USS Nashawena (AG-142)

USS Nashawena (AG-142/YAG-35) was a U.S. Navy cable layer constructed during World War II for the Army as the wooden-hulled self-propelled barge BSP 2008. The barge was completed converted to cable work for U.S. Army Signal Corps as the cable ship Col. William. A. Glassford supporting the Alaska Communications System in the shallow island waters of Alaska.[note 1] She was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1947 as a miscellaneous auxiliary and assigned to cable-laying duties for the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

History
United States
Name:
  • Col. William. A. Glassford (1943—1947)
  • Nashawena (1947—1959)
  • Omega (1959—?)
Namesake:
Owner:
  • U.S. Army (1943—1947)
  • U.S. Navy (1947—1959)
  • Commercial (1959—1975?)
Builder: Seattle Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corporation, Seattle, Washington
Laid down: 1943
Acquired: from the U.S. Army, 20 June 1947
Commissioned: 20 June 1947 as USS Nashawena (AG-142)
Decommissioned: 17 August 1953, at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California
Reclassified: YAG-35, 9 September 1947
Homeport: Mare Island, California
Fate: sold, 1 June 1960, renamed Omega, scrapped 1975?
Notes: Official number: 285876 (after commercial sale)
General characteristics
Type: cable layer
Tonnage: 602 tons
Length: 154 ft (46.9 m)
Beam: 36 ft (11.0 m)
Draft: 6 ft (1.8 m)
Propulsion: 3 x diesel, 3 screw
Speed: 10 knots
Complement: 29 officers and enlisted
Armament: none
Notes: Flat bottomed barge, capable of beaching.

The ship was sold to commercial interests in 1960 becoming United States Underseas Cable Corporation's Omega in 1961. Omega did cable work in the Navy's Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) and laid shore ends for part of the Air Force's Atlantic Missile Range and the Vietnam Coastal Network connecting coastal centers in Vietnam and a terminus in Thailand. In 1971 the ship, along with the company's larger cable layer were sold to a Liberian registered company set up to buy the two ships. Omega ceased cable operations after the sale and may have been scrapped in 1975.

Construction

The vessel built in 1943 as the Army self propelled barge BSP-2098 by the Seattle Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corp., Seattle, Washington. The barge was one of two converted to a cable ship to be operated for the U.S. Army Signal Corps as Col. William A. Glassford.[1][2][note 2][note 3] The two barges were completed as vessels suited to shallow water work in Alaska with triple screws, two cable tanks capable of holding 400 tons of cable, three 4 ft 6 in (1.4 m) bow sheaves, and a Sundfelt combined paying out-picking up cable machine.[1][3]

U.S. Army

Col. William A. Glassford and Col. Basil O. Lenoir specialized in cable work in extreme shallow waters in the Alaskan islands. The ships supported the Alaska Communications System for the U.S. Air Force.[1][3][note 4] The wartime cable work in Alaska was so urgent that cable machinery originally intended for the vessel was diverted to equip the cable ship Silverado which Col. William A. Glassford joined in Alaska on completion.[4]

U.S. Navy

The ship was transferred to the U.S. Navy 20 June 1947; and commissioned as Nashawena (AG–142) the same day, Lt. William K. Bickenbach in command.[5]

Nashawena soon commenced cable laying and tending services in the 12th Naval District and in the 14th Naval District for the U.S. Naval Electronics Laboratory. Reclassified YAG–35, 9 September 1947, she continued to provide communications maintenance until decommissioned at Mare Island, her homeport 17 August 1953. She was then turned over to the Naval Station, Treasure Island, California, where she operated briefly with the status “in service” before entering the Pacific Reserve Fleet at the end of the year.[5]

Commercial service

Nashawena was sold to Anthony Zahardis, 1 June 1960 and towed from Treasure Island, 3 July, and subsequently struck from the Naval Register. In 1961 ship was owned by United States Underseas Cable Corporation, registered commercially with official number 285876 renamed Omega, and made available for charter.[2][3][6]

CS Omega was used for cable work in the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center. In 1962 the United States Underseas Cable Corporation won an Air Force contract to lay cable supporting the Atlantic Missile Range. Western Electric Company was responsible for the main range but Underseas Cable Corporation was to lay cable connecting Grand Turk to Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico with 336 nmi (387 mi; 622 km) of cable with nineteen repeaters and a second stage 377 nmi (434 mi; 698 km) of cable with twenty-one repeaters connecting Ramey with Coolidge Air Force Base, Antigua. Omega laid all the shore ends of these segments.[7][8]

Omega laid the shore ends of the Air Force Vietnam Coastal Network system in 1967 at Da Nang, Qui Nhon, Nha Trang, Cam Ranh Bay, Vung Tau, in Vietnam and then at Ban Sattahip, Thailand.[8]

In 1971 the ship was sold to International Marine Operations Inc., registered in Liberia, set up for the purchase of the two Underseas Cable Corporation vessels Neptun[note 5] and Omega. Omega ceased cable work and may have been scrapped in 1975.[3]

Footnotes
  1. The "prefix" USASPB associated with the vessel is an error. The Army's designation of self propelled barges was Barge, Self Propelled (BSP). Smaller vessels simply had the designation "U.S. Army" and a number without being named. Some vessels were named but also bore the usual Army identification. The use can be seen in this photo of Col. William. A. Glassford in which "U.S. Army" is followed by "B.S.P. 2008" with Glassford underneath on the hull.
  2. BSP 2009 was converted to the cable ship Col. Basil O. Lenoir.
  3. Col. William A. Glassford was a career Army Signal Corps officer, father of Vice Admiral William A. Glassford.
  4. Col. Basil O. Lenoir would remain in Alaska after the U.S. Air Force took over the cable system becoming an Air Force vessel until sold to RCA in 1973.
  5. Built 1962 by Lubecker Flenderwerke A.G., as bulk carrier. Converted to cable work, renamed Cable Venture 18 April 1977.
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See also

References
  1. Grover, David (1987). U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II. Naval Institute Press. pp. 144, 146. ISBN 0-87021-766-6.)
  2. Priolo, Gary P. (5 June 2015). "USS Nashawena (YAG-35)". NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  3. Glover, Bill (9 August 2011). "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - CS William A. Glassford". Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  4. van Oudenol, Dirk; Glover, Bill (22 July 2006). "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - CS Restorer; Second World War". Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  5. Naval History And Heritage Command. "Nashawena". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  6. Merchant Vessels of the United States, Year ended June 30, 1962. Washington, D.C.: United States Treasury Department, Bureau of Customs. 1962. p. 785. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  7. Glover, Bill (10 August 2013). "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - U.S. Armed Forces Cables". Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  8. Glover, Bill (23 December 2011). "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - US Underseas Cable Corporation". Retrieved 4 February 2020.
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