History

USS Abnaki (ATF 96)

Laid down on 28 November 1942 at Charleston, S.C., by the Charleston Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; launched on 22 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. James Mayon Jones; and commissioned at the Charleston Navy Yard on 25 November 1943, Lt. Dewey Wally in Command.

The fleet tug completed shakedown in Chesapeake Bay on December 10 and began operating with the Atlantic Fleet. She conducted towing operations up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States until the spring of 1944. On 28 May of that year she got underway from Norfolk Va. bound for Oran,

Algeria. on 4 June, however, while in the vicinity of the Azores, Abnaki received orders to rendezvous with Rear Admiral Daniel V. Gallery's Task Group (TG) 22.3 built around Guadalcanal (CVE-60). The task force had just succeeded in capturing the German submarine U-505 and Abnaki was to tow her to Bermuda. She arrived there with the prize on 19 June and remained 10 days before shaping a course for New York.

The tug spent the early days of July in New York and stood out to sea on the 11th, towing barges in an Oran-bound convoy. She returned to New York on 19 August having towed the French warship Senegalaise from Oran. From 19 September to 5 December 1944 Abnaki made a round-trip voyage to Great Britain. During that mission she towed barges and tank landing ships. On the return leg of that voyage the ship made stop at Reykjavik, Iceland; and Argentia, Newfoundland before returning to Norfolk. During January and February 1945 she again steamed to Oran and returned to Norfolk for repairs in preparation for duty with the Pacific Fleet.

On 24 April 1945 Abnaki passed between Capes Henry and Charles on her way to her new assignment. She arrived in the Canal Zone on 9 May, transited the canal, and continued the voyage from Balboa on the 16th with an Army dredge in tow. The tug arrived in San Diego, California on 2 June and remained for five days. On the 7th she took the dredge in tow once again and weighed anchor for the central pacific. After a stop at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii the tug entered the lagoon at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 25 July and discharged her tow.

The following day she got underway again and proceeded to Eniwetok Atoll, also in the Marshalls. Abnaki remained there through the end of hostilities. Soon afterward Abnaki shifted north to join the force occupying Japan.

The Abnaki arrived in Japanese waters prior to the official signing of the surrender on the 2nd of September. She did numerous towing and other operations from both Yokohoma and Yokosuka. Some of her duties included towing several war damaged ships to sea for target practice by the fleet. On several occasions she was mistaken for the target, luckily she was never hit. She also had the pleasure of escorting the ship that transported the first American dependents to arrive in Japan. That mission lasted through the end of 1945 and the first six months of 1946. On 6 July the tug departed Japanese waters and proceeded to China. Following a stop at Okinawa en route, she arrived at Shanghai on 16 July. Approximately 10 days later she proceeded to Tsingtao and began operations in support of American forces in That Area. On 19 October she departed Tsingtao with the ARD 31 in tow bound for Guam via Okinawa arriving at Naha, Okinawa on the 25th. After some local operations she departed Okinawa on 9 November bound for Guam with the ARD 31 in tow.

After several days the Abnaki found herself in the middle of a typhoon, The tow cable parted on the 18th

leaving the ARD dead in the water. On the 19th she began recovery operations during which she was rammed by the ARD and suffered considerable hull damage. Despite the damage she managed to recover the tow and proceed toward Guam. On November the 22nd the Moctobi ATF 105 arrived and provided assistance. They arrived at Guam on the 26th and shortly afterward the Abnaki went into the ARD 31 for temporary repairs. On January the 8th the Abnaki departed for Saipan with YF 977 in tow. The Abnaki performed several towing operations between Guam, Saipan and Tinian before departing Guam on January 24th, 1947 bound for Manus, Island.

The Abnaki arrived at Manus on January the 28th and began preparing a convoy consisting of several liberty ships, manned by Japanese crews, tasked with towing sections of floating drydocks back to San Francisco via Pearl Harbor. She Departed Manus on February 12, escorting six liberty ships and their tows. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on March 26th.

She left Pearl Harbor on March 31st 1947 with the same convoy and sighted the Golden Gate Bridge on April 15th where the Abnaki was tasked with towing the AVS 4 to Drakes Bay, about twenty miles north of San Francisco. She left Drakes Bay the next day and arrived in San Francisco in time for liberty, the first on the mainland since the 6th of June 1945.

On the 3rd of May 1947 she left San Francisco headed for Bremerton. After unloading ammunition at Bangor on the 6th she arrived in Bremerton and began a much-needed yard period on the 7th. Upon completion of the yard period Abnaki left Bremerton on July 15. After picking up the AFDL-12 in San Francisco she arrived in San Pedro on July 21st where she remained until October the 3rd when she departed San Pedro and arrived in San Diego the same day. On October the 10th she departed San Diego for Pearl Harbor but was forced to return to San Diego for two medical emergencies. (One was the Captain who fell down a ladder seriously injuring his back) On October the 28th she headed for Pearl Harbor and arrived there on the 5th of November where she once again began local operations.

On December the 23rd she departed Pearl Harbor to assist a merchant ship (Alcan) that had lost its screw in the vicinity of Midway. Took the Alcan in tow on the 27th and arrived back at Pearl Harbor on the 4th of January 1948, where she again began local operations.

On March the 13th she headed for Yokosuka, Japan, via Midway, escorting the Incredible (AM 249), Mainstay (AM 26), Pirate (AM 275), and pledge (AM 277) arriving in Yokosuka on the 28th where she once again began local operations. Abnaki Departed Yokosuka the 7th of July, exactly two years and one day after leaving for China two years earlier, rendezvoused with the Lipan ATF 85 on the 9th and arrived in Tsingtao on the 11th.

(I have no dates for the following, which is my recollections of the Ships activities until the summer of 1949 at which time I was transferred prior to her return to the Western Pacific).
Hopefully someone with a better memory than mine will fill in the blanks. Pete

After routine operations in the Tsingtao area the Abnaki slowly made it way back to the States via Pearl Harbor after towing a very large concrete water barge to Kwajalein Atoll. She arrived back in the States in the fall of 1948 and after a short stay she headed for the Aleutians where she did local operations for several months. In the spring of 1949 she left Adak and headed for Bremerton for another much needed yard period. Upon completion of the yard period she moved to San Diego. During the late summer of 1949 she, once again, headed for operations in the Western Pacific.

The tug continued to operate in Far Eastern waters while the communist tide swept over the Asian mainland engulfing not only China and Manchuria but also the northern half of Korea where the Soviet occupation forces has established a puppet regime under Kim ll Sung on 1 May 1948. Just over two years later that event led to the invasion of South Korea by communist forces from the north late in June 1950. Through American units, under the auspices of a Soviet-boycotted United Nations moved into the breach quickly. Abnaki did not enter the zone of combat operations for over a year. In July 1951, however, she joined Service Division (ServDiv) 31 in providing mobile logistics support to the United Nations naval task force engaged in the conflict

On May 21st 1951 Abnaki left Pearl Harbor with both the YRDA B2 and the YRDM-2 in tow. They arrived at Guam on June 7th. They left Guam for Yokosuka, Japan, towing the AO 73 on June 13th and arrived in Yokosuka on the 23rd.

They left Yokosuka on July the 3rd and headed for Korea arriving at Wosan on the 6th. For the next few weeks the Abnaki operated between Koera and Japan and operated in such places as Wosan, Chosen, and kaiwan in Korea and Sasebo and Nagasaki in Japan.

They left Sasebo on August 24 with a load of buoys that were to be laid in the Hon River in Korea. After rendezvousing with the USS Grasp near Inchon they then proceeded on to the Hon River, arriving there on August the 26th. After laying buoys in the mouth of the river they proceeded up river to Song Mo Sudo. They left Korea for Sasebo, Japan on September the 1st for another load of Buoys and returned to the Hon River for a repeat performance.

The Abnaki left Korea on September the 12th and did local operations at such Japanese ports as Sasebo, Yokosuka, and Nagasaki, until November the 8th when she once again headed for Wonsan, Korea and arrived there on The 10th.
This picture shows the Abnaki returning enemy fire in Korea

The Abnaki continued to operate on both coast of Korea, with the exception of a couple of overnight visits to Yokosuka, and Sasebo, Japan until January the 27th, 1952 when she arrived in Sasebo. Her last job in Korea was to assist a disabled merchant ship near Pusan on the 25TH of January .

Abnaki departed Sasebo, Japan on the 16th of Feburary and arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 28th where she did local operations until, once again, on April 17th she headed for Johnston Island with YCV-17 and YWM-4 in tow arriving there on the 23rd. She returned to Pearl Harbor on May the 2nd.

Between May 26th and October the 20th Abnaki performed towing, escort, patrol and scientific research duties between such places as Midway, San Diego, Long Beach, Guam, Saipan, Anataham Island, Subic Bay, and Pagan Island. After her arrival back at Pearl Harbor on October the 20th 1952 she carried out local operations until November the 28th when she began a much needed yard period.

The yard period ended on January 29th 1953. Upon completion of sea trials and underway training exercises Abnaki headed north on March the 23rd and arrived in Adak on the 30th. From that time until November 12th Abnaki sphere of operation extended from the Alaskan main land to the farthermost Aleutian Island.

Upon her arrival back at Pearl Harbor on November 12th Abnaki once again began local operations and service to the fleet. This continued until April the 3rd 1954 when she headed toward San Diego with the ARD 28 in tow arriving in San Diego on the 18th. She immediately began local operation, including Long Beach, until her arrival back in Pearl Harbor on the 15th of May. On June 10th Abnaki once again headed for the Western Pacific.