. She then steamed toMindoro. She departedMangarin Bay 26 February as a unit of Admiral W. M. Fechteler'stask group TG 78.2, en route toPuerto Princesa,Palawan, for initial assaults against that island. En route,Quapaw tookLCI-683 in tow when the latter was unable to maintain convoy speed. The landing forces went ashore 28 February andQuapaw retracted landing craft from the beaches east of Puerto Princesa and in the vicinity of the city jetty. She returned to Mangarin Bay, 5 March.
From 8 through 25 MarchQuapaw participated in salvage and demolition work, and assisted in clearing harbor wreckage, with intervening repair and tow missions atZamboanga,Mindanao,Philippines. Further salvage, tow, and repair missions preceded overhaul atHollandia, New Guinea, commencing 29 May. The tug departed 25 June forEspiritu Santo,New Hebrides, from where she steamed 6 July with one section of abattleshipdrydock in tow forSamar, Philippines. With the end of hostilities she continued towing services between various ports of thePhilippines, with frequent service to Manus and back through 28 April 1946.
Quapaw departedSubic Bay for the United States 16 June 1946, arrivingSan Francisco, California. 14 July. After overhaul atMare Island Naval Shipyard, the tug continued coastal and trans-Pacific towing operations until 21 December 1947.
She was placed in an inactive status at San Francisco until 30 April 1948 when she was placed out of commission, in reserve.
Quapaw recommissioned 5 December 1950 at Alameda, California. After refresher training out of San Diego through January 1951, she steamed viaBremerton, Washington, with a barracks ship in tow forPearl Harbor. Arriving 14 February 1951, she commenced operations under Commander Service Force, Pacific.
The fleet tug provided services atInchon, Korea 30 April – 17 July 1951, and atWonsan 19 July – 3 August. Towing services atSasebo andYokosuka, Japan were interrupted by patrol duty at Wonsan,Korea 26 October – 20 November 1952, and by operation in the areas ofCho Do andTaechong Do, Korea 17 January – 14 February 1953.Quapaw also conducted patrols in Korean waters in March and April 1953.
As of 1970,Quapaw continued to provide services to the Fleet out of her homeport of Pearl Harbor. Annual WestPac deployments were interspersed with assignments throughout mid-Pacific areas, as well as by occasional duty as search and rescue vessel out ofAdak, Alaska.
During the 1980s until her decommissioning in 1985,Quapaw was home ported at the Port Hueneme Naval CBC in Port Hueneme, California providing salvage, rescue and towing services.
Some post-Vietnam operations/achievements included:
Towing of theUSS New Jersey (BB-62) fromPuget Sound Naval Shipyard toLong Beach Naval Shipyard prior to her final recommissioning in 1982.
Provided tow escort and support for the towing ofUSS Missouri (BB-63) fromPuget Sound Naval Shipyard toLong Beach Naval Shipyard prior to her final recommissioning in 1984.
Towing of theUSS Nautilus (SSN-571) fromMare Island Naval Shipyard to the Panama Canal where the Nautilus was picked up by another tug to be brought to Groton, CT in 1984–85.This set a record for the longest open-ocean tow of a submarine.[citation needed]
USS Quapaw was the first US Navy afloat command to have a female Executive Officer (LTJG Susan Cowan). 1985.[citation needed]
Following Congressional approval in 1996 for transfer to theNortheast Wisconsin Railroad Transportation Commission, she was handed over on 29 December 1997 to theOntonagon County Economic Development Corporation on behalf of theEscanaba and Lake Superior Railroad, along with five other obsolete sister tugs.[2] They were intended for a new trans-Lake Superior freight car barge service between Ontonagon andThunder Bay, Ontario,[3] though it has been suggested that the company sought the tug's four General Motors engines (24 in all) to use in their locomotives.[4] The project was abandoned in October 1999, shortly before title would have passed to the railroad company.[3]Quapaw remained in lay-up between 1997 and 1999.
On 11 December 2011,Quapaw (having been renamedTiger after being sold to a private interest) sank pierside while being prepared for transfer to a salvage yard for scrapping.[5]
Quapaw received fourbattle stars forWorld War II service, five for theKorean War, and seven for theVietnam War.
Ribbons, Medals and Awards:
Navy Unit Commendation,Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation,Navy "E" Ribbon,American Campaign Medal,Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal (4 stars),World War II Victory Medal,National Defense Service Medal (2 stars),Korean Service Medal (5 stars),Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1 star-Korea, 1 star-Op. Frequent Wind),Vietnam Service Medal (7 stars),Humanitarian Service Medal (1 star-Frequent Wind),Philippine Liberation Medal,United Nations Service Medal,Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal,Republic of Korea War Service Medal (retroactive)
In 2006,Quapaw figured in a widely circulatedchain e-mail that claimed that a sailor stationed aboard had snapped pictures of theAttack on Pearl Harbor on aKodakBrownie camera, which remained undiscovered until very recently. In addition to the fact thatQuapaw was not launched for another 18 months, the pictures typically circulated with the e-mail were taken from several different locations – and unlikely to have been taken by one individual. Most are well known archival photos from the attack, and all had been previously published.[6]
An anchor and memorabilia from the USS Quapaw is displayed in theRobert Whitebird Cultural CenterinQuapaw, Okla.[7] It is the only part ofQuapaw that was preserved by a member of USS Quapaw Association after the ship was dismantled in 2012.[7]
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
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37°54′19″N122°22′0″W / 37.90528°N 122.36667°W /37.90528; -122.36667
