USS Mahopac (ATA-196)

USS Mahopac (ATA-196)

USS Mahopac (ATA-196) underway, date and location unknown
History
United States
Name:	ATA-196 USS Mahopac (ATA-196), 16 July 1948
Builder:	Levingston Shipbuilding Co., Orange, TX
Laid down:	24 November 1944
Launched:	21 December 1944
Commissioned:	6 March 1945
Reclassified:	Auxiliary Fleet Tug ATA-196, 15 May 1944
Struck:	15 April 1976
Fate:	Sold to Taiwan under the Security Assistance Program (SAP), 1 May 1976.
History
Taiwan
Name:	Ta Peng (ATA-549)
Acquired:	1 May 1976
Struck:	1991
Fate:	Expended as missile target, 1993.[1]
General characteristics
Class and type:	Sotoyomo-class fleet tug auxiliary fleet tug
Displacement:	534 t.(lt) 835 t.(fl)
Length:	143 ft (44 m)
Beam:	33 ft (10 m)
Draft:	13 ft (4.0 m)
Propulsion:	diesel-electric engines, single screw
Speed:	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement:	45
Armament:	one single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount and two single 20 mm AA guns.[2]

USS Mahopac (ATA-196) was a Sotoyomo-class fleet tug auxiliary fleet tug. Her original planned designation was ATR-123, reflecting her intended role as a Rescue Ocean Tug, but was re-designated as Auxiliary Ocean Tug ATA-196 on May 14, 1944, before construction had started.^[2] Upon completion of shakedown and underway training, ATA‑196 departed for the Pacific. From May through November 1945 she participated in towing operations in the central and western Pacific. She then proceeded to the north Pacific for towing and search air rescue duties with the Alaskan Sea frontier. While serving in that area, she was named Mahopac 16 July 1948.^{[lower-alpha 1]} The oceangoing tug remained under the operational control of the commanding officer, U.S. Naval Station Kodiak Island, Alaska, until May 1957. On 13 May, Mahopac departed Kodiak for Astoria, Oregon, for inactivation. En route she received new orders canceling inactivation and changing her homeport to Yokosuka, Japan, effective 1 July 1957.

Mahopac departed San Francisco for the western Pacific 22 July 1957 with barges in tow. Transferring the barges at Eniwetok atoll 28 August, she continued on to Yokosuka, arriving 7 September. She then performed towing and drone operations for the Fleet Training Group. Through 1964, her duties took her as far as Subic Bay in the Philippines; her 1965 to 1969 assignments have extended her cruises to include periodic tours off the coast of Vietnam in support of 7th Fleet operations there. May of 1967 the rescued the SS Minot Victory.

Notes and references

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
• Photo gallery of USS Mahopac (ATA-196) at NavSource Naval History