USS Tuscana ( AKN - 3 ) USS " Tuscana " ( AKN - 3 ) was an in the service of the United States Navy in World War II . Probably named after a variant spelling of the constellation Tucana , it was the only ship of the Navy to bear this name . " Tuscana " was laid down 5 December 1943 as liberty ship SS " William R . Cox " ( MCE hull 2406 ) by Bethlehem - Fairfield Shipyard Inc . , Baltimore , Maryland , under a Maritime Commission contract ; launched on 29 December 1943 ; sponsored by Miss Cheshire Cox ; acquired by the Navy under bareboat charter and renamed " Tuscana " on 8 January 1944 ; converted to a net cargo ship at Baltimore by the Maryland Drydock Co . ; and commissioned on 28 March 1944 , Comdr . Thomas J . Butler , USNR , in command . Service history . Marshall Islands . " Tuscana " arrived at Hampton Roads , Virginia on 6 April 1944 and operated out of that port , conducting drills and shakedown in Chesapeake Bay . On 26 April , she set her course via the Canal Zone for Hawaii . She entered Pearl Harbor on 23 May , provisioned , took on passengers , and got underway for the Marshalls on 26 May . She arrived at Kwajalein on 5 June ; got underway on 27 June , steaming with barge " YC - 1008 " in tow ; and arrived at Eniwetok on 29 June . On 20 July , while attempting to transfer a passenger to during a rain squall , " Tuscana " s Buoy Boat No . 1 became stranded on a reef . When pounding seas forced the boat ' s crew to abandon her , a boat from destroyer came to the rescue and saved all hands . On 27 July , " Tuscana " departed Eniwetok , with other net cargo ships and an escort , and set her course for the Marianas . Mariana Islands . " Tuscana " anchored at Garapan on 1 August , detached men and cargo for the operation of harbor and waterfront facilities , and on 7 August began net operations . Throughout the remainder of the month , " Tuscana " s crew labored to assemble and launch anti - torpedo nets which were towed into place and installed by the smaller net laying ship s ( ANs ) . On this , her first net laying assignment , " Tuscana " provided nets to protect Mutcho Point and Garapan harbor from submarine attack . After completing this vital task , " Tuscana " arrived at Pearl Harbor on 11 September and began loading stores , buoys , and net materials . Ulithi . On 19 September , she got underway with a slow convoy of eight ships and three escorts bound for the Marshalls . After a few days at Eniwetok , she continued on toward the Carolines and arrived at Ulithi on 9 October . Here , conferences on net laying took place on board the ship . Then , on 15 October , " Tuscana " s crew began net assembly . On 26 October , she began delivering nets to smaller net laying ships which towed them into place and installed them to protect the lagoon anchorage . On 28 October , " Tuscana " assembled the last net of this operation . The same day , , a member of the task unit working with " Tuscana " , struck a Japan ese mine which caused severe damage to the net layer and underscored the ever - present hazards of warfare in the Pacific . " Tuscana " embarked passengers on 11 November and , on the following day , got underway and steamed via Eniwetok to the Hawaiian Islands . Throughout most of December , she remained at Pearl Harbor undergoing repairs . Then , on 27 December , she set her course again for the Marshalls and spent a week at Eniwetok before proceeding on to the western Carolines . Shortly after midday on 20 January 1945 , she passed through Mugai Channel and anchored at Ulithi . Although hampered at first by rough seas . " Tuscana " supplied moorings and assembled 1 , 260 yards of anti - torpedo net for Towachi Channel and an additional 6 , 390 yards for use elsewhere in the approaches to Ulithi . On 12 February 1945 , her assignment completed , she departed Ulithi . Okinawa . In March , she underwent drydocking at Pearl Harbor ; then took on cargo and passengers . She returned to Ulithi on 4 April 1945 , and , on 12 April , departed that port steaming in convoy for Okinawa . She anchored off the Hagushi landing beaches on 18 April . Near dusk each evening , the general alarm sounded , a regular reminder of the danger of Japanese air raiders . On 2 May , sailors on board " Tuscana " saw the flash of firing off the ship ' s starboard quarter and later observed the glow of an explosion which they thought marked the fiery end of a Japanese suicide boat . On 6 May , " Tuscana " began to assemble nets and moorings to screen the anchorage . Early in the day on 28 May , as " Tuscana " lay anchored in Buckner Bay , a swarm of kamikaze s attacked . For " Tuscana " , the action began at 07 : 25 , when a Japanese airplane crashed into a merchant ship only 800 yards off her starboard bow . For over 30 minutes , " Tuscana " fought off the airborne raiders . At 07 : 35 , a suicide plane crashed into . Soon thereafter , " Tuscana " opened fire on her first enemy plane ; and , moments later , another came in toward her port bow . " Tuscana " s guns opened on the attacker and kept it under fire until it disappeared in the low overcast . At 07 : 44 , she engaged a third aircraft and splashed it 600 yards off the port bow . She then turned her attention to the rescue of two survivors from " Sandoval " . At 07 : 55 , yet another Japanese plane came in range , and " Tuscana " splashed this raider some three miles away . During the fight , " Tuscana " lost her starboard mainmast boom , which was toppled and damaged beyond operational use , and her topping lift was carried away by friendly fire . At 0758 , " Tuscana " s guns opened on the last of the attackers and ceased fire five minutes later , just as a kamikaze crashed merchant ship SS " Josiah Snelling " . At 09 : 00 , the all clear was sounded , and " Tuscana " emerged from her encounter with the enemy without personnel loss and with the knowledge of having assisted in the splashing of two enemy planes . During an early afternoon alert on 3 June 1945 , " Tuscana " s gunners splashed a Japanese aircraft only 500 yards off her starboard quarter . On 6 June , she got underway and proceeded via Saipan and the Hawaiian Islands to the California coast . On 6 July , she anchored in San Francisco Bay to begin a prolonged period of overhaul . While the ship underwent extensive repairs , members of her crew attended schools in damage control , fire fighting , and radar . During this interlude , hostilities ended in the Pacific . Post - war activities . Late in August , " Tuscana " completed dock trials and tests ; then provisioned and got underway on 7 September . Steaming via Pearl Harbor , she arrived at Okinawa on 14 October and began discharging her cargo . Later in the month , as she was proceeding to Japan , she sighted and destroyed a floating mine . The ship anchored at Sasebo on 25 October . She returned to Okinawa in November ; then continued on to Hawaii ; and reached Pearl Harbor on 10 December . She discharged passengers and cargo there ; and , on 14 December , she set her course for Balboa . Steaming via the Panama Canal , she arrived at Norfolk on 11 January 1946 . Decommissioning and sale . The net cargo ship was decommissioned on 28 January 1946 and returned to the War Shipping Administration the next day . Her name was struck from the Navy List on 25 February 1946 . Laid up under the name " William R . Cox " , the ship remained in custody of the Maritime Administration until she was sold in the late 1960s to Horton Industries , Inc . , and scrapped in 1967 . Awards . " Tuscana " received two battle star s for World War II service .