USS ''Chanticleer'' (ASR-7) was the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of her class of submarine rescue ships in 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 ...

. She served from 1942 to 1973 and was scrapped in 1974.

History

''Chanticleer'' was launched 29 May 1942 by Moore Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.,

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

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 ...

; sponsored by Mrs. W. K. Kilpatrick; commissioned 20 November 1942 and reported to the Pacific Fleet. Calling en route 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 ...

, island bases, and Australian ports, ''Chanticleer'' arrived at

Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, 8 May 1943. With her primary assignment the support of the

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s based at Fremantle, ''Chanticleer'' provided tender services to the submarines as they came in to refit between war patrols, trained divers, cared for small craft, repaired anti-torpedo nets, and carried out salvage operations. In October 1944, ''Chanticleer'' moved north to provide similar services at

Port Darwin Port Darwin is the port in Darwin, Northern Territory, and is the most northerly port in Australia. The port has operated in a number of locations, including Stokes Hill Wharf, Cullen Bay, and East Arm Wharf. Since 2015, the port has bee ...

, Australia, returning to Fremantle in January 1945. In the Darwin service "Chanticleer" provided valuable service in Dec 1944 by towing the captured Chinese junk "Bandoeng" to Prize Court Fremantle, Australia arriving on 15 January 1945. The "Bandoeng" was handed over to Intelligence gathering agencies and subsequently fitted with a Hercules diesel engine. To supplement her ALCO539 Diesel engines. ''Chanticleer'' arrived in

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 ...

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 ...

, Philippines from 19 March 1945 to take part in the enormous task of clearing Philippine waters by salvaging United States and Japanese ships, and locating sunken vessels which hazarded navigation. A voyage to Fremantle for salvage operations in September was followed by a resumption of her Philippine duty until January 1946, when she cleared for the east coast of the United States. Arriving at

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

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, 18 February 1946, ''Chanticleer'' operated to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, and along the east coast until June 1950, when she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet. Homeported at

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 ...

, she alternated local operations and exercises with tours of duty in the Far East at intervals of about a year. In the Far East, she sailed with the

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 ...

, 1969 she was fitted with twin 20mm gun mounts port and starboard aft of the bridge following capture of USS ''Pueblo''. She was involved in RVN diving ops in Nha Trang in Aug 69 and carried out numerous salvage and diving assignments. This duty continued through 1972. ''Chanticleer'' was struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 1 June 1973 and sold for scrap on 1 June 1974.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chanticleer (ASR-7) Chanticleer-class submarine rescue ships Ships built in Oakland, California 1942 ships World War II auxiliary ships of the United States