page_title: USS Skylark (ASR-20)
section_title: 1951–1962
hierarchical_section_title: USS Skylark (ASR-20) / Service history / 1951–1962
caption_attribution_description: The U.S. Navy submarine rescue ship USS Skylark (ASR-20) at sea, circa in the early 1950s.
context_page_description: USS Skylark (ASR-20) was a Penguin-class submarine rescue ship of the United States Navy.
  The ship was laid down in July 1945 as the Navajo-class fleet tug Yustaga by the Charleston Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. of Charleston, South Carolina. While under construction Yustaga was redesignated a submarine rescue ship on 11 October 1945, assigned the hull designation ASR-20 on 13 November 1945, and renamed Skylark on 5 December 1945. She was launched on 19 March 1946, sponsored by Mrs. H. C. Weatherly, and was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, berthed first at Charleston and later at New London, Connecticut, until 1 March 1951, when she was finally commissioned, Lt. Comdr. Romolo Cousins in command.
context_section_description: Following restricted availability at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Skylark conducted her shakedown cruise and training out of Norfolk, Virginia, during July. The ship then returned to New London and operated out of that base, practicing submarine rescues and serving as a target recovery ship for submarines conducting torpedo-firing drills. In April 1952, the ship temporarily moved south to relieve Petrel (ASR-14) as rescue vessel at Key West, Florida, while the latter ship underwent an overhaul. In June, she returned north to New London to resume her former duties. During January and February 1953, Skylark was overhauled at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard; and, after refresher training at Newport, Rhode Island, during March and April, she spent May at Norfolk filling in for Kittiwake (ASR-13) while the latter ship went into the shipyard for overhaul. In June, she returned to New London and carried out her training schedule until October when she again headed back to Norfolk to substitute for Kittiwake, while the latter participated in "Operation Springboard." Upon the conclusion of that brief assignment, she resumed her New London-based routine. In February and March 1954, Skylark engaged in her own share of "Operation Springboard" exercises, providing services to Atlantic Fleet submarines during the annual training evolution. She returned to New London late in March and resumed her usual duties. In September, the ship entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for a two-month overhaul.
  Until the beginning of 1962, Skylark continued the pattern of duties described above. She operated out of New London the majority of the time but, periodically, did temporary duty elsewhere, notably at Norfolk and Key West, taking over briefly the duties of Kittiwake or Petrel when either ship was incapacitated due to repairs. She also operated regularly in the West Indies during the annual "Springboard" exercises. The one notable exception to that pattern occurred in January and February 1955 when she assisted Nautilus (SSN-571), the Navy's first nuclear-powered submarine, in completing her builders' trials.
caption: Skylark in the early 1950s.
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