USS Bagaduce (ATA-194)
Encyclopedia
The auxiliary ocean tug USS ATA-194 was laid down on 7 November 1944 at Orange, Texas
, by the Levingston Ship Building Co.; launched 4 December 1944; and commissioned at Orange on 14 February 1945, Lieutenant (j.g.) William J. Bryan in command.
After shakedown training, ATA-194 sailed for the Pacific with equipment in tow. She transited the Panama Canal
late in March and arrived at Pearl Harbor
on 29 April. After two berth shifting operations early in May, the tug got underway on the 23d with barracks craft in tow, bound for the western Pacific. Steaming by way of Eniwetok, Guam
, and Saipan
, ATA-194 arrived at Leyte, Philippines
, on 9 July. The auxiliary tug operated in the central Pacific through September, towing equipment between Kwajalein
, Eniwetok and Guam.
ATA-194 arrived at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 14 October, just before Typhoon Louise struck the anchorage on the 15th and caused severe damage among the assembled ships. As a consequence, she spent the next month aiding warships and support craft damaged in that storm. These salvage operations included retracting two LCIs
from the beach and a YMS from a reef. Assigned to the Philippine Sea Frontier, the tug remained in the Far East into the following year. In the spring of 1946, she supported preparations for Operation Crossroads
, a two-detonation atmospheric nuclear test held that summer at Bikini Atoll
in the Marshall Islands
. She returned to the west coast in late May and moored at Seattle, Washington
, on 15 June.
Reassigned to the 17th Naval District, ATA-194 sailed for duty in Alaskan waters later that summer. Aside from an overhaul at Puget Sound
in the summer of 1947, the tug operated for the next six years out of the Alaskan ports of Kodiak
, Cold Bay
, Adak
, Anchorage
, Attu
and Dutch Harbor. She was named Bagaduce on 15 July 1948. Upon arrival in Seattle on 2 July 1953, she was transferred to the 13th Naval District and ordered to prepare for assignment to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS).
Bagaduce was decommissioned on 17 July 1953 and transferred to MSTS on 31 August. Assigned to the northern Pacific, she returned to the Kodiak area for another five years of towing duty. The tug was transferred to the Maritime Administration, for lay-up in its National Defense Reserve Fleet
(NDRF) at Olympia, Washington
, on 25 August 1958. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
that same day and she was later transferred to the Coast Guard
.
of Coos Bay, Oregon
, where she replaced the aging 125-foot cutter USCGC Bonham (WSC-129). Bonham crew had cross-decked
to Modoc and a rumor from the time was that her commissioning had been ordered so quickly that there had not been sufficient time to paint over her entire Navy gray hull and only the shore-side of Modoc was painted white. From 1959 to 1969 she was stationed at Coos Bay, where she was used for coastal and off-shore search and rescue, oceanography, and law enforcement duties, primarily fisheries enforcement. Her normal area of operations extended from the California
–Oregon
border to Canada
and she was also occasionally called upon to patrol the Gulf of Alaska
. When not underway, Modoc was on continual alert and was capable of getting underway within two hours to proceed to a vessel in distress. A unit history written by an anonymous crewman sometime in the mid-1970s noted:
Her boom and heavy towing gear was removed in August 1963. Also during that month her crew assisted in a special guard detail at Tongue Point, Oregon, during a visit by President John F. Kennedy
at the dedication of the first Job Corps
center on the west coast. In January 1965 she assisted the Canadian tug La Force, for which the owners of La Force, the Vancouver Tug Boat Company, presented the cutter with a silver tea service. On 20 September 1967 she escorted the disabled Danish M/V Marieskou following a collision with the Chitose Maru four miles north of Cape Flattery. Modoc was reclassified as a Medium Endurance Cutter
, WMEC-194, in 1968. She and her sister Comanche (WMEC-202) were the smallest cutters designated as WMEC. On 17 March 1968 she assisted USS Chowanoc (ATF-100) recover her tow of DE-373 25 miles west of Coos Bay. On 30 April 1968 she assisted following collision between the Japanese M/V Suwaharu and the Liberian M/V Mandoil II off Oregon. On 1 August 1968 she rescued the lone survivor from the F/V Rodoma.
From 1970 until 1976 Modoc was stationed at Coos Bay, Oregon. A patrol summary dated 17 October 1970 gives some insight into her routine patrols: "The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter MODOC (WMEC-194) with its crew of 5 officers and 34 enlisted personnel returned to port today after completing Law Enforcement Patrol duties off the coast of Oregon and Washington. The ship was underway for 120 hours and traveled 955 miles ... Thirty-six different Soviet
vessels were detected operating between 14 and 20 miles off shore from Cape Arago to Grays Harbor ... No violations of the contiguous fishing zone or territorial waters were detected."
On 3 June 1972 an off-duty Modoc crewman, SA James Carignan, of Olympia, Washington
, drowned while attempting to save a 12-year-old girl who had been swept away from a beach by the surf. He was posthumously awarded the Coast Guard Medal. In January 1974 Modoc braved 100 knots (196 km/h) winds to assist the stricken tug Sea Racer and her tow, the former Liberty ship
Arlington. In November 1974 she retrieved the 40-foot high special environmental data buoy EBO-2 from the Cobb Seamount
. On 15 May 1975 she seized the Polish
278-foot fish factory trawler Kalmar 10 miles off Monterey, California
, for fishing inside the 12-mile limit and escorted her to San Francisco
. A news release about the incident noted:
In August 1975 Modoc safely towed the disabled East German stern-trawling factory-ship Rudolph Leonhard to Coos Bay. In November of that year, during a severe gale, she attempted to locate the hulk of the Korean
fishing vessel Kwang Myong No. 96 that had been abandoned by her crew after a fire. Modoc was unable to locate the hulk and turned back after heavy seas caused 45-degree rolls that led to injuries among some of the crew and caused structural damage.
Modoc transferred back to Coos Bay in 1977 where she remained for the remainder of her Coast Guard career. In August 1978 she towed the disabled 48-foot Canadian sailboat Naganek to Astoria, Oregon
after her operator reported that his engine had failed and that his wife had been killed attempting to enter the engine room. The Coast Guard later ruled her death to be an accident. Modoc departed on 28 October 1978 to undergo a renovation and refurbishment period at the Lake Union
drydocks near Seattle. While returning to her home port on 18 December 1978, Modoc narrowly avoided a collision with the loaded 810-foot tanker Arco Sag River at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca
.
Modoc was decommissioned on 31 May 1979 at Coast Guard Base Seattle and was placed on "Inactive, Out of Commission, In Reserve" status. Her final commanding officer was LCDR C. G. Boyer, USCG. Her crew cross-decked to her replacement, the 180-foot tender Citrus
(WLB-300). Modoc was later sold. , she had been renamed Modoc Pearl and was being used as a bed and breakfast inn at Gig Harbor, Washington
. The current owner of the Modoc rents the vessel out to people.
Orange, Texas
Orange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
, by the Levingston Ship Building Co.; launched 4 December 1944; and commissioned at Orange on 14 February 1945, Lieutenant (j.g.) William J. Bryan in command.
After shakedown training, ATA-194 sailed for the Pacific with equipment in tow. She transited the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
late in March and arrived at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on 29 April. After two berth shifting operations early in May, the tug got underway on the 23d with barracks craft in tow, bound for the western Pacific. Steaming by way of Eniwetok, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, and Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
, ATA-194 arrived at Leyte, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, on 9 July. The auxiliary tug operated in the central Pacific through September, towing equipment between Kwajalein
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
, Eniwetok and Guam.
ATA-194 arrived at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 14 October, just before Typhoon Louise struck the anchorage on the 15th and caused severe damage among the assembled ships. As a consequence, she spent the next month aiding warships and support craft damaged in that storm. These salvage operations included retracting two LCIs
Landing Craft Infantry
The Landing craft, Infantry or LCI were several classes of sea-going amphibious assault ships of the Second World War utilized to land large numbers of infantry directly onto beaches. They were developed in response to a British request for a vessel capable of carrying and landing substantially...
from the beach and a YMS from a reef. Assigned to the Philippine Sea Frontier, the tug remained in the Far East into the following year. In the spring of 1946, she supported preparations for Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
, a two-detonation atmospheric nuclear test held that summer at Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
in the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
. She returned to the west coast in late May and moored at Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, on 15 June.
Reassigned to the 17th Naval District, ATA-194 sailed for duty in Alaskan waters later that summer. Aside from an overhaul at Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
in the summer of 1947, the tug operated for the next six years out of the Alaskan ports of Kodiak
Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...
, Cold Bay
Cold Bay, Alaska
Cold Bay is a city in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States.Cold Bay is one of the main commercial centers of the Alaska Peninsula, and is home to Cold Bay Airport.-History:...
, Adak
Adak, Alaska
Adak , formerly Adak Station, is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 326. It is the westernmost municipality in the United States and the southernmost city in Alaska. The city is the former location of the Adak Army Base and Adak...
, Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
, Attu
Attu Station, Alaska
Attu Station is a census-designated place located on Attu Island in the Aleutians West Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 20 at the 2000 census, consisting entirely of coastguardsmen and -women who resided and worked at the United States Coast Guard LORAN station...
and Dutch Harbor. She was named Bagaduce on 15 July 1948. Upon arrival in Seattle on 2 July 1953, she was transferred to the 13th Naval District and ordered to prepare for assignment to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS).
Bagaduce was decommissioned on 17 July 1953 and transferred to MSTS on 31 August. Assigned to the northern Pacific, she returned to the Kodiak area for another five years of towing duty. The tug was transferred to the Maritime Administration, for lay-up in its National Defense Reserve Fleet
National Defense Reserve Fleet
The National Defense Reserve Fleet consists of "mothballed" ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States of America during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises.The NDRF is...
(NDRF) at Olympia, Washington
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
, on 25 August 1958. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
that same day and she was later transferred to the Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
.
USCGC Modoc (WATA/WMEC-194)
The tug was transferred to the Coast Guard and was commissioned under the command of LT Clarence J. Pare, Jr., as the Auxiliary Tug USCGC Modoc (WATA-194) on 20 April 1959, named in honor of the Modoc Indians. She then reported to her home portHome port
A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull...
of Coos Bay, Oregon
Coos Bay, Oregon
Coos Bay is a city located in Coos County, Oregon, United States, where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The city borders the city of North Bend, and together they are often referred to as one entity called either Coos Bay-North Bend or the Bay Area...
, where she replaced the aging 125-foot cutter USCGC Bonham (WSC-129). Bonham crew had cross-decked
Cross-deck (naval terminology)
For the component of an aircraft carrier arresting gear , see Cross deck pendantCross-deck is United States Navy jargon which may refer to either informal, ad-hoc sharing of resources between naval vessels , or the use of carrier decks to host aircraft of foreign allies, aircraft from other ships...
to Modoc and a rumor from the time was that her commissioning had been ordered so quickly that there had not been sufficient time to paint over her entire Navy gray hull and only the shore-side of Modoc was painted white. From 1959 to 1969 she was stationed at Coos Bay, where she was used for coastal and off-shore search and rescue, oceanography, and law enforcement duties, primarily fisheries enforcement. Her normal area of operations extended from the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
–Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
border to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and she was also occasionally called upon to patrol the Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Alaska
The Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, where Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage are found.The entire shoreline of the Gulf is...
. When not underway, Modoc was on continual alert and was capable of getting underway within two hours to proceed to a vessel in distress. A unit history written by an anonymous crewman sometime in the mid-1970s noted:
Her boom and heavy towing gear was removed in August 1963. Also during that month her crew assisted in a special guard detail at Tongue Point, Oregon, during a visit by President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
at the dedication of the first Job Corps
Job Corps
Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free-of-charge education and vocational training to youth ages 16 to 24.-Mission and purpose:...
center on the west coast. In January 1965 she assisted the Canadian tug La Force, for which the owners of La Force, the Vancouver Tug Boat Company, presented the cutter with a silver tea service. On 20 September 1967 she escorted the disabled Danish M/V Marieskou following a collision with the Chitose Maru four miles north of Cape Flattery. Modoc was reclassified as a Medium Endurance Cutter
USCG Medium Endurance Cutter
The United States Coast Guard's cutter fleet contains numerous smaller vessels, and about three dozen large icebreakers, High endurance cutters, Medium Endurance cutters, and three National Security Cutters. There are two legacy vessels, the Alex Haley and the Acushnet.There are 13 vessels in the...
, WMEC-194, in 1968. She and her sister Comanche (WMEC-202) were the smallest cutters designated as WMEC. On 17 March 1968 she assisted USS Chowanoc (ATF-100) recover her tow of DE-373 25 miles west of Coos Bay. On 30 April 1968 she assisted following collision between the Japanese M/V Suwaharu and the Liberian M/V Mandoil II off Oregon. On 1 August 1968 she rescued the lone survivor from the F/V Rodoma.
From 1970 until 1976 Modoc was stationed at Coos Bay, Oregon. A patrol summary dated 17 October 1970 gives some insight into her routine patrols: "The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter MODOC (WMEC-194) with its crew of 5 officers and 34 enlisted personnel returned to port today after completing Law Enforcement Patrol duties off the coast of Oregon and Washington. The ship was underway for 120 hours and traveled 955 miles ... Thirty-six different Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
vessels were detected operating between 14 and 20 miles off shore from Cape Arago to Grays Harbor ... No violations of the contiguous fishing zone or territorial waters were detected."
On 3 June 1972 an off-duty Modoc crewman, SA James Carignan, of Olympia, Washington
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
, drowned while attempting to save a 12-year-old girl who had been swept away from a beach by the surf. He was posthumously awarded the Coast Guard Medal. In January 1974 Modoc braved 100 knots (196 km/h) winds to assist the stricken tug Sea Racer and her tow, the former Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
Arlington. In November 1974 she retrieved the 40-foot high special environmental data buoy EBO-2 from the Cobb Seamount
Cobb Seamount
Cobb Seamount is a seamount and guyot located west of Gray's Harbor, Washington, United States. Cobb Seamount is one of the seamounts in the Cobb-Eickelberg Seamount chain, a chain of underwater volcanoes created by the Cobb hotspot that terminates near the coast of Alaska. It is aligned along...
. On 15 May 1975 she seized the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
278-foot fish factory trawler Kalmar 10 miles off Monterey, California
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
, for fishing inside the 12-mile limit and escorted her to San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. A news release about the incident noted:
In August 1975 Modoc safely towed the disabled East German stern-trawling factory-ship Rudolph Leonhard to Coos Bay. In November of that year, during a severe gale, she attempted to locate the hulk of the Korean
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
fishing vessel Kwang Myong No. 96 that had been abandoned by her crew after a fire. Modoc was unable to locate the hulk and turned back after heavy seas caused 45-degree rolls that led to injuries among some of the crew and caused structural damage.
Modoc transferred back to Coos Bay in 1977 where she remained for the remainder of her Coast Guard career. In August 1978 she towed the disabled 48-foot Canadian sailboat Naganek to Astoria, Oregon
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...
after her operator reported that his engine had failed and that his wife had been killed attempting to enter the engine room. The Coast Guard later ruled her death to be an accident. Modoc departed on 28 October 1978 to undergo a renovation and refurbishment period at the Lake Union
Lake Union
Lake Union is a freshwater lake entirely within the Seattle, Washington city limits.-Origins:A glacial lake, its basin was dug 12,000 years ago by the Vashon glacier, which also created Lake Washington and Seattle's Green, Bitter, and Haller Lakes.-Name:...
drydocks near Seattle. While returning to her home port on 18 December 1978, Modoc narrowly avoided a collision with the loaded 810-foot tanker Arco Sag River at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long that is the Salish Sea outlet to the Pacific Ocean...
.
Modoc was decommissioned on 31 May 1979 at Coast Guard Base Seattle and was placed on "Inactive, Out of Commission, In Reserve" status. Her final commanding officer was LCDR C. G. Boyer, USCG. Her crew cross-decked to her replacement, the 180-foot tender Citrus
USCGC Citrus (WLB-300)
USCGC Citrus was a Cactus -class seagoing buoy tender built in 1942 in Duluth, Minnesota, and now operated by the navy of the Dominican Republic....
(WLB-300). Modoc was later sold. , she had been renamed Modoc Pearl and was being used as a bed and breakfast inn at Gig Harbor, Washington
Gig Harbor, Washington
Gig Harbor is the name of both a bay on Puget Sound and a city on its shore in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 7,126 at the 2010 census....
. The current owner of the Modoc rents the vessel out to people.
Awards
- Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation
- Coast Guard Battle Efficiency "E" Ribbon
- American Campaign Medal
- Asian-Pacific Campaign Medal
- World War II Victory Medal
- Navy Occupation Medal
- National Defense Service Medal (2 awards)