USNS Shearwater (T-AG-177)
USNS Shearwater (T-AG-177) was a Shearwater-class miscellaneous auxiliary built during the final months of World War II for the US Army as FS-411 (Design 381 coastal freighter). FS-411 was Coast Guard manned operating in the Central and Western Pacific, including Hawaii, Saipan, TInian, Guam, during the closing days of the war.[2]
History | |
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Name: | USNS Shearwater |
Namesake: | Shearwater, a long winged seabird |
Builder: | Hickinbotham Brothers Construction Division at Stockton, California |
Laid down: | October 1944,[1] as U.S. Army FS-411 for the U.S. Army |
Completed: | in April 1945 |
Commissioned: | 25 October 1944 as U.S. Army FS-411 |
In service: | May 1964 as Survey Support Ship, USNS Shearwater (T-AG-177) |
Out of service: | February 1969 |
Stricken: | c. 1969 |
Identification: |
|
Fate: | transferred to the U.S. Army; sunk as an artificial reef in 2015 |
General characteristics | |
Type: | Design 381 coastal freighter |
Tonnage: | 381 tons |
Tons burthen: | 935 tons |
Length: | 165 ft |
Beam: | 32 ft |
Draft: | 14 ft 3 in |
Propulsion: | two 500 hp GM-Cleveland 6-298A diesel engines, twin screws |
Speed: | not known |
Complement: | 26 personnel |
She was placed into service by the U.S. Navy from 1964 to 1969 as USNS Shearwater (T-AG-177). After this service, she was transferred back to the U.S. Army.
Operational history as T-AG-177
Shearwater began her naval service as a survey support ship with the Military Sea Transportation Service in May 1964. Operated by a Civil Service crew, she operated in the Atlantic Ocean until mid-February 1969, when she was transferred back to the U.S. Army.
As of 2007, Shearwater was active as a fishing vessel based at Reedville, Virginia.[3] She was retired in 2013 and reefed off the coast of Delaware onto the Del-Jersey-Land Inshore Reef site in 2015.[4]
References
- "U.S. Army Coastal Freighters (F, FS, T)".
- "World War II Coast Guard-Manned U.S. Army Freight and Supply Ship Histories".
- "Shearwater". ShipSpotting. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
- "DelJerseyLand Reef - Inshore". New Jersey Scuba Diving. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - T-AG-177 Shearwater