USS Whitewood (AN-63)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Builder: | Snow Shipyard Incorporated |
| Laid down: | 24 October 1942 |
| Launched: | 21 April 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 17 July 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 1 April 1949 |
| Struck: | 7 June 1949 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 3 March 1950 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ailanthus-class net laying ship |
| Displacement: | 1,275 long tons (1,295 t) |
| Length: | 194 ft 6.5 in (59.296 m) |
| Beam: | 34 ft 7 in (10.54 m) |
| Draft: | 11 ft 8.5 in (3.569 m) |
| Speed: | 12.1 knots (13.9 mph; 22.4 km/h) |
| Complement: | 57 |
| Armament: | 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun |
USS Whitewood (YN-84/AN-63/AG-129), a wooden-hulled Ailanthus-class net laying ship of the United States Navy was laid down on 24 October 1942 at Rockland, Maine, by the Snow Shipyard, Inc.; named Whitewood on 5 July 1943; re-classified a net laying ship, AN-63, on 1 January 1944; launched on 21 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Eben Kenney; and commissioned on 17 July 1944, Lt. John I. Beam, USNR, in command.
Whitewood tended and laid nets and buoys at Boston, Mass., and at Newport and Melville, R.I., through the remainder of 1944 and into 1945. After a drydocking which began at the Boston Navy Yard in March 1945, the net layer shifted to Portland, Maine, in July. There she worked out of the Navy Net Depot at Little Diamond Island through the end of World War II in August 1945. After shifting to Newport, R.I., at the end of the month, she provided services for the naval net depot there and assisted in laying experimental net installations off Block Island.
Although apparently slated for inactivation on 22 October 1945, Whitewood apparently remained in commission through the end of the year. Early in 1946, the ship was placed in "deferred disposal" status pending possible future use. On 11 April, she was selected to participate in Operation Nanook, Arctic exercises slated to take place in the summer of 1946. Taken to the Boston Naval Shipyard, the ship was under conversion for the rest of the spring and into the summer. During this time, on 20 May, a fire broke out on board the ship in one of her after storerooms and caused "Nanook's" planners to fear that the wooden-hulled ship's services would be lost to the pending operation. Fortunately, the fire was put out before major damage occurred; and the shipyard was able to repair the ship enabling her to take part in "Nanook" as scheduled.
The nucleus of the "Nanook" force, Task Force (TF) 68, consisted of Norton Sound (AVM-1), Atule (SS-403), USCGC Northwind (WAGB-282), Alcona (AK-157), Beltrami (AK-162) and Whitewood. On 3 July, Whitewood departed Boston to rendezvous with Northwind off Greenland.
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