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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS ATA-215


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Charlie - Tango - Delta
 NCTD
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)
ATA-214 Class Auxiliary Fleet Tug:
  • Laid down, 19 July 1943, as Yard Net Tender Palo Verde (YN-86), at Snow Shipyards, Inc., Rockland, ME.
  • Redesignated Net Laying Ship (AN-65), 20 January 1944
  • Reclassified Auxiliary Fleet Tug ATA-215, 15 May 1944
  • Launched, 2 September 1944
  • Commissioned, USS ATA-215, 17 December 1944, LT Ernest J. Clark Jr. USNR in command
  • During World War II USS ATA-215 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater
  • Following World War II USS ATA-215 was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East from 22 September to 29 November 1945
  • Decommissioned, 20 June 1946
  • Loaned to the Finn Ronne Antarctic Expedition in 1946
  • Renamed The Port of Beaumont, 25 January 1947
  • Returned to New York in March 1948 after being stuck in the ice pack of Marguerite Bay on the Palmer Peninsula for 12 months
  • Struck from the Naval Register in December 1948
  • Sold by the Navy, 8 February 1949, to an unknown buyer
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,550 t. (limiting)
    Length 194' 6"
    Beam 34' 7"
    Draft 14' 1" (limiting)
    Speed 12.1 kts
    Complement
    Officers 5
    Enlisted 52
    Armament
    one 3"/50 Dual-Purpose gun mount
    three single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Fuel Capacity
    Diesel, 935 Bbls
    Propulsion
    Busch Sulzer Mod 539 Diesel-electric engine
    two 60Kw 120V. D.C. Ship's Service Generators
    single propeller 1500shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    ATA-215
    19-N-76240    		 95k USS ATA-215 (ex-Palo Verde (AN-65) on trials off Rockland, Maine, on 20 December 1944. This ship and ATA-217 retained their earlier sisters' 3" gun forward of the bridge. In the second two of these five tugs to be completed (ATA-215 and ATA-217), the third 20mm gun was moved to a low position aft of the smokestack The mainmast was moved to a position just aft of the stack, and its boom, which had been found to be unnecessary, was deleted.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, photo No.'s 19-N-76240 and 19-N-76242, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    ATA-215
    19-N-76242    		 111k
    USS ATA-215
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Clark Jr., Ernest J., USNR17 December 1944 - 18 October 1945
    02LT. Wolleson, Jack Charles, USNR18 October 1945 - 23 February 1946
    03LTjg. Malone, William Cecil, USN23 February 1946 - 20 June 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Yard and District Craft Photo Index Back To The Service Ship Photo Index Yard Net Tender (YN) Photo Index Back To The Net Laying Ship (AN) Photo Index Back To The Auxiliary Fleet Tug (ATA) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 23 September 2016