USS Apache (1889)

The first USS Apache, later USS Aspinet (YF-176), was a United States Navy tug in commission during 1898, which then served again as a freight lighter from 1900 to 1925.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Apache and USNS Apache.
History
United States
Name
  • USS Apache (1898–1918)
  • USS Aspinet (1918–1925)
NamesakeThe Apache, the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans originally from the American Southwest
BuilderA. C. Brown, New York, New York
Cost$54,510 (hull and machinery)[1]
Completed1889
Acquired24 May 1898
Commissioned11 June 1898
Decommissioned24 September 1898
In service1900[2]
RenamedUSS Aspinet 11 April 1918
ReclassifiedYF-176 17 July 1920
FateSold 29 September 1925
NotesOperated as commercial tug J. D. Jones 1889–1898
General characteristics
Typetug 1898; freight lighter 1900-1925
Displacement650 tons
Length141 ft 6 in (43.13 m) between perpendiculars
Beam29 ft 0 in (8.84 m)
Draft10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)
Speed10 knots
Complement10 (in 1918)
Armament

Apache was built in 1889 as the commercial tug J. D. Jones by A. C. Brown at Tottenville, Staten Island, in New York City. The U.S. Navy purchased J. D. Jones from the Merritt and Chapman Wrecking Company on 24 May 1898 for service in the Spanish–American War. She was commissioned on 11 June 1898 as USS Apache.

During the Spanish–American War, Apache was assigned to the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia. On 26 July 1898, however, she departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, for Key West, Florida. She arrived at Key West on 4 August 1898 and served there until 17 August 1898, when she got underway for the return trip to Hampton Roads. She arrived at Hampton Roads on 22 August 1898, and service there and at Norfolk, Virginia, occupied her time until 24 September 1898, when she was decommissioned.

In 1900, Apache was moved north to New York where she was refitted for service as a freight lighter at the ordnance magazine at Iona Island on the western side of the Hudson River about five nautical miles (9.25 kilometers) south of West Point, New York. For the next 20 years, she divided her time between the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, and the Iona Island facility. On 15 July 1904 she sank the tug Henry D. McCord ( United States) in a collision off Pier 5 in the East River.[3] On 11 April 1918, she was renamed Aspinet.

In 1920, Aspinet was transferred to Charleston, South Carolina, as a district craft. On 17 July 1920, when the U.S. Navy adopted the alphanumeric system of hull designations, freight lighters received the designation "YF", and she became USS Aspinet (YF-176).

Aspinet continued to serve at Charleston until sold on 29 September 1925.

Notes
  1. "Table 21 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 762. 1921.
  2. It is not clear that her 1900-1925 period of service was commissioned service (see the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a10/apache-i.htm for the ambiguous wording about her 1900–1925 status.)
  3. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1905". Harvard University. Retrieved 8 August 2019.

References
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