USS Navajo (AT-64)

Following shakedown and a brief tour on the east coast, Navajo, an oceangoing fleet tug, steamed to San Diego, where, in June 1940, the boat reported for duty in Base Force, later Service Force, Pacific Fleet. Until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the ship's towing and salvage capabilities were utilized in the central and eastern Pacific, and then, after 7 December 1941, in the Pearl Harbor area. Interrupted only by a resupply and reinforcement run to Johnston Island at the end of December 1941, it remained in the waters off Oahu into the spring of 1942.[1]

Navajo during rescue operations for the mined troop transport SS President Coolidge.

In late April 1942, Navajo sailed to Canton Island where it and other vessels attempted the unsuccessful salvage of the 502 ft. troop ship SS President Taylor grounded on a coral reef. Then Navajo returned to Pearl Harbor whence the boat got underway for the war zone on 12 July 1942. Arriving in the New Hebrides just after the landings on Guadalcanal, it supported operations in the Solomons with repair and salvage work at Espiritu Santo, Nouméa, Tongatapu, and Suva, as well as under battle conditions at Tulagi, Guadalcanal, and Rennell.[1] In October the tug assisted with rescue of survivors aboard the troop transport President Coolidge after it struck mines in the entrance to the harbor at Espíritu Santo. The tug took off 440 survivors which were transferred to the cruiser Chester.[2] Towing assignments during those operations took the boat throughout the island groups of the South Pacific, and once in late November-early December 1942 to Sydney, Australia.[1]

In the spring of 1943, Navajo returned to California, underwent overhaul, and in July 1943 got underway to return to the South Pacific. Steaming via Pago Pago, it arrived at Bora Bora on 21 August 1943 and commenced salvage and repair work on USS Pasig. At the end of the month the ship sailed for Pago Pago, whence it got underway to tow gasoline barge YOG–42 to Espiritu Santo.[1]

While en route to Espiritu Santo on 12 September 1943, the ship was torpedoed by Type B1 submarine I-39 and rocked by an explosion. Within seconds a heavy starboard list resulted in a submerged starboard side. Navajo began going down rapidly by the bow and abandonment commenced. As the ship settled, depth charges secured to port and starboard K-gun projectors exploded. An estimated two minutes had passed before the tugboat sank, 17 members of the crew died during the attack.[1]

• American Defense Service Medal
• American Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two battle stars (NavSource notes the tug was awarded a battle star for its salvage operations between 8 August 1942 and 3 February 1943.)[3][note 1]
• World War II Victory Medal

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

• Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940–1945 ATF-64 USS Navajo
• USS Navajo (AT 64) at uboat.net
• Navajo class at uboat.net
• Vessels/Auxiliaries: USS Navajo from the United States Naval Institute Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
• "7 December 1941" – Ships in Pearl Harbor Archived 10 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine

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