USS ''Pawnee'' (AT-74/ATF-74) was a 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 ...

. ''Pawnee'' was laid down on 23 October 1941 by the United Engineering Company,

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

; launched on 31 March 1942 and commissioned on 7 November 1942.

Service history

After a Pacific coast

Shakedown cruise Shakedown cruise is a nautical term in which the performance of a ship is tested. Generally, shakedown cruises are performed before a ship enters service or after major changes such as a crew change, repair, refit or overhaul. The shakedown ...

''Pawnee'' was assigned to Service Force, Pacific. In December 1942, she steamed 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 ...

and commenced towing operations. She stood out of Pearl Harbor in early January, steamed for the forward Pacific area with the

floating drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

USS ''ARD–5'' in tow, and reported to ComSoPac for duty the 29th at

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region ...

. ''Pawnee'' operated in the Solomons from June through August 1943, providing towing services at

New Georgia New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province (Solomon Islands), Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the List of islands by area, 203rd-largest island in the world. Since July 1978, the island has been par ...

and

Rendova Rendova is an island in Western Province, in the independent nation of Solomon Islands, in the South Pacific, east of Papua New Guinea. Geography Rendova Island is a roughly rectangular island, located in the South Pacific in the New Georgia I ...

. She next provided services at

Vella Lavella Vella Lavella is an island in the Western Province (Solomon Islands), Western Province of Solomon Islands. It lies to the west of New Georgia, but is considered one of the New Georgia Islands, New Georgia Group. To its west are the Treasury Isla ...

until October. Other operations took her to the Western Carolines,

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 ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

, and

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 ...

. She was reclassified as ATF–74 on 15 May 1944. On 14 October 1944, off the coast of

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

, the Cleveland-class

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...

USS ''Houston'' was hit by a

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

amidships and taken under tow by ''Pawnee''. Two days later, with the damaged cruiser still attached by a tow line, another wave of Japanese

torpedo bombers A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...

attacked ''Houston'' hitting her in the stern with a second torpedo. Damage was controlled and ''Pawnee'' with ''Houston'' reached

Ulithi Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap, within Yap State. Name The name of the island goes back to Chuukic languages, Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diw ...

on 27 October. She served with the Naval Occupation Forces 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 ...

from 28 September 1945 until 24 February 1946, when she sailed to Pearl Harbor. In January 1947 she decommissioned and entered the Columbia River Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. ''Pawnee'' 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 September 1962 and placed in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of Ship, ships of the United States, mostly Merchant ship, merchant vessels, that have been Reserve fleet, mothballed but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during nationa ...

, Olympia,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, where she remained until 1971. ''Pawnee'' was sold on 9 November 1971 to Hatch and Kirk, Inc of Seattle, WA for $31,850 and was broken up the next year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pawnee (ATF-74) Cherokee-class fleet tugs World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Ships built in Alameda, California 1942 ships

Service history

References

Suggested Reading

External links