USS Mosopelea (ATF-158)
USS "Mosopelea" (ATF-158) was during the World War II and Cold War. Her namesake is an Indian tribe which inhabited the area near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Design and description. The ship is displaced at standard load and at deep load The ships measured long overall with a beam of . They had a draft of . The ships' complement consisted of 85 officers and ratings. The ships had two General Motors 12-278A diesel engines, one shaft. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . They carried a maximum of  of fuel oil that gave them a range of at . The "Abnaki" class was armed with a 3"/50 caliber gun anti-aircraft gun, two single-mount Oerlikon 20 mm cannon and two twin-gun mounts for Bofors 40 mm gun. Construction and career. The ship was built at the Charleston Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. at Charleston, South Carolina. She was laid down on 2 January 1945 and launched on 7 May 1945. The ship was commissioned on 28 July 1945, with Lt. Comdr. Allen H. Jensen in command. She was reclassified ATF-104 on 15 May 1944. Following shakedown off the east  coast, "Mosopelea" departed Portsmouth Navy Yard, N.H., in early October 1945 with a tow for San Francisco, California. Steaming via the Panama Canal, the tug arrived at San Francisco on 8 November and operated off the California coast until return to Charleston with a tow, 27 January 1946. Moving on to Norfolk, the ship made a voyage to Oran, Algeria, in February, returning via Trinidad, Key West, and Boston, to Norfolk 2 May. From June to September, she made a voyage to Iceland, and then operated out of Norfolk into 1947, departing on 6 January for Bermuda and returning after  an extended tow and limited deployment on 23 March. The fleet tug continued to operate out of Norfolk, making a number of cruises to the Caribbean and gulf coast ports until June 1948, and then departed on the 12th as escort for 11 Turkish naval vessels bound for Gibraltar via Bermuda, returning 21 July. For the next 16 years, "Mosopelea" operated out of Norfolk to principal ports on the eastern seaboard, also making frequent cruises to the Caribbean and operating for short intervals at ports in Labrador and Newfoundland. Supplying ships of the fleet with her valuable towing services, the  tugboat made numerous extended deployments to San Juan, Mayport and Guantanamo Bay, for months at a time, operating out of those ports on various towing, research, and salvage assignments. During the Cuban missile crisis of October‑November 1962, the ship operated on standby emergency status, towing Army personnel barges from Charleston to Port Everglades, in preparation for a possible invasion of Cuba. On 15 September 1964, the fleet tug departed Norfolk on her first 6 months deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, becoming the first fleet tug possessing fall salvage and diving capabilities to serve with the 6th Fleet . She operated on extended deployment in the Mediterranean into 1965 and then returned to Norfolk in late winter to resume her previous duties. "Mosopelea" continued on her valuable service to the Atlantic Fleet, basing out of Norfolk and performing towing, salvage, and research duties all along the east coast and in the Caribbean into 1969.