USS ''Cahuilla'' (ATF-152) was an Abnaki class fleet tug in the service of 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 ...

during

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 ...

. In 1961 she was sold to the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; ). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Argentine Army, Army and the Argentine ...

as ARA ''Irigoyen'' (A-1) where she served until 2009 when she became a

Museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

US Navy service

She was laid down as ''Cahuilla'' (AT-152) at Charleston Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

; redesignated fleet ocean tug (ATF-152) on 15 May 1944; launched on 2 November 1944; and commissioned USS ''Cahuilla'' (ATF-152) on 10 March 1945.

World War II Pacific Theatre operations

USS ''Cahuilla's'' first service to the U.S. Navy was a brief tour as

antisubmarine Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations a ...

attack teacher at

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

. From there she sailed 18 April 1945 towing for

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 ...

. After delivering her tow 24 May, the fleet

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

sailed for

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, where she took a string of pontoon

barges A barge is typically a flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and marine water environments. The first modern barges were pull ...

in tow for

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

. From 26 July to 6 August, she served to escort

convoys A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

and as rescue

for the ships passing through the dangerous waters off Okinawa, subject to the desperate suicide attacks of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

End-of-War operations

The end of the war found USS ''Cahuilla'' at sea, bound for salvage operations at

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; , , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people (as of 2021) forms a legi ...

, from which she returned to take part in the occupation of

Nagasaki, Japan is a prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,481 (1 February 2025) a ...

, until 16 October. From that time she was based on Okinawa for rescue and tow operations until 14 February 1946. USS ''Cahuilla'' continued to offer towing service to fleet units, and rescue work to naval and merchant ships, calling at

, Kwajalein, and ports of the west coast and

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...

until January 1947.

Decommissioning

USS ''Cahuilla'' was decommissioned on 27 June 1947 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 ...

. Laid up in 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 ...

, she was struck from the

Naval Register 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 ...

and later transferred, under the Security Assistance Program, to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

on 9 July 1961.

Argentine Navy service

In 1961 the tug was acquired by the

as an

Aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an ...

and renamed ARA ''Comandante General Irigoyen'' (A-1) in honor of Spaniard Don Matías de Irigoyen y de la Quintana who was War Secretary between 1815 and 1819. Commandante General Irigoyen carried out search and rescue activities in the Falklands War, in the area of Task Force 50. A helicopter belonging to the ARA HÉRCULES was rescued from the sea in the area delimited as TOAS, almost 30 miles from the coast. the operation was risky since the unit was 30 meters deep and the divers had to sterilize all of its anti-submarine configuration that was activated by water pressure, then it went to Puerto Deseado to relieve the ARA Somellera Warning After the transfer of its antenna, the specific mission, in addition to being a search and rescue unit, was to support all the aircraft that went to and returned from Malvinas, the antenna was placed on the ship to carry out trigonometry so that the Argentine planes could locate on the continent the area called FT 50 under the command of Rear Admiral RE, now deceased, Héctor Martini. It is paradoxical that both the Sobral and the Somellera, together with the Area Chief, were considered Malvinas War Veterans and the ARA Irigoyen was not, fulfilling the same or more missions in the same geographical location on hot dates of the war and within the TOAS, That is why today in Naval jargon it is called "the ghost ship" http://avisoarairigoyen.blogspot.com/ . It also served as an Antarctic support and practice and training ship for divers and submarines. On September 29, 2009, with 400,000 miles sailed in the Argentine Sea, it was finally retired. During her career she also acted as an

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

support ship and as a submarine force divers training ship. On 29 September 2009 after 400.000 miles sailed in the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

, she was finally retired.Pasan a reserva al ARA Irigoyen

Museum

In January 2010, she was transferred to the care of the municipality of

San Pedro, Buenos Aires Province San Pedro, full name ''Rincón de San Pedro Dávila de los Arrecifes'', is a city and port in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, beside the Paraná River. It is one of five ''localidades'' in the San Pedro Partido, Partido de San Pedro and ...

and permanently moored as the Buque Museo Irigoyen, the third Argentine

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

, opening to the public in May 2010. On 5 November 2020 the tug was found to be listing dangerously after taking water and assistance was sought from the Navy to prevent her sinking or breaking free.

References

Notes

External links

Buque Museo Irigoyen
- official site *

Video: Irigoyen's last trip

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahuilla (ATF-152) Abnaki-class tugs Ships built in Charleston, South Carolina 1944 ships World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Argentine Navy Museum ships in Argentina Buenos Aires Province Military and war museums in Argentina Naval museums