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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Catclaw (AN-60)
ex
 USS Catclaw (YN-81) (1944)


Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Charlie - Quebec - Quebec
 NCQQ
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - China Service Medal (extended) - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)
Ailanthus Class Net Laying Ship:
  • Laid down as the Yard Net Tender Catclaw (YN-81), at Snow Shipyards Inc., Rockland, ME.
  • Launched, 22 May 1943
  • Commissioned USS Catclaw (YN-81), 14 January 1944, LT. Tudor A. Wall USNR in command
  • During World War II USS Catclaw served in both the Europe-Africa-Middle East and Asiatic-Pacific Theaters
  • Reclassified Net Laying Ship (AN-60), 20 January 1944
  • Following World War II USS Catclaw was assigned to Occupation and China service in the Far East for the following periods:

    Navy Occupation Service Medal
    China Service Medal (extended)
    2 September 1945 to 15 March 194617 March to 19 April 1946

  • Decommissioned, 19 April 1946 at Shanghai, China
  • Struck from the Naval Register and transferred to the State Department for sale to the Republic of China
  • Final disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,400 t. (lim)
    Length 194' 6"
    Beam 37'
    Draft 13' 6"
    Speed 12.3 kts (trial)
    Complement
    Officer 4
    Enlisted 52
    Largest Boom Capacity 12 t.
    Armament
    one single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount
    four twin 20mm AA gun mounts
    Propulsion
    one Busch-Sulzer 539 Diesel electric engine
    two Diesel-drive 60Kw 120V D.C. Ship's Service Generators
    Fuel Capacity Diesel 665 Bbls
    Single propeller, 2,500shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Catclaw (YN-81)
    Catclaw
    091806007     		236k
    Namesake
    Catclaw Acacia A perennial, deciduous shrub/tree can grow up to 23 feet. Its natural habitat is desert and upland areas. Its pale yellow or cream flowers are densely clustered on cylindrical flower spikes. The flowers are sweetly and intensely fragrant. It's flowers are known to attract butterflies and numerous other insects, especially bees. The flowers are followed by up to 6 inch long, flat, curled, green seedpods that dry to a dark brown color. The leaves are green, alternate, and bipinnately compound with oval leaflets. The branches have sharp, curved, cat claw-like thorns. It flowers in spring, summer and fall.
    http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com    		 Tommy Trampp
    Catclaw 122k Catclaw (YN-81) underway, during builders trials, 28 December 1943, in the vicinity of Rockland, ME.
    U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM, photo # 19-N-61182, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Robert Hurst
    Catclaw 446k Catclaw (YN-81) underway, during builders trials, 28 December 1943, in the vicinity of Rockland, ME.
    US Navy photo.    		 Stan Svec
    USS Catclaw (AN-60)
    Catclaw
    091806001    		 650k USS Catclaw (AN-60) underway off Charleston, South Carolina, 13 February 1945. Catclaw is painted in a variation of camouflage scheme measure 31 design 20L.
    Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Catalog No NH 73442    		 Mike Green
    Baretta 106k A Japanese Type A or Type C Midget Submarine under salvage by USS Catclaw (AN-60) and USS Baretta (AN-41) at Untan Ro (Okinawa), in July-September 1945. The submarine had been sunk there by U.S. planes during the Okinawa campaign. Note its counter-rotating propellers. Photograph was released for publication 21 January 1946.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-350051, a US Navy photo, now in the collections of the US National Archives    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Catclaw 92k Japanese Type A or Type C midget submarine under salvage by USS Catclaw (AN-60) and USS Baretta (AN 41) at Untan Ro, Okinawa, July-September 1945.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-350052, a US Navy photo, now in the collection of the US National Archives.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Catclaw 96k Japanese Type A or Type C midget submarine under salvage by USS Catclaw (AN-60) and USS Baretta (AN 41) at Untan Ro, Okinawa, July-September 1945. USS LST-809 can be seen in background.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-350054, a US Navy photo, now in the collection of the US National Archives.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Catclaw
    091806006    		 73k USS Catclaw (AN-60) coming alongside USS Chiwawa (AO-68) at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, October or November 1945.
    From the USS Chiwawa web site.    		 John Chiquoine
    USS Catclaw (AN-60)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Wall, Tudor A., USNR14 January 1944 - 10 November 1945
    02LT. Jordan, J. E., USNR10 November 1945 - 10 January 1946
    03ENS. Callen, A. C., USNR10 January 1946 - 19 April 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 10 March 2023