USS Reclaimer (ARS-42)
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Reclaimer |
| Builder: | Basalt Rock Company |
| Laid down: | 10 November 1944 |
| Launched: | 23 June 1945 |
| Commissioned: | 20 December 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 23 June 1947 |
| Recommissioned: | 1 December 1950 |
| Decommissioned: | 16 September 1994 |
| Struck: | 16 September 1994 |
| Homeport: | None |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Dismantled in October 2011 in Brownsville, TX |
| Status: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Bolster-class rescue and salvage ship |
| Displacement: | 2,160 long tons (2,195 t) full |
| Length: | 213 ft 6 in (65.07 m) |
| Beam: | 43 ft (13 m) |
| Draft: | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
| Propulsion: | Diesel-electric, twin screws, 2,780 hp (2,073 kW) |
| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Complement: | 120 |
| Armament: | 4 × 40 mm guns |
USS Reclaimer (ARS-42), was a Bolster-class rescue and salvage ship of the United States Navy. It was the only ship of the US Navy to be named Reclaimer.
Reclaimer (ARS-42) was laid down on 10 November 1944 by Basalt Rock Company in Napa, California; launched 23 June 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Daniel Clark, Jr.; and commissioned on 20 December 1945, Lieutenant D. A. Bendinelli in command.
After shakedown off San Pedro, Reclaimer steamed to Pearl Harbor where she operated until assigned to Joint Task Force 1, arriving at Bikini on 1 June 1946. There she served as salvage vessel and was contaminated during the "Operation Crossroads" atomic tests, but received final radiological clearance on 13 January 1947. She returned to Pearl Harbor in September 1946 and to the west coast in October where she remained until decommissioned 23 June 1947. She was assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet and berthed at San Diego.
Reclaimer recommissioned on 1 December 1950 for service in the Korean War and, after shakedown off San Diego towed AP-23 to Hawaii. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 12 February 1951, she then proceeded on across the Pacific touched at Majuro and Guam, and reached Sasebo, Japan on 29 April.
On 8 May Reclaimer got underway to aid SS Muhlenberg Victory, grounded on Uku Shima, an island near Sasebo. With the aid of Grasp, she re-floated the ship a week later and on 27 May towed YO-179 to Pusan, Korea. She then steamed to Wonsan for patrol duties between that port and Songjin. In mid-June, she escorted Walke, damaged by a mine, to Sasebo. Six days later, she returned to Pusan to tow the burning merchantman Plymouth Victory, back to Sasebo where the fire was extinguished. During August Reclaimer assisted in mine sweeping and laid buoys in Wonsan Harbor. On 7 September, she re-floated the beached Japanese LST Q 081 at Kangnung, Korea. On 10 October, with Yuma, she towed the Royal Navy hospital ship RFA Maine which had lost a propeller, on a westward passage through the crowded and narrow Shimonoseki Straits. This was the only hospital ship supporting U.N. forces at that time.
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