USS Salish ( ATA - 187 ) USS " Salish " ( ATA - 187 ) ( previously " ATR - 114 " ) was a " Sotoyomo " - class rescue tug US Navy ship , her hull was laid down on 29 August 1944 . She left US service on 10 February 1972 and was recommissioned in the Argentine Navy on the same day as the ARA " Alferez Sobral " ( A - 9 ) US Navy service . " ATA - 187 " ( ex - " ATR - 114 " ) was laid down on 29 August 1944 by the Levingston Shipbuilding Co . , Orange , Texas ; launched on 29 September 1944 ; and commissioned on 7 December 1944 , Lieutenant Thomas G . Lewis in command . World War II . Designated for duty with Service Division 101 in the Pacific , " ATA - 187 " completed shakedown early in January 1945 , and departed New Orleans for Hawaii on the 18th with " APL - 10 " in tow . She reached Pearl Harbor on 4 March ; exchanged the barracks ship for two lighters ; and continued across the Pacific . At Guam , she changed tows again and sailed for the Ryukyus pulling two floating derricks . On 22 April , she delivered her charges to the Hagushi anchorage , Okinawa ; then , retraced her route back to Guam , whence she made a second run , with a power barge and a yard ferry , to Okinawa . She completed that run at Buckner Bay on 22 May ; assisted in downing an enemy bomber the next day ; and , at the end of the month , departed for Ulithi and the Philippines . From the former , she towed an oil barge and two lighters to the latter , arriving in San Pedro Bay , Leyte , on 27 June . Then ordered east , the ocean - going , auxiliary tug cleared San Pedro Bay in mid - July and entered San Francisco Bay on 17 August , two days after the cessation of hostilities in the Pacific . Overhaul took her into September ; and , on the 12th , she resumed towing activities with a run from Astoria , Oregon , to Pearl Harbor . During October , she delivered barracks ships to Eniwetok . In November , she commenced target towing services for surface and aviation units training in Hawaiian waters . " ATA - 187 " received one battle star for her World War II service . Post war . In April 1946 , she completed a run between Hawaii and California ; then returned to Hawaii to prepare for Operation Crossroads , the atomic bomb test series scheduled for the summer at Bikini . In May , the ATA joined Joint Task Force I and moved into the Marshalls , where , into the fall , she provided towing services . On 26 November 1946 , the tug received final radiological clearance and headed for New Orleans , her new home port . On 20 January 1947 , the ATA , arrived at New Orleans , her base for the next 14 years . On 16 July 1948 , the ship was named Salish in honor of the Salish tribe . During that period , towing activities , for the active and reserve fleets , took her between Gulf , east coast , and Caribbean ports . Support operations saw her off the Texas coast for radio experiments run by the University of Texas between July and September 1947 ; off the Virginia capes and in the British West Indies for survey and cable laying operations from June to December 1956 and from October to December 1959 ; in the Bahamas for mooring operations in May and June 1959 ; and in the Bermuda Islands for cable laying operations from June to September 1960 . In July 1961 , " Salish " was transferred to the east coast and , for the next ten years , was homeported at Mayport , Florida . From there , she continued her diverse towing operations ; but , was assigned , more frequently than before , to support experimental projects , including the MONOB I and R / P " FLIP " projects , and to cable - laying and mooring operations off the Florida coast , in the Bermuda area , and in the Caribbean . Ready for rescue and assistance operations throughout her career , she was herself the recipient of aid in October 1963 when she was damaged by Hurricane Ginny while towing a destroyer escort . Relieved of her tow by a Coast Guard tug , she underwent repairs and , in November , resumed her services to the fleet . Two of her most notable salvage missions came in April 1966 and in January 1971 . During the first , she assisted fire - fighting and salvage operations for MV " Viking Princess " which was located , on fire and drifting , in the Windward Passage . The second involved the storm damaged Brazilian freighter , " Amazonia " , loaded with lye , malt , raw plastics , bulk newsprint , and heavy mining equipment . For the latter operation , conducted off Bermuda , she was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation . In November 1971 , " Salish " returned to Mayport from three weeks duty providing services to Fleet Training Group , Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , and prepared for transfer to the Argentine Navy . She was decommissioned on 10 February 1972 . Argentine Navy service . In 1972 , the ship was acquired by the Argentine Navy and commissioned as the ARA " Alferez Sobral " ( A - 9 ) . She served during the 1982 Falklands War . While searching for the crew of a downed Argentinian English Electric Canberra on the night of 2 May she was attacked by two Royal Navy Lynx helicopters that fired four Sea Skua missiles at her , killing eight crewmembers . The " Sobral " , grievously damaged and unable to find the crew , returned to Puerto Deseado two days later and remained in port for the rest of the conflict . As of 2010 she is still in service .