Name USS Navajo Commissioned 3 May 1945 Construction started 20 January 1945 Length 44 m | Laid down 20 January 1945 Decommissioned 10 April 1962 Launched 3 March 1945 | |
Ordered as Rescue Ocean Tug ATR-138, redesignated Auxiliary Fleet Tug ATA-211, 13 April 1944 Builder Gulfport Boiler and Welding Works, Port Arthur, Texas | ||
USS Navajo (ATR-138/ATA-211) was an auxiliary ocean tug in the United States Navy.
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Originally designated ATR–138, she was redesignated ATA–211 on 13 April 1944 and laid down on 20 January 1945 by Gulfport Boiler & Welding Works, Port Arthur, Texas. Launched on 3 March 1945, and commissioned at Port Arthur on 3 May 1945, Lt. (jg.) James McKnight in command.
Pacific Theatre operations
Following fitting out and shakedown off Galveston, ATA–211 reported to the Naval Supply Depot, Gulfport, Mississippi on 5 June, and thence steamed via the Panama Canal to San Diego, where she was to join ServRon 2, Pacific.
ATA–211 towed AFL–23 and Harbor Tug YT–742 to Pearl Harbor in July and remained there to perform ready tug duty and relief towing services with the Waipie Salvage Dock, in the ocean operations off Pearl Harbor. In October, she cleared Pearl Harbor with Fuel Oil Barge YO–12 and Garbage Lighter YG–28 in tow, and headed for Yokosuka, Japan, where she arrived the 24th. Departing Yokosuka in early November, she returned Pearl Harbor and, joined by Fleet Ocean Tug ATF–157 and Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock ARD–5, steamed to San Diego. She departed this base on 27 December to serve as retriever tug for ATF–157.
East Coast operations
After escorting ATF–157 through the Panama Canal, ATA–211 cleared Coco Solo on 5 February 1946 and touched at Key West before arriving at the U.S. Naval Station, Algiers, Louisiana, 11 February. She remained in the 8th Naval District for most of the remainder of her Naval career, providing towing service to ports such as Mobile, Galveston, Pensacola, and Charleston, and assisting in off-shore salvage operations.
Decommissioning
ATA–211 was named Navajo on 15 July 1948. She continued operations off the Gulf states and Bermuda into 1962. Decommissioning on 10 April 1962, she was stricken from the Navy List on 1 May 1962 and was subsequently sold to Twenty Grand Marine Service, Inc., Morgan City, Louisiana, in 1963.