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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

AT-149 / ATF-149 Atakapa


Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Golf - Oscar - Victor
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Expeditionary Medal (3-Cuba)
Second Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Third Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Lebanon)
Abnaki Class Fleet Ocean Tug:
  • Laid down (date unknown) as Fleet Tug (AT-149) at Charleston Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Charleston, S.C.
  • Redesignated Fleet Ocean Tug, (ATF-149), 15 May 1944
  • Launched, 11 July 1944
  • Commissioned USS Atakapa (ATF-149) in December 1944
  • Decommissioned, 8 November 1946, at Orange, TX.
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Texas Group, Orange
  • Recommissioned, 9 August 1951
  • Decommissioned, circa 1970s and placed in service with MSC as USNS Atakapa (T-ATF-149)
  • Placed out of service, circa 1980s
  • Transferred to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Portsmouth, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 21 February 1992
  • Custody transferred to the Maritime Commission for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
  • Final Disposition, sunk as a target, 25 August 2000
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,190 t.(lt)
    Length 205'
    Beam 38' 5"
    Draft 15' 4"
    Speed 16.5 kts.
    Complement 85
    Armament
    one single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount
    two twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    two single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Propulsion diesel-electric, four General Motors 12-278A diesel main engines driving four General Electric generators and three General Motors 3-268A auxiliary services engines, single screw, 3,600shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Atakapa 19k Atakapa (ATF-149) underway, date and place unknown. Submitted by John Wilson to National
    Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Atakapa 57k Atakapa (ATF-149) underway, at sea detail, off Norfolk, VA., 1953 Submitted by Conley Branham to National
    Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Atakapa 86k Atakapa (ATF-149) underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1955    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Atakapa 86k Atakapa (ATF-149) brings Oak Ridge (ARDM-1) safely into Naval Station Rota, Spain, 26 June 1964, after a 22 day tow that originated in Norfolk, VA. on 4 June 1964.
    US Navy photo # USN 1104547 by PH1 J.A. Herry USN    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Atakapa 288k Atakapa (T-ATF-149) underway, date and place unknown. William Zarkas, Retired MSC Boatswain
    President, MSC Retiree Association
    View the Atakapa (ATF-149)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center web site
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    U.S.S. Atakapa ATF-149
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 31 December 2004