USS Nahant (AN-83)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Nahant.
Career (USA)
Name: USS Nahant
Namesake: Nahant
Builder: Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon
Laid down: 31 March 1945
Launched: 30 June 1945
Commissioned: 24 August 1945
Decommissioned: 31 July 1946
Recommissioned: 14 February 1952
Decommissioned: 30 September 1968
Struck: 1 October 1968
Fate: Sold to Uruguay, 15 October 1968
Career (Uruguay)
Name: ROU Huracan (BT-30)
Namesake: Huracan
Acquired: 15 October 1968
General characteristics
Class and type:Cohoes-class net laying ship
Displacement:855 long tons (869 t)
Length:169 ft (52 m)
Beam:34 ft (10 m)
Draft:15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion:Diesel-electric, 2,500 hp (1,864 kW)
Speed:12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:54
Armament:• 1 × single 3"/50 caliber gun
• 4 × single 20 mm AA gun mounts

USS Nahant (YN-102/AN-83) was the third ship to be named Nahant. Originally the ship was authorized as YN-102, it was reclassified AN–83 on 20 January 1944; laid down 31 March 1945 by the Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon; launched 30 June 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Hazel H. Childs; and commissioned 24 August 1945, Ensign R. F. Cella in command.

Service history

Commissioned too late for action in World War II, Nahant removed net moorings in the San Francisco Bay area and tested experimental nets until 31 October 1945. She then departed the west coast and steamed to Orange, Texas. Arriving 21 November, she planted moorings, removed pilings and performed tug services for the growing Reserve Fleet until decommissioning and joining the moth ball fleet herself, 31 July 1946.

Recommissioned 14 February 1952 and assigned to the 5th Naval District, Nahant installed and tended harbor defense nets within that district until 1 March 1954, when she temporarily assumed duties as a salvage vessel. By 28 May, however, diving equipment and a decompression chamber had been permanently installed and Nahant was converted into a ship of dual mission: salvage ship and net tender. From that time until 1968, Nahant participated in Mine Hunting Unit operations, harbor clearance projects, NATO and Atlantic Fleet training operations, mining operations, torpedo net laying and recovery operations, fleet service mine tests, harbor defense operations and training exercises, and experimental mine and net test and evaluation exercises. Such operations took Nahant, homeported first at Little Creek, Virginia, and later at Charleston, South Carolina, as far north as Naval Station Argentia and as far south as Cuba. Nahant decommissioned on 30 September 1968 and was struck from the Naval Register 1 October.

On 15 October 1968 she was sold to Uruguay, and became ROU Huracan (BT-30).

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.