Editing Template:USS Wateree (ATF-117)

{{short description|Tugboat of the United States Navy}}
{{other ships|USS Wateree}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Wateree (ATF-117).jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''Wateree'' (ATF-117) fitting out in December 1944
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header         = 
|Ship country        = United States
|Ship flag           = {{USN flag|1945}}
|Ship name           = USS ''Wateree''
|Ship namesake       = 
|Ship owner          = 
|Ship operator       = 
|Ship registry       = 
|Ship route          = 
|Ship ordered        = 
|Ship awarded        = 
|Ship builder        = United Engineering Co., [[Alameda, California]]
|Ship original cost  = 
|Ship yard number    = 
|Ship way number     = 
|Ship laid down      = 22 September 1943, as Fleet Tug (''AT-117'')
|Ship launched       = 14 June 1944
|Ship sponsor        = Mrs. Henry B. Wagner
|Ship christened     = 
|Ship completed      = 
|Ship acquired       = 
|Ship commissioned   = 17 February 1945 as  USS ''Wateree'' (ATF-117) at [[San Francisco, California]]
|Ship recommissioned = 
|Ship decommissioned = 9 October 1945 (wrecked at sea)
|Ship maiden voyage  = 
|Ship in service     = 
|Ship out of service = 
|Ship renamed        = 
|Ship reclassified   = ''ATF-117'', 15 May 1944
|Ship refit          = 
|Ship struck         = 1 November 1945
|Ship reinstated     = 
|Ship homeport       = 
|Ship identification = 
|Ship motto          = 
|Ship nickname       = 
|Ship honors         = 
|Ship fate           = Sunk during a [[typhoon]], 9 October 1945 with a loss of eight crew members
|Ship notes          = 
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}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption    = 
|Ship class        = {{sclass|Abnaki|fleet ocean tug}}
|Ship type         = 
|Ship tonnage      = 1,330 tons
|Ship displacement = 1,689 tons
|Ship length       = {{cvt|205|ft}}
|Ship beam         = {{cvt|38|ft|6|in}}
|Ship draft        = {{cvt|17|ft}} (max)
|Ship hold depth   = 
|Ship decks        = 
|Ship propulsion   = [[diesel-electric]], four Alco diesel main engines driving four [[General Electric]] generators and three [[General Motors]] 3-268A auxiliary services engines, single screw
|Ship speed        = 16.5 knots
|Ship complement   = 85 officers and enlisted
|Ship EW           = 
|Ship armament     = one single [[3"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}]] [[gun mount]], two twin [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm]] gun mounts, two single [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm]] gun mounts, six [[M2 Browning|{{convert|0.5|in|mm|abbr=on|1}}]] [[machine gun]]s, two [[depth charge]] tracks
|Ship notes        = 
}}
|}

'''USS ''Wateree'' (ATF-117/AT-117)''' was an [[Abnaki-class fleet ocean tug|''Abnaki''-class]] [[fleet ocean tug]] acquired by the [[U.S. Navy]] during World War II. ''Wateree'' was sent to the western Pacific Ocean to perform towing services; however, during a [[typhoon]], she was damaged beyond repair and lost, with eight crew members missing.

==Built in California==
The second ship so named by the U.S. Navy, ''Wateree'' (ATF-117) was laid down on 22 September 1943 at [[Alameda, California]], by the United Engineering Company as an ocean tug, ''AT-117''; redesignated a fleet ocean tug, ''ATF-117'', on 15 May 1944; launched on 14 June 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Henry B. Wagner; and commissioned on 17 February 1945 at [[San Francisco, California]].

==Pacific Ocean operations==
After fitting out at San Francisco, ''Wateree'' got underway for [[San Pedro, California]], on 4 March. She reported for duty at the [[Small Craft Training Center]] on 6 March and, for the next 25 days, trained strenuously. During the first week in April, she conducted more training, this time out of [[San Diego, California]]. From 6 to 13 April, the tug underwent repairs at the San Diego repair base.

She arrived back in San Francisco on 15 April and, on the 23rd, got underway towing three [[pontoon boat|pontoon]] barges to the forward areas. The ship arrived in [[Pearl Harbor]] on 10 May and conducted voyage repairs. On the 22rd, she was put to sea to rescue a disabled freighter; found the ship on the 24th; took her in tow; and arrived back in Pearl Harbor on the 26th.

On 30 May, she stood out of the port once again towing the three pontoon barges. After a month's voyage, which included a five-day stop at [[Eniwetok]] between 18 and 23 June and a brief pause at [[Guam]] on the 30th, ''Wateree'' delivered the barges to [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] on 12 July. Two days later, she headed back to [[Eniwetok]], where she arrived on 25 July. She remained there until 15 August, first undergoing some repairs and then providing harbor tug services in the anchorage.

==End-of-war operations==
The tug's departure coincided with the [[Surrender of Japan]] ending hostilities in the Pacific. She steamed to [[Kwajalein]] where she took ''ARD-29'' in tow, bound via Guam for Okinawa. She and her charge departed Kwajalein on 24 August, stopped at Guam from 2 to 15 September, and arrived at Okinawa on 23 September.

Six days later, she assisted several tugs with tows in trouble between the Philippines and Okinawa. On 1 October, she encountered [[USS Cinnabar (IX-163)|''Cinnabar'' (IX-162)]] adrift with ''ATR-29'' standing by. ''Wateree'' took both ships in tow and arrived back in [[Buckner Bay]] on 4 October.

==Trapped by a typhoon==
When it was ascertained that a [[typhoon]] would soon strike the anchorage at Buckner Bay, the tug received orders on 7 October to stand by to assist any ships which got into trouble during the storm.

''Wateree'' herself, however, fell victim to [[Typhoon Louise (1945)|typhoon "Louise"]] when it hit the anchorage on 9 October.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq102-6.htm |title=Typhoons and Hurricanes: Pacific Typhoon at Okinawa, October 1945 |author=Naval History and Heritage Command |publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command |access-date=19 June 2013}}</ref> At about 12:20, her [[starboard]] anchor was carried away by one of the many ships and barges cast about by the storm. To ease the strain on her remaining port anchor chain, she started her engines. Soon, however, she had to weigh anchor to avoid all the vessels adrift in the anchorage. The wind blew her afoul the anchor buoy for ''APL-28'', and she was drawn in toward that ship.

She and ''APL-28'' collided, but the damage was repaired quickly, and she untangled herself from the anchor buoy. Between 15:15 and 15:58, she cleared the APL and attempted to drop her port anchor again. The anchor machinery failed; and, at 15:28, the wind blew her onto a reef and battered out her starboard side before she could be brought clear.

At about 15:55, the order to abandon ship went out; and, by 16:10, all crewmen had gone over the side. Soon thereafter, ''Wateree'' sank in about 8 fathoms of water. The ship's commanding officer, her executive officer, and six enlisted men were lost. ''Wateree''{{'}}s name was struck from the [[Navy list]] on 1 November 1945.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/wateree-ii.html}}
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/39/39117.htm NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - AT-117 / ATF-117 Wateree]

{{Abnaki class fleet ocean tug}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wateree}}
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Abnaki-class tugs]]
[[Category:Ships built in Alameda, California]]
[[Category:1944 ships]]