USS Zuni ( ATF - 95 ) USS " Zuni " ( AT / ATF - 95 ) , a " Navajo " - class Fleet tugboat , was a ship of the United States Navy named for the Zuni , the popular name given to a tribe of Pueblo Indian s indigenous to the area around the Zuni River in central New Mexico near the Arizona state line . " Zuni " ( AT - 95 ) was laid down on 8 March 1943 at Portland , Oregon , by the Commercial Iron Works ; launched on 31 July 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . J . J . O ' Donnell ; and commissioned on 9 October 1943 , Lieutenant Ray E . Chance in command . 1943 . " Zuni " completed shakedown training late in October and on the 28th reported for duty with the Western Sea Frontier , The following day , she departed Puget Sound , bound for Kodiak , Alaska . On 10 November , she stood out of the harbor at Kodiak with two barges in tow . In extremely heavy weather during the voyage south , the towlines to both barges parted ; and " Zuni " experienced great difficulty in keeping herself afloat . Though she managed to maintain contact with the second barge after it broke loose , she ultimately received orders to abandon it and make for Seattle , Washington . On 1 December , the tug was reassigned to Service Squadron 2 ( ServRon 2 ) and departed Seattle that same day with a barge in tow , bound for Oakland , California . After repairs at Oakland , the tug headed west for the New Hebrides on 27 December 1943 , in company with four cargo ships , and arrived in Espiritu Santo at the end of January 1944 . 1944 . Early in February , the tug left Espiritu Santo , set her course for Hawaii , and arrived in Pearl Harbor on 17 February . She performed routine missions at Oahu for about a month , getting underway on 21 March for a round - trip voyage to Canton Island . She returned to Oahu on 9 April towing two barges from Canton Island . On 20 April , she stood out of Pearl Harbor , pulling three barges bound for Majuro Atoll , and returned to Hawaii on 11 May . On 15 May 1944 , she was redesignated a Fleet Ocean Tug , ATF - 95 . A week later , she began an extended tour of duty in the Central Pacific . Towing " ARD - 16 " , the tug arrived in Kwajalein lagoon on 2 June . Reassigned to ServRon 12 , " Zuni " served as a harbor tug at Kwajalein until mid - July when she again took " ARD - 16 " in tow and got underway for the Mariana Islands . There , she participated briefly in the 24 July assault on Tinian before settling into a routine of shuttle voyages between Eniwetok and the Marianas . Late in September , she towed " ARD - 17 " to the Palau Islands where , during the first 18 days of October , she provided support services to the combined forces invading Peleliu . At that point , she received urgent orders to rendezvous with after that light cruiser had been damaged by two torpedoes during a Japanese aerial blitz to answer Task Force 38 ' s raids on Okinawa and Formosa . She relieved of the light cruiser and towed her into Ulithi lagoon on 27 October . After serving at the anchorage there for five days , the tug returned to sea with a group of oiler s . Soon another set of urgent orders sent her to aid another light cruiser , , which had been torpedoed in the Philippines , off the San Bernardino Strait , on 3 November by Japanese submarine " I - 41 " . Though the cruiser nearly capsized , the ships ’ companies of " Zuni " and " Reno " combined efforts to meet the threat ; and the tug succeeded in towing the cruiser 1 , 500 miles ( 2 , 800 km ) back to Ulithi . The tug remained in Ulithi for the rest of November and throughout most of December . During the latter month , she towed the disabled merchantman SS " John B . Floyd " into Ulithi and conducted a solitary cruise to eastward of the Philippines . On 29 December , " Zuni " put to sea with Task Group 30 . 8 , the replenishment group for TF 38 , and cruised for almost a month off Luzon . She returned to Ulithi on 28 January 1945 for engine repairs . 1945 . She moved back out to sea in February and arrived off Iwo Jima three days after the initial assault . For 31 days , she performed yeoman service for the warships in the area . She pulled a transport off a sand bar . She deliberately ran herself aground alongside disabled " LST - 944 " to help that ship land ammunition . More routine missions consisted of assisting broached landing craft and laying submerged fuel pipes . Work in the shallows , however , was as dangerous to her as to others . While attempting to save " LST - 727 " on 23 March 1945 , she was stranded on Yellow Beach when a broken towline fouled her anchor and propeller . She lost two crewmen in the disaster and suffered a broken keel and holed sides . She was pulled off the beach by , temporarily repaired , and towed to Saipan . After further temporary repairs , " Zuni " was towed to Pearl Harbor where she arrived at the end of May . During the more than 14 weeks of repairs she underwent there , World War II ended . " Zuni " resumed active duty on 15 September and served with the Pacific Fleet until early in 1946 , when she was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet . She served in the 8th Naval District until she was decommissioned on 29 June 1946 and transferred to the United States Coast Guard . " Zuni " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 19 July 1946 . " Zuni " earned four battle star s for her World War II service . Admiral William Halsey awarded the Legion of Merit to her skipper , Lt . Ray E . Chance . From the time of her commissioning " Zuni " was underway 80 % of the time . USCGC " Tamaroa " . The ship was renamed USCGC " Tamaroa " ( WAT - 166 ) , after the Tamaroa tribe of the Illiniwek tribal group . She was later reclassified a Medium Endurance Cutter , WMEC - 166 . As " Tamaroa " , she is best known for her rescue work during the " Perfect Storm " of 1991 . She was decommissioned by the Coast Guard on 1 February 1994 . From 2009 till 2011 " Tamaroa " had been undergoing restoration work at Little Creek in preparation to its move to its future home port in the City of Portsmouth . In 2011 she was moved to the Natucus on the waterfront in downtown Norfolk where she remained for a brief stay . She was then moved to a private shipyard across the Elizabeth river where she awaits her final fate . In late 2011 or early 2012 she suffered a major leak during a storm . Her owner decided that it was no longer worth keeping and turned her over to the shipyard owner . The Zuni Maritime Foundation was able to remove the property that they had acquired to outfit the ship and has transferred to other Museum Ships . Currently the shipyard that has her is trying to secure a location for her to be turned into a marine sanctuary .