USS Nashawena (YAG 35) ca. 1947-1948 (Navsource)
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Class: NASHAWENA (YAG 35)
Design: Army BSP (Barge, Self Propelled) Design 358
Displacement (tons): 602 light, 940 full
Dimensions (feet): 155' oa, 150' wl x 37' e, 35.5' wl x 6' (8' max nav)
Armament: none
Accommodations: 4 officers, 34 enlisted
Speed (kts.): 10
Propulsion (HP): 630
Machinery: 3 Buda diesel engines (direct), 3 screws
Construction:
| YAG | Name | Acq | Builder | Contract | Completed | Svc |
| 35 | NASHAWENA | 21 Jun 1947 | Seattle SB & DD | 28 May 1943 | 23 Mar 1944 | 21 Jun 1947 |
Disposition:
| YAG | Name | T | Inact | Strike | Disposal | Fate | MA Sale |
| 35 | NASHAWENA | DECOM | 1 Nov 1959 | 1 Jun 1960 | Navy sale | -- |
Class Notes:
COL WILLIAM A GLASSFORD (BSP 2098) and her one sister, BASIL LENOIR (BSP 2099, completed Aug 1944) were classed by the Army as 155ft wooden-hulled diesel-propelled cable repair barges. They were completed as vessels suited to shallow water work in Alaska with triple screws, two cable tanks capable of holding 400 tons of cable, three 4ft 6in bow sheaves, and a Sundfelt steam-driven combined dual paying out-picking up cable machine. Two of GLASSFORD's diesels were 240hp and the third (on the centerline) was 150 hp. The centerline diesel was not listed by the Navy in 1956 and the speed listed then was 8 kts. LENOIR continued to work on Alaskan military cables after the war as an Air Force vessel when the Air Force Communications Service took over the Army cables.
The name NASHAWENA (an island in Massachusetts, stress on 1st syllable) and classification AG 142 were assigned to COL WILLIAM A GLASSFORD on 2 Apr 1947, becoming effective when the ship was accepted by the Navy from the U.S. Army Air Force. She was accepted and placed in full commission at NSY Mare Island on 21 Jun 1947 under FY 1947. Orders dated 8 Apr 1947 had stated that when ready for shakedown she was to report to CINCPACFLT for duty with OPDEVFOR, but an INSURV inspection of 17 Jul 1947 reported her deficient in seaworthiness and on 22 Jul 1947 BUSHIPS ordered that work be discontinued on AG 142 at Mare Island pending further instructions. She was reassigned from OPDEVFOR to PACFLT subordination on 8 Aug 1947, the assigment being considered temporary pending inactivation or disposal of the ship when project SOFAR was complete. A CNO note of 20 Aug 1947 stated that NASHAWENA (AG 142) would be reclassified to YAG in the near future and assigned to COM-12 in connection with the SOFAR (Sound Fixing and Ranging) project. (See PORTUNUS, ARC 1, for more on SOFAR.) Duly reclassified by SECNAV on 22 Aug 1947 effective 1 Sep 1947. To USN reserve at San Francisco in Jan 1953, there to 1959.
Ship Notes:
| YAG | Name | MA | Notes |
| 35 | NASHAWENA | (ex-AG-142) Ex-COL WILLIAM A GLASSFORD, ex BSP 2098, completed 23 Mar 1944. Sold 1 Jun 1960 to Anthony Zahardis whose tunny fishing company towed her from Treasure Island 3 Jul 1960, renamed her OMEGA and put her up for charter as a cable ship. The United States Underseas Cable Corporation bought her in 1961. Owned by Hydospace Services Inc., a subsidiary of Underseas, OMEGA did cable work in the Navy's Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). She then laid shore ends for part of the Air Force's Atlantic Missile Range and the Vietnam Coastal Network connecting coastal centers in Vietnam and a terminus in Thailand. In 1971 the ship and the company's much larger cable layer NEPTUN were sold to a Liberian registered company set up by ITT to buy the two ships. OMEGA was sold out of the cable world in 1973. Ex-GLASSFORD or LENOIR was "reportedly sent to the shipbreakers in Bellingham, Washington, in about 1975." |
Page Notes:
Compiled: 20 Oct 2021
© Stephen S. Roberts, 2021
Sources: CS William A. Glassford and CS Basil O. Lenoir by Bill Glover at https://atlantic-cable.com/Cableships/index.htm.