Name USS Yew (YN-32) Laid down 22 May 1941 In service 1 July 1942 Construction started 22 May 1941 Length 50 m | Namesake Yew tree Sponsored by Miss Alice E. Morgan Reclassified AN-37, 1 January 1944 Launched 4 October 1941 Builder John H. Mathis & Company | |
USS Yew (YN-32/AN-37) was an Aloe-class net laying ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was later transferred to the French Navy as Scorpion (A728). She was sold to Malaysian owners but sank while under tow from the former French ship Locuste (A765) when that ship struck a reef off Cikobia Island, Fiji, on 30 July 1978 and also sank.
Career
Yew (YN-37) was laid down on 22 May 1941 at Camden, New Jersey, by John H. Mathis & Company; launched on 4 October 1941; sponsored by Miss Alice E. Morgan, daughter of Comdr. A. L. Morgan, USN (Ret.); and placed in service on 1 July 1942.
Records for Yew's service are practically nonexistent. The fragmentary evidence available shows that the ship was reclassified AN-37 on 1 January 1944. The net tender was ultimately decommissioned at Oran, Algeria, on 30 November 1944 and simultaneously transferred to the French Navy under lend-lease.
She served as Scorpion (A728) until she was nominally returned by the French on 21 March 1949 but was sold outright to the French on the same day. Her American name, Yew, was struck from the Navy List on 28 April 1949.
Scorpion served the French Navy into the mid-1970s before she was sunk at Cikobia Island, Fiji, 30 July 1978.