Cherokee-class tugboat

The Cherokee class of fleet tugboats, originally known as the Navajo class, were built for the United States Navy prior to the start of World War II.[2] They represented a radical departure from previous ocean-going tug designs, and were far more capable of extended open ocean travel than their predecessors. This was due in large part to their 205 feet (62 m) length, 38 feet (12 m) beam, and substantial fuel-carrying capacity. They were also the first large surface vessels in the United States Navy to be equipped with Diesel-electric drive.[2]

USS Tawasa towed a nuclear bomb used as a nuclear depth charge as it was detonated in Operation Wigwam in 1955

Ta Feng, ex-USS Narragansett at Keelung harbor, September 28, 2019

USS Cree (ATF-84) underway in 1970
Class overview
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Bagaduce class
Succeeded by:	Abnaki class
Built:	1938–1943
In service:	1940–1994 (US)
Completed:	28
Active:	4
Lost:	4
General characteristics
Type:	Fleet tugboat
Displacement:	1,235 long tons (1,255 t)
Length:	205 ft (62 m)
Beam:	38 ft 6 in (11.73 m)
Draft:	18 ft (5.5 m)
Propulsion:	Diesel-electric, 1 shaft, 3,600 hp (2,685 kW) [1]
Speed:	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Complement:	85+
Armament:	1 × 3"/50 caliber gun 2 × twin 40 mm guns 2 × 20 mm guns

The first three vessels, Navajo, Seminole and Cherokee, were constructed from 1938 to 1940 at the Staten Island Shipyard division of Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Navajo and Seminole joined the Pacific fleet in 1940, and Cherokee went to the Atlantic fleet. Navajo was en route to San Diego from Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, and immediately reversed course to Pearl Harbor once news broke of the Japanese attack. She became a critical element of salvage operations there, as did her sister ship Seminole, in the days following the attack.

Following the loss during World War II of the first two ships of the class, Navajo and Seminole, the class was renamed from its original pre-war name of Navajo class to Cherokee class, the name of the third ship laid in 1939, which still survived.[3]

Ships

Ship name	Hull number	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Fate/status
Navajo	AT-64	26 January 1940	n/a	Sunk, 12 September 1943
Seminole	AT-65	8 March 1940	n/a	Sunk, 25 October 1942
Cherokee	AT-66	26 April 1940	29 June 1946	Transferred to United States Coast Guard; sunk as a target, 1992
Apache	AT-67	12 December 1942	27 February 1974	Transferred to Taiwan, 1 June 1974; stranded in action 1985; after rebuild currently active (only the bridge and the mast are retrieved)
Arapaho	AT-68	20 January 1943	15 January 1947	Transferred to Argentina, 1961; wrecked 10 January 1976
Chippewa	AT-69	14 February 1943	26 February 1947	Sunk as an artificial reef, 8 February 1990
Choctaw	AT-70	21 April 1943	11 March 1947	Transferred, to Colombia, 1 March 1978; fate unknown
Hopi	AT-71	31 March 1943	9 December 1955	joined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. turned over to the Maritime Administration 27 March 1962 and moved to the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Va., where she remains, following permanent transfer to the Maritime Administration 1 July 1963, into 1967.
Kiowa	AT-72	7 June 1943	n/a	Sold to Dominican Republic, 1972; sold for scrap, 12 December 1994
Menominee	AT-73	25 September 1942	15 November 1946	Transferred to Indonesia, 26 January 1961; fate unknown
Pawnee	AT-74	7 November 1942	January 1947	Sold for scrap, 9 November 1971
Sioux	AT-75	6 December 1942	15 August 1973	Transferred to Turkey, 15 August 1973; active as of 2019
Ute	AT-76	13 December 1942	30 August 1974	Sunk as a target, 4 August 1991
AT-77 AT-78 AT-79 AT-80	cancelled
Bannock	AT-81	28 June 1942	25 November 1955	Sold for scrap, late 1950s
Carib	AT-82	24 July 1943	24 January 1947	Transferred to Colombia, 14 February 1978; sunk as a target, June 2007
Chickasaw	AT-83	4 February 1943	30 June 1965	Transferred to Taiwan, 1 May 1976; decommissioned, 16 Jul 1999
Cree	AT-84	28 March 1943	n/a	Sunk as a target, 27 August 1978
Lipan	AT-85	29 April 1943	31 March 1988	Sunk as a target, 22 January 1990
Mataco	AT-86	29 May 1943	1 October 1977	Sold for scrap, 1 April 1979
Moreno	AT-87	30 November 1942	18 August 1946	Sunk as a target, 6 October 1988
Narragansett	AT-88	15 January 1943	21 December 1946	Transferred to Taiwan, 20 June 1991; active as of 2019
Nauset	AT-89	2 March 1943	n/a	Sunk, 9 September 1943
Pinto	AT-90	1 April 1943	11 July 1946	Transferred to Peru, 1 May 1974; active as of 2019
Seneca	AT-91	30 April 1943	July 1971	Sunk as a target, 21 July 2003
Tawasa	AT-92	17 July 1943	31 March 1975	Sold for scrap, 1 August 1976
Tekesta	AT-93	16 August 1943	14 April 1950	Transferred to Chile, May 1960; Sunk as a target, 5 July 1999
Yuma	AT-94	31 August 1943	11 November 1955	Transferred to Pakistan, 25 March 1959; decommissioned in 1993; fate unknown after.
Zuni	AT-95	9 October 1943	1 February 1994	Sunk as an artificial reef, 10 May 2017
Chilula*	AT-153	5 April 1945	19 June 1991	Sunk as a target, 1997

(*)Note: The reason for the gap in numbering from AT-95 to AT-153 is unknown.

See also

• Sotoyomo-class tugboat
• Type V ship – Tugs
• List of auxiliaries of the United States Navy

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

1. "Huge Diesel Electric Tugs Attend Fleet At Sea" Popular Mechanics, December 1940
2. "Navajo class". Uboat.net. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
3. Polmar, Norman (2005). The Naval Institute Guide To The Ships And Aircraft Of The U.S. Fleet (18th ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. p. 282. ISBN 978-1591146858.