USS Anchor (ARS-13) Class

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USS Weight (ARS-35) circa late 1943
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class:        ANCHOR (ARS-13)
Design        Navy BARS-5
Displacement (tons):        1,089 light, 1,615 lim.
Dimensions (feet):        183.25' oa, 174.1' wl x 37.0' e x 14.7' lim.
Original Armament:        1-3"/50 2<4-20mm
Later armaments:        --
Complement        65 (1944)
Speed (kts.):        12
Propulsion (HP):        1,200
Machinery:        2 screws, diesel-electric

Construction:

ARS	Name	Ord.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
13	ANCHOR	3 Jan 42	Colberg Boat	30 Apr 42	13 Mar 43	23 Oct 43
14	PROTECTOR	3 Jan 42	Colberg Boat	30 Apr 42	27 Apr 43	28 Dec 43
15	EXTRACTOR	3 Jan 42	Colberg Boat	16 May 42	15 Jun 43	3 Mar 44
16	EXTRICATE	3 Jan 42	Snow SY	18 Mar 42	12 Sep 42	27 Jul 43
17	RESTORER	3 Jan 42	Snow SY	25 Mar 42	24 Oct 42	6 Oct 43
28	VALVE	27 Apr 42	Bellingham Marine	17 Nov 42	20 May 43	24 Feb 44
29	VENT	27 Apr 42	Bellingham Marine	29 Jan 43	30 Jun 43	7 Apr 44
35	WEIGHT	3 Jan 42	American Car & Fdry	7 Apr 42	21 Apr 43	14 Aug 43
36	SWIVEL	3 Jan 42	American Car & Fdry	28 Apr 42	6 May 43	6 Oct 43

Disposition:

ARS	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
13	ANCHOR	16 Sep 46	13 Nov 46	23 May 47	MC/S	23 May 47
14	PROTECTOR	15 May 46	8 Oct 46	3 Jan 47	MC/S	30 Dec 46
15	EXTRACTOR	--	10 Mar 45	24 Jan 45	Lost	--
16	EXTRICATE	5 Dec 45	3 Jan 46	4 Mar 46	Dest.	--
17	RESTORER	6 Mar 46	19 Jul 46	22 Apr 47	MC/S	17 Apr 47
28	VALVE	29 Aug 46	12 Mar 48	22 Jul 48	MC/S	22 Jul 48
29	VENT	30 Aug 46	12 Mar 48	28 Jul 48	MC/S	30 Jun 48
35	WEIGHT	29 Mar 46	1 May 46	25 Jul 47	MC/S	24 Jul 47
36	SWIVEL	4 Jun 46	3 Jul 46	6 Dec 46	Sold	--

Class Notes:
FY 1942 (ARS 13-17, 28-29), 1941 (ARS 35-36 as BARS 7-8). On 4 Nov 41 the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet requested that salvage bases be established at Argentia and Iceland and that four salvage vessels (ARS) be acquired as soon as possible for service in those areas. On 6 Dec 41 the Auxiliary Vessels Board reported that in previous studies it had considered all commercial seagoing tugs that might be acquired either for that purpose or for use in salvage work and that the ones chosen for possible acquisition as ARS-10 (q.v.) for service in Iceland had been returned to their owners after they had been found to be in poor condition. In the absence of any change in the availability of suitable small seagoing vessels for conversion to tugs or salvage vessels the Board concluded that the only option was to build them. BuShips having shown the Board the plans and specifications of a wooden salvage vessel that the British Government had requested to be constructed in the U.S. and stated that they could be built in about six months, the Board recommended that five of these be built for the U.S. Navy, of which four would be assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and the fifth to the 13th Naval District for use in the Alaskan area. On 3 Jan 42 contracts were awarded for construction of five ships of this type for the U.S. Navy (ARS 13-17) and six for the British (BARS 5-10). Four more salvage vessels requisitioned by the British were built as steel hulled ships (BARS 1-4).

Two more units, ARS 28-29, were included in the 1799 vessels program that was approved on 17 Jan 42. These ships, which had been included in the program in response to a British Lend Lease requisition, were ordered from Bellingham in April 1942, to be identical with and built to the plans of BARS 9-10. By then the use of the "B" hull type prefix for British Lend Lease orders had been abandoned and the ships were never numbered BARS 11-12 (the contract and all other Navy records used the hull numbers ARS 28-29). The U.S. Navy names of ARS 19-29 were all assigned on 23 Aug 42 but ARS 28-29 were not firmly allocated to the U.S. Navy until 20 Oct 43 after strenuous competition with the British.

Of the six wooden-hulled ships built in response to their original Lend Lease requests (BARS 5-10), the British ultimately received four. ARS 35-36 were built as BARS 7-8 under British Lend Lease requisition UK 1335 of 6 Jun 41. On 6 Jan 43 the Munitions Assignment Board firmly assigned BARS 5-6 and 9-10 to the U.K. and BARS 7-8 to the U.S. BuShips assigned to BARS 7-8 the new hull numbers ARS 35-36 on or shortly before 16 Jan 43, and the names WEIGHT and SWIVEL were approved for them on 15 Mar 43.

A VCNO letter of 28 Jul 42 to BuShips stated that ARS 13-17 and ARS 28-29 were to be assigned on completion to the Navy Salvage Service for operation by Merritt-Chapman & Scott under BuShips contract NObs-36. ARS 35-36 were similarly assigned on 23 Jan 43. These new wooden-hulled vessels were then considered most suitable for coastal salvage work in the contract-operated Navy Salvage Service, while the steel hulled vessels were felt to be most suitable for Fleet and advanced base work. However all of them ended up being commissioned upon completion instead of being turned over to the contractor. ARS 13-14, originally to have been assigned to Merritt-Chapman & Scott for operation in Alaskan waters, were reassigned in March 1943 for operation as Navy-manned vessels there as a result of the unsatisfactory experience in that area with the contractor-operated ARS-3 and ARS-18 (q.v), which they replaced. On 20 Jul 43 CominCh cancelled the assignment of ARS-16, 17, and 35 to the Navy Salvage Service, reassigned them to the 8th Fleet in the Mediterranean, and ordered them manned by Navy crews. On 23 Sep 43 he gave similar orders regarding ARS-36, which was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. On 2 Nov 43 OpNav cancelled the assignment of ARS-15, 28, and probably 29 to contract operation and ordered them commissioned and Navy manned. On 25 Sep 46 CNO ordered ASR 28-29 retained in deferred disposal status in the 13th Naval District for possible sale to another American government; on 31 Jul 47 the ships were declared to the Foreign Liquidation Commission (FLC) for disposal abroad, and only on 20 Feb 48 were they declared to the MC for disposal in the U.S.

Ship Notes:

ARS	Name	Notes
13	ANCHOR	Sold (delivered) by MC to L. E. Castell, Elmhurst, N.Y.
14	PROTECTOR	Sold (delivered) by MC to Glenn R. Butt, Cambridge, Mass. Merc. PAKISTAN PROTECTOR 1951, scrapped in Pakistan 1954.
15	EXTRACTOR	Sunk in error by USS GUARDFISH (SS-217) during unescorted transit from Guam to the Philippines.
16	EXTRICATE	Beached and damaged beyond economical repair by typhoon at Okinawa 9 Oct 45, wreck blown up 4 Mar 46.
17	RESTORER	Sold (delivered) by MC to Mechanical Equipment Co., New Orleans. Commissioned in the Danish Navy at New Orleans 27 Feb 48 as the patrol vessel VITUS BERING, deleted 1950.
28	VALVE	Named QUEBEC SALVOR by the British but allocated to the U.S. Sold (delivered) by MC to Walter H. Wilms, Detroit, Mich. Converted to cargo ship (945 gross tons) 1948, mined off Woosung, China, 19 Jun 50 on voyage from Hong Kong to Shanghai.
29	VENT	Named QUEEN SALVOR by the British but allocated to the U.S. Sold (awarded) by MC to Henry J. Barbey, Astoria, Oregon. Merc. WESTERN PIONEER 1949, deleted 1994.
35	WEIGHT	Ex BARS-7 (British PLYMOUTH SALVOR) ca. 16 Jan 43. Sold (delivered) by MC to David Davidoff, New York. Converted to cargo ship (863 gross tons), merc. CAROL ANN 1949, last listed 1957.
36	SWIVEL	Ex BARS-8 (British YORK SALVOR) ca. 16 Jan 43. Found beyond economical repair by Navy inspectors Apr 46 and sold by Navy to Lindsley O. Butts, West Newton, Mass; to buyer 6 Dec 46. Converted 1948 to cargo ship (903 gross tons), probably retained name SWIVEL. Reported scrapped and deleted 1978.