Acquired 20 June 1946 Launched 15 March 1945 Builder Point Pleasant | Length 57 m | |
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Name USCGC Yamacraw (WARC-333) Laid down as Maj. Gen. Arthur Murray for the United States Army Fate Transferred to the US Navy, 17 April 1959 Displacement 1,320 long tons (1,341 t) | ||
USCGC Yamacraw (WARC-333) was a Cable Repair Ship of the United States Coast Guard. Built for the Army Mine Planter Service as U. S. Army Mine Planter Maj. Gen. Arthur Murray (MP-8) and delivered December 1942. On 2 January 1945 the ship was acquired by the Navy and converted to an Auxiliary Minelayer by the Charleston Navy Yard to become the USS Trapper (ACM-9), commissioned 15 March 1945 the ship was headed to the Pacific when Japan surrendered. After work in Japanese waters the ship headed for San Francisco.
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Transfer to the U.S. Coast Guard
USS Trapper was decommissioned and transferred to the United States Coast Guard in San Francisco on 20 June 1946 and struck from the Navy List on 19 July 1946. The former auxiliary minelayer served with the Coast Guard as a cable layer until early 1959 as Yamacraw (WARC-333).
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Work
During 1957–1958 the ship was leased by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution making voyages in the Atlantic and Mediterranean largely for geophysical work.
Onionhead
Before being transferred back to the U.S. Navy the Yamacraw was the buoy tender in the 1958 film Onionhead, which starred Andy Griffith and Walter Matthau.
Return of Ship to the U.S. Navy
The ship was reacquired by the U.S. Navy on 17 April 1959 and commissioned in New York on 30 April 1959 as the Cable Repair Ship USS Yamacraw (ARC-5), 30 April 1959 until decommissioned 2 July 1965 and transferred to the Maritime Administration for disposal. Yamacraw was scrapped in 1969.