USS Small IX: Miscellaneous Types (4)

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Captured German trawler Externsteine (later USS Callao, IX-205) circa 16 October 1944
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Class:        Small IX: Miscellaneous Types (4)
Design        Small acquired. These specifications are for IX-205.
Displacement (tons):        869 light, 1,015 lim.
Dimensions (feet):        183.0' oa, 175.0' wl x 30.8' x 13.9' lim.
Original Armament:        Small or none
Later armaments:        --
Complement        56
Speed (kts.):        10.5
Propulsion (HP):        750
Machinery:        1 vertical triple expansion engine with turbine exhaust

Construction:

IX	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
155	MUSTANG	28 Jan 44	H. K. Hall	--	1899	--
199	BARCELO	13 Jan 42	A. D. Story	--	1929	18 Apr 42
200	MARATANZA	2 Jul 42	Mueller SY	--	1942	23 Sep 42
201	STERLING	3 Jul 42	Mueller SY	--	1939	22 Oct 42
205	CALLAO	9 Jan 45	P. Smit Jr. SY	1941	5 May 44	24 Jan 45
224	AIDE DE CAMP	18 Jun 45	George S. Lawley & Sons	--	1922	18 Jun 45
233	CANANDAIGUA	30 Oct 45	Hodgdon Bros	--	1922	31 Oct 45

Disposition:

IX	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
155	MUSTANG	23 Apr 46	5 Jun 46	19 Nov 46	MC/S	4 Nov 46
199	BARCELO	23 Oct 45	1 Nov 45	29 Mar 46	MC/S	29 Mar 46
200	MARATANZA	7 Nov 45	21 Jan 46	31 Jul 47	MC/S	31 Jul 47
201	STERLING	11 Dec 45	8 Jan 46	27 May 46	MC/S	27 May 46
205	CALLAO	10 May 50	20 Oct 50	30 Sep 50	Sold	--
224	AIDE DE CAMP	2 Nov 45	28 Nov 45	4 Sep 46	MC/S	4 Sep 46
233	CANANDAIGUA	5 Jan 46	12 Apr 46	31 Oct 46	Sold	--

Class Notes:
FY 1942 BuShips Maintenance funds (IX 199-200), FY 1943 (IX-155, 201), none assigned (others). The specifications above are for IX-205, those for the others are in the Ship Notes.

IX-155: On 13 Dec 43 the District Craft Development Board noted that there was a definite need for a hulk for day and night training of landing boat crews at the Amphibious Training Base, Coronado, Calif., and recommended the requisition purchase of the hulk WILLIAM H. SMITH and a minimum conversion to make her suitable for anchoring off Coronado for use in amphibious training. This vessel had been built as a 4-masted schooner at Port Blakely, Wash., in 1899 and traded for Hall Bros. and between 1917 and 1924 to the South Pacific for Burns-Philip Co. She was bought by the Union Fish Co. in 1925 and operated until 1937, probably after conversion to a fishing trawler. She was laid up for sale at San Francisco in 1937 and was eventually sold to William Len Yee of San Francisco, but she remained idle until taken over by the Navy. The vessel was converted by the Pacific DD & Repair Co. between 29 Jan 44 and 17 Apr 44. As of April 1944 she was not to be commissioned or placed in service, although she was reported by NRB San Diego as placed out of service on 23 Apr 46. She was used to train coxswains in bringing landing craft alongside and by 1946 was badly battered. (For a ship similarly used in the Atlantic see YAG-17.) She was sold to California owners after a two or three year layup at San Diego, the plan being to operated her as a barge in the copra trade. She was found too far gone for this, however, and was allowed to rot away on the mudflats at San Diego. (Some of this information is from www.cimorelli.com/magellan/ which cites other sources.)

IX 199-201: On 30 Nov 44 CNO recommended reclassifying YP 375, 448, and 449 as IX 199-201 effective 15 Dec 44 because they had been specially fitted out for the primary purpose of locating and recovering mines; names were approved for them on 22 Dec 44. All three were fishing draggers. CNO on 12 Dec 41 directed the acquisition of RAYMONDE for use as a base minesweeper (AMb-17). She was converted by Quincy Dry Dock and Yacht Corp., Quincy, Mass., between 13 Jan 42 and 14 Apr 42 and was reclassified YP-375 on 1 May 42. YP-448 was acquired on 2 Jul 42 while YP-449 was acquired a day later. YP 448-449 were fitted with special devices for locating and recovering mines and completed conversion by the boat yard of D. N. Kelley & Son at Fairhaven, Mass., on 14 Sep 42 and 20 Oct 42 respectively. YP-375 was fitted at the Washington Navy Yard in September 1942 for experimental minesweeping and was further fitted with sound gear in April 1943. All three vessels were used for both minesweeping experiments and underwater location work along the east coast. By late 1943 YP-449 needed a new engine (she received a 500 HP G.M. diesel), and on 13 Dec 43 the District Craft Development Board recommended that, in view of the large expenditures made in fitting out this craft for special duty, WSA be requested to terminate the bareboat charter for the vessel and requisition purchase her for the Navy.

IX-205: On 15 Jan 45 CNO stated that this vessel, the ex-EXTERNSTEINE, was an armed enemy craft manned by military personnel when captures by forces of the U.S. Navy, and in accordance with international law, the vessel became public property of the U.S.A. She had been ordered by the Germans on 4 Jun 41 from a shipyard in Rotterdam as the fishing trawler MANNHEIM, designated WBS-11 as a supply ship on 12 Nov 42, launched on 5 May 44, renamed EXTERNSTEINE on 3 Jul 44, and assigned in August 1944 to operation "Edelweiss" to supply German weather stations in east Greenland. She was captured in the ice on 15 Oct 44 by the USCG icebreaker EASTWIND and was renamed EASTBREEZE and taken to Iceland and then to Boston by a prize crew from the icebreaker. On 4 Jan 45 CNO directed Com-1 to place her in full commission and sail her to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for experimental use by BuShips. She was delivered to Com-1 by a representative of CinCLant on 9 Jan 45, named CALLAO on 10 Jan 45, and commissioned on 24 Jan 45. The vessel reported to the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 24 Feb 45 conversion and outfitting for test work in the development of NANCY (infrared signal light) equipment for BuShips. Conversion was completed in August and the ship reported to Commander Operational Development Force for underway tests on 7 Sep 45. She was assigned to the Underwater Sound Laboratory on 1 Jun 47 and New London became her home port on 27 Jun 47. The vessel reported to the Portsmouth, N.H., Navy Yard on 25 Apr 50 for decommissioning. She was sold to the J. C. Berkwit Co. of New York for scrapping.

IX-224: On 27 Apr 45 the Bureau of Ordnance requested the transfer of the yacht AIDE DE CAMP and the 30-foot motor boat TOMMY from the Office of Scientific Research and Development to the Navy for operation by BuOrd in conducting underwater sound research at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. AIDE DE CAMP had been designed by B. T. Dobson and built at Neponset, Mass. Her owner in 1942 was Frank D. Comerford of Boston, Mass. In 1945 the two craft were owned by OSRD and were being operated by the Underwater Sound Laboratory of Harvard University. The functions of the Harvard Laboratory were to be assumed by Pennsylvania State College on 1 Aug 45, and this college had indicated to BuOrd that it did not want the responsibility of operating these two craft. In view of the impracticability of transferring the equipment now installed on AIDE DE CAMP to a service-designed vessel and the excessive costs that would be incurred in converting another vessel, the District Craft Development Board on 9 May 45 recommended that the two vessels be transferred to the Navy and assigned to the Commandant, 7th Naval District, for use by BuOrd at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that they be manned with Naval personnel, and that AIDE DE CAMP be classified as IX and TOMMY be classified a small boat.

IX-233: A CNO dispatch of 20 Sep 45 authorized Com-3 to accept CG-81006 from the Coast Guard for permanent transfer to the Navy and asked BuShips to assign an IX number. This craft, an auxiliary schooner, had been designed by William H. Hand, Jr., and built at East Boothbay, Maine. Her owner in 1942 had been Hobart Ford of Norwalk and Bridgeport, Conn. The Coast Guard acquired this 81-foot craft later in 1942, designated her CG-81006, and used her on offshore patrol duty in the 3rd Naval District from 2 Nov 42 to 30 Oct 45. A CNO letter of 9 Oct 45, approved by SecNav on 15 Oct 45, changed the classification of CG-81006 to IX-233 and assigned her the Navy name CANANDAIGUA. She was transferred by the Coast Guard on 30 Oct 45, placed in service the next day, and assigned to the Underwater Sound Laboratory at New London. She foundered there on 22 Nov 45 due to hull damage inflicted alongside her pier during a northeaster gale and was considered a total loss. She was placed out of service in January 1946 and sold for scrap in October.

Ship Notes:

IX	Name	Notes
155	MUSTANG	Ex merc. WILLIAM H. SMITH. Trawler hulk, former 4-masted schooner. 300 tons light, 566 tons gross. 170.4' wl x 37.6'. Wood hull. Non-self propelled. Built at Port Blakely, Wash. Sold in November 1946 to Arthur G. Banks of Los Angeles, probably delivered to him 19 Nov 46.
199	BARCELO	Ex USS YP-375 15 Dec 44, ex AMb-17 1 May 42, ex merc. RAYMONDE. 80 tons light, 110 tons gross. 84.25' reg x 21.6' x 10'. 1 diesel, 260 HP, 10 kts. Wood hull. Built at Essex, Mass., and acquired from Miss Adams of Gloucester, Mass. Sold in March 1946 to Ben Pine of Gloucester, Mass. (possibly sold 16 Mar 46 and delivered 29 Mar 46), she resumed service as the fishing vessel RAYMONDE and was stranded on 26 Jan 66 south of Race Point near Provincetown, Mass.
200	MARATANZA	Ex USS YP-448 15 Dec 44, ex merc VIRGINIA. 75 tons light, 119 tons gross. 92.1' reg x 20.7' x 11.2'. Steel hull. 1 Union diesel, 275 HP. Crew 10. Built at Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1941-42 and acquired from the Virginia Co., Inc. Sold in July 1947 to F. J. O'Hare and Sons, Inc., of Boston, Mass., she became the fishing vessel ARAHO. Renamed ST. CATHERINE in 1963 and LADY IN BLUE ca. 1966, she was still in service in 1972.
201	STERLING	Ex USS YP-449 15 Dec 44, ex merc BEATRICE AND IDA. 75 tons light, 72 or 110 tons gross. 88.25' reg x 20.5' x 10'. Wood hull. 1 Deutz. diesel, 200 HP. Crew 10. Built at Brooklyn, N.Y. and acquired from the East Coast Deep Sea Trawling Co., Inc., of New Bedford, Mass., to whom she was resold in May 1946. She resumed service as the fishing vessel BEATRICE & IDA in 1946 and disappeared from U.S. merchant vessel registers in 1969.
205	CALLAO	Ex German EXTERNSTEINE, ex WBS-11, ex MANNHEIM. Fishing trawler used as supply ship. Steel hull. Specifications above. Captured by USCG icebreaker EASTWIND off Greenland 15 Oct 44, commissioned 1945 as experimental vessel. Delivered to buyer 30 Sep 50, scrapped 1951.
224	AIDE DE CAMP	Ex yacht AIDE DE CAMP, previously named POINSETTA, RANGER, and originally COLLEEN. Motor yacht. 167 tons full load, 113 tons gross. 110.0' oa, 102.0' wl x 18.2' x 6.0'. Wood hull. 2 Winton diesels (fitted 1929), 400 HP, 15.0 kts. Sold in September 1946 to Evald Sooder of Miami, Fla., the yacht AIDE DE CAMP was listed in U.S. merchant vessel registers as being owned by the President and Fellows of Harvard College until she was transferred to U.S. Government ownership in 1948. In around 1955 she became MARINER II, owned by the Kennedy Marine Engine Co. of Biloxi, Miss., and was still in service for that firm in 1972.
233	CANANDAIGUA	Ex Coast Guard CG-81006, ex yacht JANE DORE, ex LADONA. Auxiliary schooner. 50 tons light, 61 tons gross. 81.0' oa, 61.0' wl x 20.4' x 10.0'. 1 Hall-Scott gas engine (fitted 1934). Sunk at pier 22 Nov 45, sold in October 1946 to Russel Earl Clifton Martin, Saten Is., N.Y., for scrap.