Tuscumbia (YTB-762)

*Tuscumbia* (YTB-762)
	USS Tuscumbia (YTB-762) assists USS Missouri (BB-63)
History
United States
Namesake	Tuscumbia, Colbert County, Alabama.
Awarded	14 October 1960
Builder	Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon
Laid down	16 February 1961
Launched	22 August 1961
In service	December 1961
Out of service	date unknown
Stricken	Date unknown
Homeport	San Diego, California; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii;
Fate	not known
General characteristics
Class and type	Natick-class large harbor tug
Displacement	283 long tons (288 t) (light); 356 long tons (362 t) (full);
Length	109 feet (33 m)
Beam	31 feet (9.4 m)
Draft	14 feet (4.3 m)
Propulsion	Fairbanks Morse Diesel[citation needed]
Speed	12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Complement	12
Armament	not known

Tuscumbia (YTB-762) was a United States Navy Natick-class large harbor tug. The second ship to bear the name, Tuscumbia was named for the town of Tuscumbia, Alabama, which had been named for a Cherokee chief.

Construction[]

The contract for Tuscumbia was awarded 14 October 1960. She was laid down on 16 February 1961 at Slidell, Louisiana by 22 August 1961.

Operational history[]

Tuscumbia served in the Pacific Ocean, initially at San Diego, California, attached to the 11th Naval District, until shifted to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to operate in the 14th Naval District providing the necessary tug and tow services to support the U.S. Pacific Fleet from 1963 to and into 1978.

Tuscumbia is clearly visible in the closing scenes of the movie Down Periscope released in March 1996. According to IMDB, most of the harbor footage was shot in San Francisco, so there is a visual record of her in that location at that time.^[1]

Stricken from the Navy List, date unknown though likely sometime in 1995, ex-Tuscumbia was transferred to the Maritime Administration 11 September 1995. At some point, Atoll Institute was in negotiation with MARAD to acquire ex-Tuscumbia for conversion to R/V PERL.^[2]

References[]

^ Down Periscope at IMDb
^ "Proposed R/V PERL". Retrieved 16 April 2012.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

External links[]

"Planned R/V PERL ex-USN Tuscumbia YTB-762 Photographs taken on July 22, 2008". Retrieved 16 April 2012.
"DATA SHEET ex-USS TUSCUMBIA YTB-762" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2012.

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[1] Down Periscope at IMDb

[2] "Proposed R/V PERL". Retrieved 16 April 2012.

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