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N7KTP > NAVNET 28.09.04 22:52l 52 Lines 3101 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 23474_N7FSP
Read: GUEST
Subj: USS UTINA (AFT-136)
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<DB0SL<DB0FSG<I4UKI<IK5CKL<VE2PKT<ON0BEL<ON4HU<7M3TJZ<
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Sent: 040928/1250z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
Fleet Tug USS Utina spent 25 busy years
By FRED MILES WATSON - Managing Editor - Northwest Navigator
USS Utina (AFT-163) named after a leading chief of the now-extinct
Timucua Indians who occupied the territory along the middle reaches of
the St. John's River which is where the city of St. Augustine, Fla., exists today.
The auxiliary fleet tug was built by the Charleston Shipbuilding and
Drydock Co., of Charleston S.C. It was commissioned at the Charleston Naval Base Jan.30, 1946.
The Abnaki class tug displaced 1,589-tons and was 205-feet in length.
Carrying a limited draft of 15 feet, four inches, Utina could make a top
speed of 16.5 knots. The ship's roster showed a complement of 85. Utina was outfitted at the time of commissioning with one, 3-
inch gunmount, two, 4Omm and four, 2Omm antiaircraft guns.
The major portion of Utina's long Navy career was spent in the western Atlantic and the West Indies. The tug carried out a
wide variety of towing missions, helping damaged ships into port, towing decommissioned ships to berthing areas and towing tar
g
ets for gunnery exercises.
The tug was closely associated with the American naval base at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba throughout its career. After shakedown operations,
Guantanamo was Utina's homeport for more than five years.
In 1951 the Navy reassigned Utina to Norfolk, Va. but each year the
ship would sail to Cuba for several weeks of operations, especially
"Operation Springboard" exercises held in the West Indies. She was at
Guantanamo in February of 1964 when Cuban Premier Fidel Castro cut off the
base's water supply.
When the United States responded by permanently severing the water
link to show the base's self sufficiency, Utina played an important role
by bringing in Guantanamo Bay's first potable water before two large
tankers could be activated for that mission.
Throughout the tug's quarter of a century of service with the Navy,
Utina altered her routine of operations along the eastern seaboard and in
the West Indies only twice.
In May of 1965, she embarked on her only deployment to 6th Fleet in
the Mediterranean. The tug's missions remained the same, although more
emphasis was placed on target towing duties for 6th Fleet gunnery
exercises.
Utina returned to Norfolk in early October of 1965 and resumed 2nd
Fleet services once again. In June of 1967, the fleet tug was sent out of
the country again with a voyage to Iceland to assist USS Aeolus (ARC-3) in
a special project. The tug returned to Norfolk on July 13, 1967 and resumed east coast and West Indies operations for the remai
ning four years of its career.
On Sept. 3, 1971, Utina was decommissioned at Norfolk and was
ransferred on a loan basis to the Venezuelan Navy. It was then commissioned as Felipe Larrazabal (R-21) and served until Decemb
er of 1977 when it was returned to the United States Navy, retransfered to Venezuela on a sale basis, and its name struck from
t
he Navy list - all simultaneously. Into the 1980s the fleet tug was still active with the Venezuelan Navy.
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