USS ATA-218

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Career (USA) Union Navy Jack 100x35px
Name: USS Yaupon
Namesake: An Native American term designating a type of holly tree
Ordered: as Yaupon (YN-96)
Builder: Canulette Shipbuilding Co., Slidell, Louisiana
Laid down: 29 January 1944
Launched: 16 September 1944
Commissioned: 10 March 1945 as USS ATA-218
Decommissioned: date unknown
Renamed: ATA-218, 15 May 1944
Reclassified: AN-72, 20 January 1944
Struck: 17 April 1946
Fate: sold thorough the War Shipping Administration, 3 January 1947, presumably for scrapping
General characteristics
Type: ATA-214-class auxiliary fleet tug
Displacement: 1,275 tons
Length: 194' 6"
Beam: 34' 7"
Draft: 14' 1" (full load)
Propulsion: diesel-electric engines, single screw
Speed: 12.1 knots
Complement: 57 officers and enlisted
Armament: two 40mm gun mounts

USS ATA-218 was an ATA-214-class tug of the United States Navy built near the end of World War II. Originally laid down as Yaupon (YN-96), a net tender of the Ailanthus class, she was redesignated as AN-72, a net layer, before launch. Before completion, the name Yaupon was cancelled and the ship was named ATA-218, an unnamed auxiliary ocean tug.

Career

ATA-218 was laid down as Yaupon (AN-72) on 29 January 1944 at Slidell, Louisiana, by the Canulette Shipbuilding Company. Her name was cancelled on 12 August 1944, and she was designated ATA-218. She was launched on 16 September 1944 and commissioned on 10 March 1945.

Information regarding ATA-218's brief Navy career is almost totally lacking. Even her decommissioning date is unknown. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 17 April 1946, and she was sold through the War Shipping Administration on 3 January 1947. Presumably, she was scrapped.

References