USS ''Extractor'' ARS-15 was an ''Anchor''-class

rescue and salvage ship Rescue and salvage ships (hull classification symbol ARS) are a type of military salvage tug. They are tasked with coming to the aid of stricken vessels. Their general mission capabilities include combat salvage, lifting, towing, retraction of gro ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. ''Extractor'' was launched by

Colberg Boat Works . Colberg Boat Works was a shipbuilding company in Stockton, California on the Stockton Channel. To support the World War II demand for ships Colberg Boat Works built: Minesweepers, Type V ship Tugboats, and Submarine chasers. The minesweepers ...

, Stockton, California, on 15 June 1943 (sponsored by Mrs. Lowden Jessup), and commissioned on 3 March 1944.

Service history

''Extractor'' sailed from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

on 8 May 1944 en route to

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with ...

where she reported to Commander Service Squadron 2 (ServRon 2) for salvage and rescue duty. During the summer of 1944 she executed repairs, diving, and towing as well as salvage operations from

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 ...

to Eniwetok and

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest ...

. On 20 November while at Ulithi she fought futilely against fire on board which capsized and sank. On 3 December 1944 she steamed to

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic ce ...

, reporting for duty with Service Squadron 12 (ServRon 12), with which she served until 21 January 1945 when she departed unescorted for the

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

area. She was underway on the morning of 24 January when, through mistaken identification by , the latter fired a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

which struck ''Extractors starboard side. The salvage ship capsized and sank at , within five minutes. Six people died and the remainder rescued by ''Guardfish''.

References

External links

navsource.org: USS ''Extractor''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Extractor Anchor-class rescue and salvage ships World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Friendly fire incidents of World War II World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea Ships built in Stockton, California 1943 ships Maritime incidents in January 1945 Ships sunk by American submarines