USS Carib (AT-82)

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Career (USA) 100x35px
Name: USS Carib
Namesake: Carib
Builder: Charleston Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Charleston, South Carolina
Launched: 7 February 1943
Commissioned: 24 July 1943
Decommissioned: 24 January 1947
Reclassified: ATF-82, 15 May 1944
Struck: 1 July 1963
Fate: Sold to Colombia, 14 February 1978
Career (Colombia) Colombian Navy Ensign
Name: ARC Pedro de Heredia
Namesake: Pedro de Heredia
Acquired: 14 February 1978
Fate: Sunk by the Colombian Navy, June 2007
General characteristics
Class and type: Cherokee-class fleet tug
Displacement: 1,235 long tons (1,255 t)
Length: 205 ft (62 m)
Beam: 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m)
Draft: 15 ft 4 in (4.67 m)
Propulsion: Diesel-electric
4 × General Motors 12-278A diesel engines driving 4 General Electric generators and 3 General Motors 3-268A auxiliary services engines
single screw
3,600 shp (2,685 kW)
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement: 85 officers and enlisted
Armament: • 1 × single 3"/50 caliber gun
• 2 × twin 40 mm AA guns
• 2 × single 20 mm AA guns

USS Carib (AT-82) was a Cherokee-class fleet tug constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. Her purpose was to aid ships, usually by towing, on the high seas or in combat or post-combat areas, plus "other duties as assigned." She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

The second U.S. Navy ship to be named Carib, she was launched 7 February 1943 by Charleston Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Charleston, South Carolina; sponsored by Mrs. N. R. Wade; and commissioned 24 July 1943, Lieutenant A. H. Gunn in command.

World War II Atlantic Ocean operations

Carib cleared Norfolk, Virginia, 3 September 1943 for duty under Commander, Service Force, Atlantic. She arrived at Recife, Brazil, 17 October, and through June 1944 operated along the coast of Brazil on local escort, towing and salvage duty. This important support aided in the successful antisubmarine and escort operations of the South Atlantic Force.

Transfer to the Pacific Ocean

Clearing for the Mediterranean 6 June 1944, Carib returned to New York 22 July, towing the battle-damaged destroyer escort Menges (DE-320) across the Atlantic. Through the next year, she aided in the development of anti-submarine equipment at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and at Port Everglades, Florida. The fleet tug cleared Port Everglades on 1 June 1945 for the Pacific, towing barracks craft (non-self propelled) APL-28 to the Panama Canal Zone, and then the 10,000-ton concrete floating drydock ARDC-2 to Pearl Harbor.

Carib towed battle rafts to Eniwetok and Okinawa, and at Buckner Bay on 21 October reported to the U.S. 5th Fleet's Service Squadron 10. Towing jobs in support of the occupation of Japan and redeployments in China took Carib to Japan and Shanghai from Okinawa until 9 January 1946. The tug towed stores ship E.A. Poe (IX-103) to Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, arriving 6 February, and operated in the Philippines until 6 April.

Post-war decommissioning

Carib returned to San Pedro, California, 29 May, and on 24 January 1947 was placed out of commission in reserve, berthed at San Diego, California. She was struck from the Naval Register, 1 July 1963, and sold to Colombia, under the Security Assistance Program, 14 February 1978 and renamed ARC Pedro de Heredia. Final Disposition was to be sunk by the Colombian Navy in June 2007.

References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

See also

External links

  • Photo gallery of USS Carib (AT-82/ATF-82) at NavSource Naval History