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NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Navigator (YTB-39)



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Charlie - Dog

ex-Navigator (YT 39)
ex-Navigator (SP 2225)


Harbor Tug:

  • The first Navigator built in 1898 by J. H. Dialogue and Sons, Camden, NJ
  • Acquired by the Navy 20 August 1918
  • Placed in service as Navigator (SP 2225)
  • Reclassified as a Harbor Tug, YT-39, 17 July 1920
  • Reclassified as a Large Harbor Tug, YTB-39, 15 May 1944
  • Placed out of service 14 October 1946 at Mare Island, CA
  • Struck from the Navy list 30 December 1946
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission 8 August 1947
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 470 t.
  • Length 139'
  • Beam 26'
  • Draft 10' 6"
  • Speed 12 kts.
  • Armament: Two 6-pounders
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox oil burning boilers, one 1,000shp triple expansion steam engine (16½", 24", 41" x 30"), one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    USS Navigator (SP 2225)
    Navigator 264k 9 January 1920
    USAT Madawaska in the Mare Island channel with Navigator alongside
    U.S. Navy photo AP 29 010920 02
    Darryl Baker
    Navigator 153k 7 February 1920
    Mare Island, CA
    Navigator 88k Towing a barge in San Francisco Bay, California circa 1921. The tug and her tow are headed out through the Golden Gate
    Collection of Delmar Ketch. Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 93924 from Shipscribe.com
    Robert Hurst
    USS Navigator (YT 39)
    Navigator 481k c. 1924
    Crew members of Tillamook (AT-16), Navigator and Unadilla (YT-4)
    Photo from the pictorial history of Mare Island marking her 70th birthday as a Navy Yard
    U.S. Navy photo from the collections of the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum
    Darryl Baker
    Photo added 29 October 2021
    Navigator 76k 10 February 1928
    USAT U.S. Grant departing Mare Island with the assistance of USS Undaunted (AT 58) and Navigator
    U.S. Navy photo AP 29 Dep 2/10-28
    Darryl Baker
    Navigator 114k c. 1940
    Mare Island, CA
    Possibly moving Sepulga (AO 20) to an activation berth
    Jim Swank
    Navigator 140k At the Mare Island Navy Yard on 5 June 1942 during an inclining experiment
    National Archives photos from Shipscribe.com
    Robert Hurst
    Navigator 150k
    USS Navigator (YTB 39)
    Navigator 76k 9 November 1945
    Mare Island Navy Yard, CA
    Photo and text from http://www.navytugboats.com
    Robert Hurst

    View the Navigator (YTB 39)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back to the Section Patrol Craft (SP) Photo Index Back to the Service Craft, Yard and District Craft Index Back to the Harbor Tug (YT) Photo Index Back to the Large Harbor Tug (YTB) Photo Index

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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
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