USS Conestoga (AT 54) Early History coal-fired Scotch boilers. The steel hull was separated by four watertight bulkheads up to The U.S. Navy’s seagoing fleet tugboat the main deck. Deck machinery included a USS Conestoga (AT 54) was originally Hyde steam gypsy located on the starboard built as a civilian tugboat to tow coal Painting: Artist Danijel Frka, © Russ Matthews Collection aft quarter with a 5 by 8-inch double engine. barges for the Philadelphia and Reading Modern painting by artist Danijel Frka depicting the USS A Hyde steam anchor windlass with tow bitts Conestoga on its final voyage off Southeast Farallon Railroad Company. The tug was was mounted on the bow and could be fitted Island on March 25, 1921. launched on Nov. 12, 1903, at the with 1 ¼-inch chain. Located at the stern was Maryland Steel Company shipyard at a steering quadrant assisted by a Williamson Sparrow’s Point in Baltimore, Maryland. steam steering engine with 4 ½ by 4 ½-inch At 170 feet in length, Conestoga was double cylinders located below the pilot considered one of the largest steel house. The large steam towing machine was seagoing tugboats for the period, located inside the aft end of the deckhouse modeled off the lines of the owners’ tug and equipped with 1 5/8-inch wire hawser, Carlisle. The newspaper Baltimore accompanied with a large wooden tow bitts. American on Nov. 13, 1903 reported Photo: San Francisco Chronicle “Maryland Steel Company Successfully Conestoga’s 13-year career as a civilian tug San Francisco Chronicle front page newspaper dated Sends Out on the Bosom of Patapsco included towing large “schooner barges,” May 1, 1921, “Pacific Fleet Tug and Its Crew of Thirty three-masted schooners with cargo holds full One of the Largest and Most Powerful Missing.” of coal. The tug typically would tow three Tugs on Atlantic Coast.” barges at once. Home ported in Philadelphia, Conestoga’s construction was featured in Pennsylvania, the barges would be towed to a Marine Engineering article in August New York, Boston and Providence, Rhode 1904 that included detailed information Island. Occasionally, there were mishaps. In on the machinery as well as ship’s December 1904, towing in a blinding snow drawings of the tugboat. The tug’s riveted storm resulted in the total loss of the barge hull exceeded American Bureau of Alburtis stranded on Fishers Island, New Shipping standards and was considered York. Two years later, Conestoga was in a “heavily built” and fitted for heavy work. collision with the fishing trawler Spray near Conestoga’s machinery included a Boston. However, the tug’s heavy built steel powerful triple expansion marine steam hull survived the blow. Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command – NH 71503 engine with steam generated from two Photograph of the “ship’s company” taken aboard the USS Conestoga at San Diego in 1921. When the tug USS Conestoga’s military career steamed from Mare Island the full complement was 56. With the outbreak of World War I and United States’ subsequent entry into the conflict, the U.S. Navy purchased Conestoga on September 14, 1917. Assigned to the Submarine Force, Conestoga carried out towing duties along the Atlantic coast, transported supplies and guns, escorted convoys to Bermuda and the Azores, and cruised the American Patrol Detachment in the vicinity of the Azores. At the end of the war it was attached to Naval Base No.13, Azores, from which it towed disabled ships and escorted convoys until its arrival at New York on September 26, 1919. The tug was then th assigned to harbor tug duty in the 5 Naval District at Norfolk, and reclassified USS Conestoga AT 54 on July 17, 1920. Ordered to duty as a station ship at Tutuila, American Samoa, Conestoga underwent alterations and fitting out at Norfolk, and cleared Hampton Roads November 18, 1920 for Photo: Mystic Seaport, Steven Lang Collection the Pacific. Arriving at San Diego January 7, 1921, it continued to Mare Island on San Francisco Bay Civilian tugboat Conestoga being fitted out after launching departing February 17 and arriving on February 19 for voyage repairs. On March 25, 1921, at the Maryland Steel Company’s Marine Department at Sparrows Point located in Baltimore, Maryland. Conestoga departed for Pearl Harbor. It was never seen again. http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/conestoga Vanished without a trace The ship’s mysterious disappearance uncharted shipwreck from the late 19th or gripped newspapers all across the early 20th century. Using a Remotely Ordered to American Samoa, USS country. On June 30, 1921, the Navy Operated Vehicle (ROV), three survey Conestoga departed Mare Island on San officially declared Conestoga lost with all dives were conducted to characterize the Francisco Bay for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii her crew. Ninety-five years later, target, which was determined to be a on March 25, 1921. When Conestoga Conestoga still ranks among the top 10 170-feet iron or steel tugboat. Historical failed to reach its destination by its unsolved shipwreck mysteries. records indicated there were no anticipated arrival date, April 5, the Navy documented tugboat losses for this time Discovery of Conestoga mounted a massive air and sea search period, either through accident or off Hawaii and th e Mexican coast. A The first steps towards solving the deliberate scuttling in the sanctuary. battered lifeboat with the letter “C” on the mystery of Conestoga’s disappearance However, after researching historical bow was located by the steamship began taking shape thanks to historian accounts of tugboats that departed the Senator, May 17, 1921, off Manzanillo, Steve Lawson, who provided a Golden Gate and were never again seen, Mexico. However, a thorough search of multibeam sonar image of a mystery further detailed analysis of the mystery the islands in the vicinity by all available shipwreck off Southeast Farallon Island tugboat’s features resulted in the naval ships and aircraft failed to locate that had been reported in 2009 by identification of the wreck as the USS the men or wreckage. NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. With Conestoga. additional data analysis from sonar An official U.S. Navy correspondence on During a subsequent mission with the May 28, 1921 stated the following: expert Gary Fabian, the first maritime U.S. Navy in October 2015, the project “Commander Destroyer Squadron heritage expedition to explore the team was able to confirm Conestoga’s aboard the USS Charleston, USS mystery wreck and other potential identity. Teledyne SeaBotix Inc., shipwreck sites took place in 2014 in Birmingham, USS Salem, and 36 provided a technician and mini-ROV that Greater Farallones National Marine destroyers completed off-shore search allowed careful examination of the inner Sanctuary aboard the NOAA research covering approximately 300,000 square hull. BlueView sonar provided high- miles. Sea plane squadron one. Torpedo vessel Fulmar. resolution underwater acoustic imaging plane squadron five, one air ship, USS James Delgado Ph.D., director of the and measurements of the hull. Aroostook, USS Kanawha, and three Maritime Heritage Program for NOAA’s sweepers continuing coastwise and The final resting place of the USS Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, island search. Have covered Guadalupe, Conestoga in Greater Farallones and Robert Schwemmer, sanctuaries’ Cedros, St. Benedicto, and Socorro National Marine Sanctuary is federally West Coast Regional Maritime Heritage Islands.” In addition, the Navy searched protected under the National Marine Coordinator, served as co-principal the waters 500 miles around Oahu Sanctuary Act and the Sunken Military investigators. The five-day expedition Island, Hawaii and out to Midway Atoll. Craft Act. a aboard the R/V Fulmar included This was the largest sea and air search sanctuary scientists, biologists and conducted until the search for Amelia private industry partners. An investigation Earhart and her plane in 1937 in the 20th of the sonar target determined it was an century. Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command - NH 71510 Photo: Teledyne SeaBotix - NOAA Photograph taken of the sailors of the gunnery department aboard the USS The key diagnostic artifact described as the “smoking gun” was the 3-inch 50-caliber naval Conestoga during the tugboat’s stopover in San Diego in 1921. gun that was matched up to the photograph taken on board the USS Conestoga in San Diego in 1921 with the gunnery department. http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/conestoga .
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