.gif)
USS Reclaimer (ARS-42)
Encyclopedia
USS Reclaimer (ARS-42), was a of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. It was the only ship of the US Navy to be named Reclaimer.
1940s
Reclaimer (ARS-42) was laid down on 10 November 1944 by Basalt Rock CompanyBasalt Rock Company
Basalt Rock Company was a multifaceted industrial operation that was founded in 1920. The company started as a rock quarrying operation located a few miles south of Napa, California near the Napa River. It later branched out into the ship building business in 1941 when it started building ships...
in Napa, California
Napa, California
-History:The name Napa was probably derived from the name given to a southern Nappan village whose people shared the area with elk, deer, grizzlies and cougars for many centuries, according to Napa historian Kami Santiago. At the time of the first recorded exploration into Napa Valley in 1823, the...
; launched 23 June 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Daniel Clark, Jr.; and commissioned on 20 December 1945, Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
D. A. Bendinelli in command.
After shakedown off San Pedro, Reclaimer steamed to 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...
where she operated until assigned to Joint Task Force 1, arriving at Bikini
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....
on 1 June 1946. There she served as salvage vessel and was contaminated during the "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...
" atomic tests, but received final radiological clearance on 13 January 1947. She returned to Pearl Harbor in September 1946 and to the west coast in October where she remained until decommissioned 23 June 1947. She was assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet and berthed at San Diego.
1950s
Reclaimer recommissioned on 1 December 1950 for service in the Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and, after shakedown off San Diego towed AP-23 to Hawaii. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 12 February 1951, she then proceeded on across the Pacific touched at Majuro and Guam, and reached Sasebo, Japan on 29 April.
On 8 May Reclaimer got underway to aid SS Muhlenberg Victory, grounded on Uku Shima, an island near Sasebo. With the aid of , she refloated the ship a week later and on 27 May towed YO-179 to Pusan, Korea. She then steamed to Wonsan for patrol duties between that port and Songjin. In mid-June, she escorted , damaged by a mine, to Sasebo. Six days later, she returned to Pusan to tow the burning merchantman Plymouth Victory, back to Sasebo where the fire was extinguished. During August Reclaimer assisted in minesweeping and laid buoys in Wonsan Harbor. On 7 September, she refloated the beached Japanese LST Q 081 at Kangnung, Korea. On 10 October, with , she towed the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
hospital ship RFA
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is a civilian-manned fleet owned by the British Ministry of Defence. The RFA enables ships of the United Kingdom Royal Navy to maintain operations around the world. Its primary role is to supply the Royal Navy with fuel, ammunition and supplies, normally by replenishment...
Maine
RFA Maine (1924)
RFA Maine was a 7,432 GRT hospital ship which was built in 1924 as the ocean liner Leonardo da Vinci by SA Ansaldo, La Spezia, Italy for the Società di Navigazione Transatlantica Italiana. In 1941, she was captured by the British at Kismayu, Italian Somaliland...
which had lost a propeller, on a westward passage through the crowded and narrow Shimonoseki Straits. This was the only hospital ship supporting U.N. forces at that time.
On 22 January 1952, she departed Yokosuka to return to her homeport, Pearl Harbor, where she remained until 21 October. Returning to WestPac with YC-104 in tow, Reclaimer reached Sasebo on 17 November. On 2 December she arrived at Sokeho Hang, Korea, to rescue two LST's aground in heavy seas. With one of the LST's in tow she reached Sasebo on 18 December. After brief duty with the Wonsan blockade force, Reclaimer took SS Gulf Haven in tow while she was foundering in a typhoon, and successfully brought her to Japan.
Reclaimer continued to operate in Japan and Korea until returning to San Diego on 25 July 1953. For the next three months she operated on the West Coast, steaming back to Pearl Harbor in late October. In March 1954, she headed southwest to 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...
for salvage work during "Operation Castle
Operation Castle
Operation Castle was a United States series of high-energy nuclear tests by Joint Task Force SEVEN at Bikini Atoll beginning in March 1954...
", the hydrogen bomb test series at Bikini. Departing Bikini on 4 May she continued on to Japan. Through the summer she operated in Japanese and Korean waters, then, during September and October, stood by off French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
while French and American ships, in "Operation Passage to Freedom
Operation Passage to Freedom
Operation Passage to Freedom was the term used by the United States Navy to describe its transportation in 1954–55 of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam...
", evacuated refugees from what was to become North Vietnam.
Returning to the United States, Reclaimer spent the first six months of 1955 operating off the West Coast, then deployed to the Far East. During early 1956, she operated in the Hawaiian Islands, reaching Yokosuka on 30 September. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 12 February 1957.
After freeing the grounded LST from Kauai, Hawaii, she again conducted salvage operations in the Far East from 12 July to 30 November. Returning to Pearl Harbor she began a two-month tour on the West Coast in February 1958 then, following further services at Hawaii, again set sail for a four-month deployment to WestPac. She returned to Pearl Harbor in August and to the West Coast in February 1959, but was back at Pearl after only a month. In June she deployed to WestPac, returning in September.
1960s
Reclaimer spent early 1960 in the Hawaiian area, and installed underwater cables near Midway AtollMidway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
to detect missiles fired into the area. Then she steamed for Yokosuka on 6 September. Returning to Pearl Harbor on 21 December, she operated in the Hawaiian Islands until sailing for the Far East on 26 June. Back at Pearl Harbor in November, Reclaimer undertook several assignments.
Following an overhaul, Reclaimer steamed in May 1962 for Christmas Island
Christmas Island
The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....
and another nuclear test, "Operation Dominic", where she laid target moors and placed target rafts for the next two months. Arriving at Yokosuka on 6 October Reclaimer operated in the Far East until she returned to Hawaii early in 1963 and, with the exception of salvaging MV Shokafu at Pago Pago, Samoa, in March, operated there throughout the rest of the year.
Steaming back to Japan in January 1964, Reclaimer operated there and off Korea, Okinawa, and Taiwan before proceeding to Saigon to salvage , sunk up to her main deck in Saigon Harbor by Viet Cong mines. With , Reclaimer refloated Card and towed her to the Philippines, then returned to Pearl Harbor on 22 June and remained there for the rest of 1964.
In 1965 Reclaimer participated in "Operation Market Time
Operation Market Time
Operation Market Time was the United States Navy’s effort to stop troops and supplies from flowing by sea from North Vietnam to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War...
" off Vietnam for two months, salvaged LST-559 in Da Nang
Da Nang
Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...
Harbor, and performed various towing assignments, before returning to Pearl Harbor in July. In January 1966, she was off for WestPac again, and while so deployed was called on for three major salvage operations and for support in amphibious "Operation Jackstay" in rivers of the Rung Sat Special Zone. Reclaimer participated in the successful salvage of the Esso tanker SS Sea Raven off the beach of Chu Lai
Chu Lai
Chu Lai is a sea port, urban and industrial area in Dung Quat Bay, Núi Thành district, Quang Nam province of Vietnam. The city is served by Chu Lai Airport.-Vietnam War:...
. Then, steaming south, she performed similar operations for merchantmen grounded off northern Australia. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 29 August 1966, and on 9 November was underway for Oregon. She returned from the West Coast to Pearl Harbor a month later.
In March 1967 Reclaimer rescued SS Norbega, dead in the water west of Midway, before deploying to WestPac in April. In June she laid a special radar reflecting buoy in the Gulf of Tonkin
Gulf of Tonkin
The Gulf of Tonkin is an arm of the South China Sea, lying off the coast of northeastern Vietnam.-Etymology:The name Tonkin, written "東京" in Hán tự and Đông Kinh in romanised Vietnamese, means "Eastern Capital", and is the former toponym for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam...
to aid SAR patrol ships in navigation. She continued operations off Taiwan and Vietnam, including the salvage of South Vietnamese LSM-406 aground at Phan Thiết
Phan Thiết
Phan Thiết town is the capital of Binh Thuan province, in southeastern Vietnam. Phan Thiet is a municipality in central, south central sector, however, the development plan to 2025, it would be municipality Southeast Vietnam. The population of Phan Thiết city in 2005 is roughly 350,000 and is...
, until returning to Pearl Harbor at the end of 1967.
After spending the first half of 1968 in Pearl Harbor Reclaimer arrived at Da Nang
Da Nang
Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...
, South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
, on 29 August for standby salvage duty. In September she salvaged LCV-1616 and in October LCU-1676. Returning to the West Coast in mid-1969, she deployed to WestPac again at the end of the year.
1970s
Reclaimer then operated off Vietnam for the whole of 1970, entering Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 17 March 1971. At Pearl Harbor Reclaimer underwent regular overhaul and, subsequent to overhaul, engaged in salvage and refresher training. In February 1972, she was re-deployed to WestPac, returning to Hawaii in late August. She remained in the Pearl Harbor area throughout 1972 and the first six months of 1973. In July 1973, she steamed westward again for deployment, spending the last six months of 1973 in the western Pacific. As of late January 1974, Reclaimer was making the passage from Apra, Guam, to Pearl Harbor.In June-July 1977, Reclaimer sailed to Adak, Alaska to assist the USNS Meyer in oceanographis research. In Sept-Oct, Reclaimer worked with an experimental RUWS (Remote Unmanned Work System.)
- History needed from 1978-1994.
Reclaimer was decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register on 16 September 1994. She was transferred to the Maritime Commission (MARAD) on 28 July 2001, for lay up in the 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...
, at Suisun Bay
Suisun Bay
Suisun Bay is a shallow tidal estuary at in northern California, USA. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, forming the entrance to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta...
, Benecia, California. She was withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet on 28 November 2006, and transferred to Concord Naval Weapons Station
Concord Naval Weapons Station
Concord Naval Weapons Station was a military base established in 1942 north of the city of Concord, California at the shore of the Sacramento River where it widens into Suisun Bay. The station functioned as a World War II armament storage depot, supplying ships at Port Chicago...
, California for SINKEX
SINKEX
SINKEX or Sink Exercise is a US military term for the test of a weapons system usually involving a torpedo or missile attack of an unmanned target ship. The US Navy sometimes refers to this type of exercise as a HULKEX...
preparation. Her final fate is unknown.
Awards
Reclaimer earned five battle stars for Korean War service and eight campaign stars for Vietnam.Current status
The fate of the Reclaimer was mentioned in a newspaper article published on 11 February 2008 concerning the status of a sister ship .External links
- http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencysmall/basalt.htm Basalt Rock Compay Shipbuilding History