USS ''Buckeye'' (AN-13/YN-8) was an ''Aloe''-class

net laying ship 300px, , an American net laying ship that worked at Pearl Harbor in the 1940s A net laying ship, also known as a net layer, net tender, gate ship or boom defence vessel was a type of naval auxiliary ship. A net layer's primary function was to l ...

in service with the

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 ...

from 1942 to 1947. In the late 1970s and 1980s, she was used as a salvage training hulk.

Built in Portland, Oregon

''Buckeye'' (YN-8) was laid down on 17 March 1941 at

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, by the

Commercial Iron Works Commercial Iron Works was a manufacturing firm in Portland, Oregon, United States. Established in 1916, the company is best remembered today for its contribution to America's Emergency Shipbuilding Program during World War II. The company was fo ...

; launched on 26 July 1941; sponsored by Miss Sara Ann Tefler; and placed in service on 5 September 1941.

World War II service

North Pacific operations

After fitting out at the

Puget Sound Navy Yard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted ...

, ''Buckeye'' began duty in the

13th Naval District United States Naval Districts is a system created by the United States Navy to organize military facilities, numbered sequentially by geographic region, for the operational and administrative control of naval bases and shore commands in the Unit ...

. She tended nets there until the fall of 1942. At that time, the ship was transferred to the

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Sector based at

Dutch Harbor Dutch Harbor is a harbor on Amaknak Island in Unalaska, Alaska. It was the location of the Battle of Dutch Harbor in June, 1942 when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked it just seven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. To this day, ...

. While stationed there, she was placed in full commission on 26 December 1942. She continued to tend nets and buoys in the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

, first at Dutch Harbor and, after May 1943, at recently captured Attu. On 1 January 1944, ''Buckeye'' was re-designated ''AN 13''. During the summer of 1944, the net layer received orders to

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, for an overhaul that she completed between 24 July and 11 September.

West Pacific operations

Following a round-trip voyage from the

U.S. West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S. states of Cali ...

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 ...

and back, ''Buckeye'' was stationed at the Naval Net Depot at

Tiburon, California Tiburon ( ; , ) is an incorporated town in Marin County, California. It is located on the Tiburon Peninsula, which reaches south into the San Francisco Bay. It shares a ZIP code (94920) with the smaller incorporated city of Belvedere (formerly ...

, near

San Francisco, California 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 ...

, as ready duty ship and standby vessel for emergency repairs. That duty lasted until 27 January 1945 when she was transferred to

Service Squadron A Service Squadron (ServRon) was a United States Navy squadron that supported fleet combat ships and US Navy Auxiliary ships. Service Squadrons were used by the US Navy from their inception in 1943 to as late as the early 1980s. At the time of t ...

(ServRon) 6 of the

U.S. 7th Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of th ...

. During February and March, the net layer stopped at

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 ...

Funafuti Funafuti is an atoll, comprising numerous islets, that serves as the capital of Tuvalu. As of the 2017 census, it has a population of 6,320 people. More people live in Funafuti than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with it containing approximately 6 ...

in the

Ellice Islands Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

Manus Manus may refer to: Relating to locations around New Guinea *Manus Island, a Papua New Guinean island in the Admiralty Archipelago ** Manus languages, languages spoken on Manus and islands close by ** Manus Regional Processing Centre, an offshore ...

in the

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 40 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-cov ...

, and Hollandia on

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

before arriving in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

in April. Initially, she served in

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf, also known simply as the Leyte, is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the ...

but, later that summer moved to

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

where she operated in

Manila Bay Manila Bay (; ) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the Manila, capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and ...

and

Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subi ...

Post-war activity

''Buckeye'' spent the remainder of her active career at Luzon. On 17 July 1946, the ship went aground in Subic Bay. With the assistance of , she was refloated on 29 July and was towed to Alava Dock for repairs.

Post-war inactivation

She was still undergoing repairs at the end of 1946 and, apparently, they were never completed. She went out of commission at Subic on 4 March 1947. Later transferred to the

Pacific Reserve Fleet The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and s ...

group berthed at

San Diego, California 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 ...

, she remained there until 1963 when she was turned over to the U.S. Maritime Administration for lay up in

Suisun Bay Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the e ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Her name was struck from the

Navy List A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

on 1 July 1963. She remained at the Suisun Bay facility until 5 May 1976 at which time she was reacquired by the Navy for use as a salvage training hulk. Her status is unknown.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckeye (AN-13) Aloe-class net laying ships Ships built in Portland, Oregon 1941 ships World War II net laying ships of the United States Training ships of the United States Navy Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign