NET TENDER LOSSES-CASUALTIES-CLOSE CALLS-ENEMY ACTION
SHIP LOSS
On 26 February 1944 USS AILANTHUS AN-38, the first numbered wooden Net Tender, ran hard aground during a heavy storm in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Because of her extensive damage she was declared a total loss and was struck from the Navy list of ships on 9 June 1944. USS ANAQUA AN-40 took over her Alaskan duties.
CASUALTIES
VIBURNUM AN-57
On 28 October 1944 USS VIBURNUM AN-57 struck a Japanese mine while laying Torpedo Nets at Ulithi anchorage in the South Pacific. She had picked up a net section from the Net Cargo Ship, Tuscana AKN-3, and was stretching a double net section when a sudden violent explosion blew the port side of the forecastle deck upward. The blast killed 2 men and blew a dozen others over the side. They were quickly rescued.
Temporary repairs were made so the ship could perform limited harbor work at Ulithi. On 9 May she sailed for the US for major repairs. Due to the heavy workload on west coast yards for repairs to damaged combatant vessels the Navy did not desire full restoration of VIBURNUM. Therefore the VIBURNUM was decommissioned on 12 July 1945.
SNOWBELL AN-52
On 9 October 1945 USS SNOWBELL AN-52 at Okinawa was in a typhoon with winds up to 150 miles per hour. Her stern anchor let go and she collided with USS CHINQUAPIN AN-17. At 1639 she went aground. Ships timbers began to break up. After being pounded by high winds the captain ordered that the ship be abandoned the next morning. On 30 October an Inspection and Survey Board found the ship was unsalvageable. She was decommissioned on 5 Dec. 1945.

MAHOGANY AN-23
Another casualty from another Okinawa typhoon--on 14 September 1945--was MAHOGANY, caught in a typhoon she grounded on a reef in Buckner Bay. She was towed to Guam for repairs., but these promised to be so extensive that she was scrapped. After salvageable equipment had been removed, she decommissioned and her hulk was destroyed 19 April 1946 at Guam.

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo