USS Transfer (IX-46, ex YX-19)

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Freight boat USS Rocket (YT-22). No view of the somewhat larger USS Transfer (IX-46) has been located.
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Class:        TRANSFER (IX-46, ex YX-19)
Design:        Freight lighter, 1905
Displacement (tons):        250 light, 684 displ.
Dimensions (feet):        110.0' x 30.0' x 9.8' mn
Original Armament:        None
Later armaments:        2-1pdr (1918);
none (1920)
Complement        9 (1918)
Speed (kts.):        8
Propulsion (HP):        500
Machinery:        Vert. compound, 1 screw

Construction:

IX	Name	Ord.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
46	TRANSFER	--	NYd New York	18 Aug 04	24 May 05	19 Jul 10

Disposition:

IX	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
46	TRANSFER	7 Jan 35	16 Sep 44	4 Aug 45	Sold	--

Class Notes:
This steel-hulled "steam-propelled derrick freight lighter" was built in 1905 by the New York Navy Yard for use within the yard and was ordered taken up on the Navy Register on 19 Jul 10 as a tug. The tug category, which until 1894 had been called "tugs, freight boats, etc," also contained four other freight boats or lighters in 1910: TRAFFIC (1894, later YX-18, q.v.), ALICE (1898), PAWNEE (1898, later YT-21), and ROCKET (1903, later YT-22). Like the others TRANSFER had one derrick mast and probably had her pilot house and machinery aft.

TRANSFER was listed in late 1919 as out of commission at the New York Navy Yard, but she soon returned to service. She was put in the "District Unclassified" category without a hull number when the Navy's standard hull classification scheme was implemented on 17 Jul 20. She was described as a "freight steamer" and was not classified YF (Freight Lighter). In 1922 the Navy Filing Manual assigned the symbol YX-19 for filing correspondence relating to TRANSFER, but the YX numbers were never used as hull numbers. The District Unclassified list in 1922 included one other "freight steamer," TRAFFIC.

TRANSFER was decommissioned on 6 Oct 22, recommissioned on 6 Feb 24 to replace TRAFFIC, relieved by YF-211 8 Feb 34, recommissioned on 23 May 34, and decomissioned, apparently for the last time, on 7 Jan 35. She was classed under 1936 London Naval Treaty as an auxiliary vessel. Authority was granted on 16 Oct 37 (and perhaps again on 9 Nov 38) to operate her boiler plant with civilian personnel to supplying heat to the new cruisers HONOLULU and HELENA during the winter. On 8 Mar 41 the YX and IX file symbols were consolidated and TRANSFER became IX-46, and at the same time the IX symbols were added to the Naval Vessel Register as designators for the ships. OPNAV wrote on 29 Oct 41 that it saw no reason to change her classification to YF as she was out of service and OPNAV did not contemplate such a change until such time as she might be placed in service.

TRANSFER was ordered inspected for disposal on 3 Apr 44 and stricken in September. On 5 Jan 45 SecNav authorized Com-3 to proceed with her disposal. She was sold on 4 Aug 45 by Com-3 to R. S. Coos and W. J. Miles of New York. In 1948 she appeared in the U.S. merchant vessel register as the dredge TRANSFER, 356 gross tons, 109.0' x 30.1', diesel propulsion, 140 HP, crew of 3, built in New York in 1906, ex TRANSFER (IX-46), and owned by Thomas J. Smith of Bridgeport, Conn. This entry continued to appear without change through at least 1965, but the dredge was no longer listed in 1972.

Ship Notes:

IX	Name	Notes
46	TRANSFER	Given file symbol YX-19 in 1922 and designated IX-46 on 8 Mar 41. Sold 4 Aug 45 by Com-3 to R. S. Coos and W. J. Miles of New York, merc. TRANSFER, off list circa late 1960s.