USS AG-57 (Soviet Letchik Asyamov) on 16 November 1944.
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.
Class: AG-51 (Soviet Kapitan Melekhov)
Design: Soviet river tug
Displacement (tons): 502 light, 800 full
Dimensions (feet): 175' oa x 30' x 6.25'
Original Armament: [none]
Later armaments: --
Complement: 38
Speed (kts.): 10
Propulsion (HP): 800
Machinery: triple expansion, twin screws
Construction:
| AG | Name | Ord. | Builder | Keel | Launch | In Serv. |
| 51 | AG-51 (KAPITAN MELEKHOV) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 6 Jan 44 | 21 Jun 44 | 14 Aug 44 |
| 52 | AG-52 (KAPITAN SERGIYEVSKIY) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 20 Jan 44 | 14 Jul 44 | 5 Sep 44 |
| 53 | AG-53 (LETCHIK CHEREPKOV) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 6 Mar 44 | 15 Aug 44 | 21 Sep 44 |
| 54 | AG-54 (ALEKSANDR SUVOROV) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 20 Mar 44 | 29 Aug 44 | 10 Oct 44 |
| 55 | AG-55 (MIKHAIL KUTUZOV) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 10 Apr 44 | 20 Sep 44 | 26 Oct 44 |
| 56 | AG-56 (ALEKSANDR NEVSKIY) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 24 Apr 44 | 4 Oct 44 | 8 Nov 44 |
| 57 | AG-57 (LETCHIK ASYAMOV) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 22 May 44 | 20 Oct 44 | 24 Nov 44 |
| 58 | AG-58 (PATRIOT) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 5 Jun 44 | 1 Nov 44 | 8 Dec 44 |
| 59 | AG-59 (IVAN SUSANIN) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 19 Jun 44 | 22 Nov 44 | 19 Dec 44 |
| 60 | AG-60 (ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 10 Jul 44 | 6 Dec 44 | 6 Jan 45 |
| 61 | AG-61 (BAGRATION) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 19 Aug 44 | 20 Dec 44 | 18 Jan 45 |
| 62 | AG-62 (SLAVA) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 2 Sep 44 | 24 Jan 45 | 7 Feb 45 |
| 63 | AG-63 (POBEDA) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 23 Sep 44 | 31 Jan 45 | 5 Mar 45 |
| 64 | AG-64 (RODINA) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 7 Oct 44 | 14 Feb 45 | 5 Mar 45 |
| 65 | AG-65 (GENERAL BRUSILOV) | 3 Aug 43 | St. Louis SB | 20 Oct 44 | 24 Feb 45 | 15 Mar 45 |
Disposition:
| AG | Name | Arr. N.O. | Strike | Disposal | Fate | MA Sale |
| 51 | AG-51 (KAPITAN MELEKHOV) | 21 Aug 44 | 1 Jan 83 | 21 Aug 44 | Trf. | -- |
| 52 | AG-52 (KAPITAN SERGIYEVSKIY) | 12 Sep 44 | 1 Jan 83 | 18 Sep 44 | Trf. | -- |
| 53 | AG-53 (LETCHIK CHEREPKOV) | 28 Sep 44 | 1 Jan 83 | 2 Oct 44 | Trf. | -- |
| 54 | AG-54 (ALEKSANDR SUVOROV) | 17 Oct 44 | 1 Jan 83 | 24 Oct 44 | Trf. | -- |
| 55 | AG-55 (MIKHAIL KUTUZOV) | 1 Nov 44 | 1 Jan 83 | 7 Nov 44 | Trf. | -- |
| 56 | AG-56 (ALEKSANDR NEVSKIY) | 13 Nov 44 | 1 Jan 83 | 17 Nov 44 | Trf. | -- |
| 57 | AG-57 (LETCHIK ASYAMOV) | 28 Nov 44 | 1 Jan 83 | 2 Dec 44 | Trf. | -- |
| 58 | AG-58 (PATRIOT) | 13 Dec 44 | 1 Jan 83 | 19 Dec 44 | Trf. | -- |
| 59 | AG-59 (IVAN SUSANIN) | 23 Dec 44 | 1 Jan 83 | 28 Dec 44 | Trf. | -- |
| 60 | AG-60 (ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV) | 11 Jan 45 | 1 Jan 83 | 16 Jan 45 | Trf. | -- |
| 61 | AG-61 (BAGRATION) | 24 Jan 45 | 1 Jan 83 | 27 Jan 45 | Trf. | -- |
| 62 | AG-62 (SLAVA) | 12 Feb 45 | 1 Jan 83 | 17 Feb 45 | Trf. | -- |
| 63 | AG-63 (POBEDA) | Unk. | 1 Jan 83 | 12 Apr 45 | Trf. | -- |
| 64 | AG-64 (RODINA) | 10 Apr 45 | 1 Jan 83 | 13 Apr 45 | Trf. | -- |
| 65 | AG-65 (GENERAL BRUSILOV) | Unk. | 1 Jan 83 | 11 Apr 45 | Trf. | -- |
Class Notes:
FY 1943. On 18 Feb 43 the Soviets submitted Lend Lease requisition RUN-106 for fifteen icebreaking river tugs (Ledokol'nyye Rechnye Buksiry) for use on the rivers in eastern Siberia that flowed into the Arctic Ocean. On 27 Apr 43 the Bureau of Ships instructed the Supervisor of Shipbuilding at Quincy, Mass., to issue a job order under an existing contract for John Alden-Eldredge-McInnis, Inc., of Boston, Mass., to act as design agent for the class. The Bureau of Ships arranged to have the St. Louis Shipbuilding and Steel Co. at St Louis, Mo., build the vessels, and on 31 Jul 43 it sought authority and clearance from the Secretary of the Navy and the War Production Board to let the contract. The contract was awarded on 3 Aug 43 and called for the delivery of the first two vessels in February 1944 and three per month thereafter. On 4 Aug 43 the Bureau informed VCNO that the vessels could be charged to an uncommitted balance of 95 ships in the 800 Small Vessels Program of 9 Jul 42 and asked VCNO to issue a directive for the construction of the ships. VCNO provided the directive on 19 Aug 43. This document forwarded SecNav's statement, signed the previous day, that "I find that the vessels requisitioned are necessary for the conduct of the war, and authorize their construction," thus providing the Bureau with the legal authority it needed to expend the funds.
The plans and specifications for the ships were furnished to the Navy by the Russian Government and were forwarded to the Supervisor of Shipbuilding at Chicago on 6 Sep 43 for use at St. Louis. The vessels were shallow draft river craft with a freeboard at maximum load of 2.75'. They had twin screws in tunnels with Kort nozzles, each driven by a 400 IHP triple expansion reciprocating engine. Each vessel had a single Foster Wheeler type A coal fired boiler that generated superheated steam, for which it carried 150-175 tons of coal. The vessels were to have a merchant character under the Soviet flag.
On 26 Feb 44 BuShips explained to CNO the procedures to be followed in the delivery of the ships. After preliminary acceptance trials at the builder's yard the vessels were to be accepted by the Navy and Navy or Coast Guard ferry crews were to take them from St. Louis to the Naval Station, New Orleans, La. There the vessels were to be delivered to the USSR by the Commandant, 8th Naval District. The Russian crews would be assembled at the Naval Station, New Orleans, except that the prospective commanding officer and chief engineer of each vessel would go to the builder's yard about two weeks before delivery of their ship. The Bureau then stated that, after the vessels left New Orleans, it did not want to be responsible for their safety enroute the USSR. Since the basic design was as requested by the USSR, the Bureau recommended that an agreement be reached which would place the responsibility for the safety of the vessels entirely in the hands of the USSR after departure from New Orleans, and that neither the U.S. government nor the shipbuilder should be held responsible for weaknesses in the vessels developed outside of inland waters. This arrangement in fact had already been agreed to in the initial discussions with the Soviets, but the Bureau wanted it confirmed. The Russians provided this confirmation on 5 Apr 44.
Each vessel was taken from St. Louis to the Naval Repair Base, New Orleans (located at Algiers, La.) by Coast Guard Ferry Crew No. 150 (including AG-63 and AG-64 simultaneously). The dates of arrival and departure at the New Orleans repair base are shown in the ship notes. The turnover to the Soviets occurred during this period. The Soviets then sent the vessels to Puget Sound, where they underwent additional repairs. The Puget Sound arrival and departure dates in the ship notes were probably for the Puget Sound Navy Yard, but AG-52 and AG-53 were reported to have been under repair at Winslow Marine Railway Co., Seattle, on 4 Jan 45 and the Russians may have had other vessels, particularly the earlier ones, worked on at private yards there as well. The craft were then routed to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, from where they were convoyed in the summer of 1945 to the Soviet Arctic port of Tiksi. There they were distributed among the various Siberian river steamship companies.
During discussions after the war the Soviets reported one of this class (AG-62) lost in 1948-50, and the U.S. witnessed the scuttling of one (hull number unknown) in the Far East in 1956 along with 19 other Lend Lease vessels. As of 1 Dec 56 the Soviets wanted to retain the other 13 by purchasing them. The only Soviet or Russian book known by this author to cover Lend Lease ships in detail (S. S. Berezhnoy, "Flot SSSR, Korabli i suda Lendliza, Spravochnik", St. Petersburg, 1994) lists the loss of AG-56 shown below (the explosion was most likely a boiler explosion), but Berezhnoy was able to find the names of only 11 of the 15 ships and was therefore unable to look up the other four (AG 59-62) in Soviet merchant shipping registers or other Soviet sources. Ultimately the Soviets did not return any of the 15 ships to the United States and they and 140 other ships in similar status were retained on the Naval Vessel Register pending resolution of the U.S. claim for payment. In November 1982 the Navy discovered that a treaty of 18 Oct 72 had settled all outstanding lend lease claims between the two powers, and the ships were stricken from the Naval Vessel Register effective 1 Jan 83.
In the tables, the column that normally contains commissioning dates shows the dates the vessels were put in service and handed over to the ferry crew while the column that normally contains decommissioning dates shows the dates of arrival at New Orleans. The vessels may have been placed out of service on these dates or a day or two later.
Ship Notes:
| AG | Name | Notes |
| 51 | AG-51 (KAPITAN MELEKHOV) | Soviet name KAPITAN MELEKHOV. Departed New Orleans 2 Sep 44, arrived Puget Sd. 26 Jan 45, departed 11 May 45. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Lena river steamship line. Out of service 1961, stricken 15 Apr 70 from the list of ships of the Minister of the River Fleet and scrapped. |
| 52 | AG-52 (KAPITAN SERGIYEVSKIY) | Soviet name KAPITAN SERGIYEVSKIY. Departed New Orleans 16 Oct 44, arrived Puget Sd. 26 Jan 45, departed 11 May 45. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Lena river steamship line. Out of service 1961, stricken 15 Apr 70 from the list of ships of the Minister of the River Fleet and scrapped. |
| 53 | AG-53 (LETCHIK CHEREPKOV) | Soviet name LETCHIK CHEREPKOV [FLYER CHEREPKOV]. Departed New Orleans 16 Oct 44, arrived Puget Sd. 26 Jan 45, departed 23 May 45. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Lena river steamship line. Out of service 1961, stricken 15 Apr 70 from the list of ships of the Minister of the River Fleet and scrapped. |
| 54 | AG-54 (ALEKSANDR SUVOROV) | Soviet name ALEKSANDR SUVOROV. Departed New Orleans 31 Oct 44, arrived Puget Sd. 26 Jan 45, departed 8 Jun 45. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Kolyma river steamship line. Further fate unknown. |
| 55 | AG-55 (MIKHAIL KUTUZOV) | Soviet name MIKHAIL KUTUZOV. Departed New Orleans 30 Nov 44, arrived Puget Sd. 26 Jan 45, departed 23 May 45. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Irtysh river steamship line. Out of service 1961, stricken 15 Apr 70 from the list of ships of the Minister of the River Fleet and scrapped. |
| 56 | AG-56 (ALEKSANDR NEVSKIY) | Soviet name ALEKSANDR NEVSKIY. Departed New Orleans 30 Nov 44, arrived Puget Sd. 28 Jan 45, departed 3 Jun 45. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Kolyma river steamship line. In 1960 exploded (boiler?) and sank near Zyryanka in the Kolyma river. |
| 57 | AG-57 (LETCHIK ASYAMOV) | Soviet name LETCHIK ASYAMOV [FLYER ASYAMOV]. Departed New Orleans 3 Dec 44, arrived Puget Sd. 28 Jan 45, departed 25 May 45. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Lena river steamship line. Out of service and stricken 29 Dec 61 from the list of ships of the Minister of the River Fleet, scrapped. |
| 58 | AG-58 (PATRIOT) | Soviet name PATRIOT. Departed New Orleans 8 Jan 45, arrived Puget Sd. 4 Mar 45, departed 20 May 45. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Lena river steamship line . Out of service 1961, stricken 1972 from the list of ships of the Minister of the River Fleet and scrapped. |
| 59 | AG-59 (IVAN SUSANIN) | Soviet name IVAN SUSANIN. Departed New Orleans 8 Jan 45, arrived Puget Sd. 4 Mar 45, departed 24 Apr 45. Soviet history unknown. |
| 60 | AG-60 (ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV) | Soviet name ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV. Departed New Orleans 3 Feb 45, arrived Puget Sd. 25 Mar 45, departed 24 Apr 45. Soviet history unknown. |
| 61 | AG-61 (BAGRATION) | Soviet name BAGRATION [Operation Bagration, named after a general who was killed in the Battle of Borodino in 1812, was the victorious Soviet 1944 central offensive against occupying German forces.] Departed New Orleans 3 Feb 45, arrived Puget Sd. 25 Mar 45, may have departed 26 Apr 45. Soviet history unknown. |
| 62 | AG-62 (SLAVA) | Soviet name SLAVA [GLORY]. Departed New Orleans 23 Mar 45, arrived Puget Sd. 9 May 45, departure date unknown. Soviet history unknown. |
| 63 | AG-63 (POBEDA) | Soviet name POBEDA [VICTORY]. Drydocked at New Orleans 16 Apr 45, other dates there and at Puget Sd. unknown. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Yenisey river steamship line. Modernized 1961-62 and converted from steam to diesel. Stricken 15 Apr 70 from the list of ships of the Minister of the River Fleet and scrapped. |
| 64 | AG-64 (RODINA) | Soviet name RODINA [HOMELAND]. Departed New Orleans 25 Apr 45, dates at Puget Sound unknown. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 45 with the Yenisey river steamship line. Modernized 1961-62 and converted from steam to diesel. Further fate unknown. |
| 65 | AG-65 (GENERAL BRUSILOV) | Soviet name GENERAL BRUSILOV. Dates at New Orleans and Puget Sd. unknown. In Soviet service at Tiksi 2 Sep 4 with the Lena river steamship line. Out of service 1961, stricken 15 Apr 70 from the list of ships of the Minister of the River Fleet and scrapped. |
Page Notes:
AG 1944
Compiled: 07 Sep 2009
© Stephen S. Roberts, 2002-2009