USS Big Horn (AO-45)
 |
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched: | 1936 |
| Acquired: | 31 March 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 15 April 1942 |
| Decommissioned: | 6 May 1946 |
| Struck: | 3 July 1946 |
| Fate: |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 441 ft 8 in (134.6 m) |
| Beam: | 64 ft (19.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Single screw |
| Speed: | 13 knots (24 km/h) |
| Complement: | 13 officers and 157 men |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
One Model JK-9 listening equipment |
| Armament: |
|
USS Big Horn (AO-45/IX-207) was a Q-ship of the United States Navy named for the Bighorn River of Wyoming and Montana.
Gulf Dawn, a single-screw oil tanker, was built in 1936 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp. and operated by the Gulf Oil Corporation. Acquired by the Navy on 31 March 1942, she was renamed Big Horn and given the hull designation symbol AO-45 on 3 April 1942. Her conversion began at the Bethlehem Shipyard in Brooklyn, New York. She was commissioned 15 April 1942, under the command of Commander James A. Gainard, USNR, formerly master of SS City of Flint, which had become the center of an international incident at the beginning of the war, and was later sunk by a U-boat.
Sailing to Boston on 23 April, Big Horn entered the Boston Navy Yard for conversion to a Q-ship. A disguised heavily armed merchantman, the decoy ship was intended to lure unsuspecting U-boats to the surface and sink them with gunfire. While at Boston, Big Horn completed her disguise as a fleet oiler and was given extra watertight integrity – in case she was torpedoed – by the installation of thousands of sealed empty drums in her cargo tanks. That work was completed on 22 July 1942.
After two days on the degaussing range and in calibrating compasses and radio direction finders, Big Horn proceeded to Casco Bay for training under Commander, Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet. This training period was followed by a shakedown cruise which was completed on 26 August 1942, at which date USS Big Horn put in again at the Navy Yard, Boston, for further alterations and repairs until 12 September.
...
Wikipedia