USS Hiawatha (YT-265)

Career (United States)
Name: USS Hiawatha
Namesake: Hiawatha, a leader of the Onondaga and Mohawk nations of Native Americans and a fictional character in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Song of Hiawatha"
Builder: Birchfield Boiler, Inc., Tacoma, Washington
Launched: 3 April 1942
Sponsored by: Mrs. Violet Davies
Acquired: 30 April 1942
Reclassified: From harbor tug (YT-265) to large harbor tug (YTB-265) 15 May 1944
To medium harbor tug (YTM-265) February 1962
Fate: Sold for scrapping 7 April 1987
Notes: Laid down as USS Port Angeles; name changed to Hiawatha prior to entry into service
General characteristics
Type: Harbor tug
Displacement: 237 tons
Length: 100 ft (30 m)
Beam: 25 ft (7.6 m)
Draft: 9 ft 7 in (2.92 m)
Speed: 13 knots

The third USS Hiawatha (YT-265), later YTB-265, later YTM-265, was a harbor tug that entered service in the United States Navy in 1942 and was sold in 1987.

Hiawatha was built as the tug Port Angeles under a Maritime Commission contract by Birchfield Boiler, Inc. at Tacoma, Washington, and launched as such on 3 April 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Violet Davies. The U.S. Navy acquired Port Angeles on 30 April 1942, changed her name to Hiawatha, and placed her in service as harbor tug USS Hiawatha (YT-265).

Hiawatha performed harbor tug duties for the 13th Naval District at Seattle, Washington, during and after World War II. She was reclassified as a large harbor tug and redesignated YTB-265 on 15 May 1944.

In 1948, Hiawatha was assigned to the 12th Naval District, where she operated as a tug for the San Francisco Naval Shipyard at San Francisco, California into at least the 1960s. She was reclassified as a medium harbor tug and redesignated YTM-265 in February 1962.

[1962-1987]

Hiawatha was sold for scrapping on 7 April 1987.

References