USNS ''Navajo'' (T-ATF-169) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

operated by the

Military Sealift Command The Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all U ...

which was in service from 1980 to 2016. She spent the bulk of her career in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

and is currently moored in Pearl Harbor, awaiting disposal.

Construction and characteristics

The contract for the first four ''Powhatan''-class tugs was awarded to Marinette Marine Co. on 12 September 1975. The contract price for the four ships was $30.5 million. ''Navajo'' was the fourth ship built under this initial contract award. The ship was laid down on 14 December 1977 at the company's

Marinette, Wisconsin Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the south bank of the Menominee River, at its mouth at Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay, part of Lake Michigan; to the north is Stephe ...

shipyard. ''Navajo'' was launched on 20 December 1979, and delivered to the Navy on 13 June 1980. Her hull was built of welded steel plates. She was long at the waterline and overall, with a beam of , and a draft of . She displaced 2,260 tons fully loaded. As originally built, ''Navajo'' had two controllable-pitch Kort-nozzle propellers for propulsion. She had two 20-cylinder Diesel engines, GM EMD 20-645F7B, which provided 4,500

shaft horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are th ...

. These would drive the ships at 15 knots. She also had a 300-horsepower

bow thruster Manoeuvering thrusters (bow thrusters and stern thrusters) are transversal propulsion devices built into or mounted to either the Bow (watercraft), bow or stern (front or back, respectively) of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow th ...

to improve maneuverability. Electrical power aboard the ship was provided by three 400 Kw generators. These were powered by four

Detroit Diesel Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC) is an American diesel engine manufacturer headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational Daimler Truck AG. ...

8v-71 engines. ''Powhatan''-class tugs had global range in order to support the U.S. fleet across oceans. ''Navajo's'' tankage was consequently large. She could carry of Diesel oil, of lube oil, and of drinking water. Her unrefueled range at 13 knots was ''Navajo's'' aft deck was largely open to accommodate a number of different roles. It had of working space. One of the missions of a fleet tug was to tow damaged warships back to port. She was equipped with a SMATCO 66 DTS-200 towing winch for service as a towboat. The towing system could accommodate either wire rope or synthetic-fiber hawsers and produce as much as 90 short tons of

bollard pull Bollard pull is a conventional measure of the pulling (or towing) power of a watercraft. It is defined as the force (usually in tonnes-force or kilonewtons (kN)) exerted by a vessel under full power, on a shore-mounted bollard through a tow-line, ...

. She had a 10-ton capacity crane for moving loads on the aft deck. There were connections to bolt down shipping containers and other equipment. Like all MSC ships, ''Navajo'' was crewed by civilian mariners. At launch, her complement was 16 civilian crew and a 4-person military detachment of communications specialists. The ships could accommodate an additional 16 people aboard for transient, mission-specific roles. All the ships of the ''Powhatan''-class were named after Native American tribes. ''Navajo'' was named after the

Navajo people The Navajo or Diné are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Navajo language, Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Din ...

, of the United States southwest.

Service history

USNS Navajo tows ex-Belleau Wood from Pearl Harbor

An engine room fire disabled USNS ''Taluga'' northwest of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

in April 1981. ''Navajo'' was dispatched to bring her back to port. On 10 June 1981, Navajo, took USNS ''Hudson'' under tow. She was dead in the water off San Nicholas Island at the time. The large, open aft deck of the ''Powhatan''-class tugs, combined with the 10-ton crane made them capable platforms for salvage missions. ''Navajo'' was called upon several times in this role. In July 1988 she assisted in the recovery of a

MH-53E Sea Dragon The Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion is a heavy lift helicopter operated by the United States military. As the Sikorsky S-80, it was developed from the CH-53 Sea Stallion, mainly by adding a third engine, adding a seventh blade to the main rotor, ...

helicopter which crashed off

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. In 2016 she assisted USNS ''Salvor'' in recovering the wreckage of two MH-53E helicopters that crashed off

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. On 1 September 1992, ''Navajo'' towed USS ''White Plains'' into deeper water after the ship broke her moorings and went aground in

Apra Harbor, Guam Apra Harbor, also called Port Apra, is a deep-water port on the western side of the United States territory of Guam. It is considered one of the best natural ports in the Pacific Ocean. The harbor is bounded by Cabras Island and the Glass Breakwat ...

during Typhoon Omar.

Unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...

from

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was discovered off Hilo Bay, Hawaii. ''Navajo'' served as a dive platform for Navy crews collecting and detonating the rounds in September 2000. In September 2008 ''Navajo'' exercised with the Chilean Navy's submarine CS ''Simpson'' with the Navy's new submarine rescue diving and recompression system. ''Navajo'' was used as a dive platform in a joint US Navy/

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

salvage exercise, SALVEX 2009, in November 2009. In December 2010 and January 2011, the Navy's deep-ocean recovery system CURV-21 was embarked on ''Navajo''. She was able to determine that a deep water sensor was not stuck on its anchor on the sea bottom at more than deep. In a second mission, she was unable to locate an

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

asset. In 2003 ''Navajo'' towed the Navy's Floating Instrument Platform into San Diego Harbor. On 28 July 2012 the ship was conducting training near the entrance to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

when a parted mooring line caused the ship to dump 8,000 pounds of expensive anchor, chain, and heavy rope on the ocean floor 150 feet below. The equipment was recovered on 9 August 2012. In May 2016, ''Navajo'' towed the missile tracking barge Mobile Area Targeting Support System (IX524) into Pearl Harbor.

Decommissioned ship tows

Vessels which are retired from Navy service are often towed to various inactive ship maintenance facilities where they are held in reserve. Ultimately, they are towed on to their final fate. These decommissioned ships do not have full crews and cannot sail under their own power. ''Navajo'' was frequently employed to tow decommissioned ships.

RIMPAC participation

"Rim of the Pacific" (

RIMPAC The Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii, with the exception of 2020 where it was held ...

) is a multinational naval exercise hosted every two years in Hawaiian waters. It typically includes a live-fire exercise during which a decommissioned ship is sunk. ''Navajo'' towed several of these vessels on their final voyage, and has participated in other RIMPAC exercises as well. RIMPAC 2006: ''Navajo'' towed ex-''Belleau Wood'' from Pearl Harbor to be sunk. RIMPAC 2008: ''Navajo'' towed ex-''Horne'' from Suisun Bay, California to waters off Hawaii where she was sunk. RIMPAC 2010: She towed ex-''Monticello'' and ex-''Anchorage'' from Pearl Harbor to where they were sunk. RIMPAC 2012: She towed ex-''Kilauea'' from San Francisco to Hawaiian waters where she was sunk. She also served as a dive platform for

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

divers. RIMPAC 2014. Participated RIMPAC 2016: ''Navajo'' towed ex-''Thatch'' from Pearl Harbor to be sunk in the exercise.

Awards and honors

''Navajo'' and her crew earned both the Navy

Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or ...

and the U.S. Coast Guard Unit Commendation.

Deactivation

USNS ''Navajo'' was deactivated and stricken from the naval vessel register on 1 October 2016. After deactivation ''Navajo'' was moored at Pearl Harbor pending final disposition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navajo (T-ATF-169) Tugs of the United States Navy Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Ships built by Marinette Marine 1979 ships