View source for USS Cree

{{short description|Tugboat of the United States Navy}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= USS Cree (ATF-84) underway c1970.jpg
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country= [[United States]]
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1947}}
|Ship name=USS ''Cree''
|Ship namesake= [[Cree]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder= United Engineering Co., [[San Francisco]], [[California]]
|Ship laid down= 31 March 1942
|Ship launched= 17 August 1942
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned= 28 March 1943
|Ship decommissioned= 
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck= 21 April 1978
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified= ATF-84, 15 May 1944
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=''Ready''
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=*2 [[battle star]]s (World War II)
*4 battle stars (Korea)
|Ship fate= Sunk as a target, 27 August 1978
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class= {{sclass|Cherokee|fleet tug}}
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1235|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} light
*{{convert|1675|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full
|Ship length={{convert|205|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|38|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|15|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship hold depth=
|Ship propulsion=*[[Diesel-electric]]
*4 × [[General Motors]] 12-278A [[diesel engine]]s driving 4 [[General Electric]] [[Electrical generator|generator]]s and 3 General Motors 3-268A auxiliary services engines
*[[Propeller|single screw]]
*{{convert|3600|shp|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship speed={{convert|16.5|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range= 
|Ship complement=85 officers and enlisted
|Ship armament=*1 × single [[3"/50 caliber gun]]
*2 × twin [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm]] AA guns
*2 × single [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm]] AA guns
|Ship armor=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''Cree'' (AT/ATF-84)''', a {{sclass|Cherokee|fleet tug}}, was a ship of the [[United States Navy]] named for the [[Cree]], an [[indigenous people]] of North America whose people range from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.

''Cree'' was one of 70 such vessels produced in this World War II-era class. [[Military Sealift Command]] currently uses fleet ocean tugs from the ''Powhatan'' class to accomplish a similar mission today. ''Cree'' participated in several classified missions such as [[Operation Wigwam]].

==Service history==
''Cree'' (AT-84) was launched 17 August 1942 by United Engineering Co., [[San Francisco, California]]; sponsored by Mrs. T. Colburn; and commissioned 28 March 1943.

===World War II===
From 10 April to 9 May 1943 ''Cree'' sailed between [[San Francisco]] and [[San Diego]] towing target sleds and dry-dock sections. She cleared on 11 May for [[Seattle]] and [[Dutch Harbor]], and operated out of [[Adak Island|Adak]] from 26 July 1943 to 15 August 1944. ''Cree'' screened transports to [[Kiska]], had towing and salvage duties, and aided the distressed [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] ship ''Valery Chkalov'' between 15 December and 23 December 1943. ''Cree'' was reclassified '''ATF-84''', 15 May 1944.

Returning to San Francisco on 21 August 1944, ''Cree'' sailed on 1 October to serve as retriever tug for a [[convoy]] to [[Eniwetok]], returning to [[Pearl Harbor]] on`14 November. She cleared on 7 December on another convoy trip to Eniwetok, then continued to [[Guam]] and [[Ulithi]] on towing duty. She joined the screen of the replenishment group of the [[United States Fifth Fleet|5th Fleet]] at Ulithi on 8 February 1945 and sortied for the invasion of [[Iwo Jima]], during which she stood by for salvage assignments, until returning to Ulithi to replenish on 5 March. ''Cree'' arrived off [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] on 16 March for salvage operations on the beachheads until 1 July, when she sailed for overhaul at San Pedro Bay, Leyte.

===Korean War===
''Cree'' was based at Pearl Harbor for towing and salvage duties throughout the Pacific until the outbreak of the [[Korean War]]. Arriving at [[Yokosuka, Kanagawa|Yokosuka]] on 6 July 1950, she acted as beaching control off Kyuryuhon on 16 and 17 August, transferring salvage equipment to the Korean Navy, buoying swept channels, and supporting the [[Inchon]] landings from 15 September to 15 October with salvage and towing services. Returning to [[Long Beach, California]], 16 June for overhaul, ''Cree'' operated alternately at Pearl Harbor and in the Pacific islands and along the west coast until 4 August 1959, when she sailed for duty based on [[Sasebo, Japan]], until 19 December. She returned to west coast operations through September 1960 when she sailed for her 1960-61 Far Eastern tour of duty.

In May 1955 ''Cree'' participated in [[Operation Wigwam]], an underwater [[nuclear testing|atomic test]] off of the coast of California.

===Vietnam===
During the Vietnam War ''Cree'' was part of the "[[Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club]]" (the [[United States Seventh Fleet|US 7th Fleet]]) with missions including (but not limited to) chasing trawlers and towing floating barracks across the Pacific.

==="Friendly fire" incident===
On the morning of 18 January 1978, ''Cree'' released the ex-YO-129 as a target for "live" bombing practice by naval aircraft, while steaming off the coast of southern California. ''Cree'' then proceeded north to clear the target area, taking her assigned station, but mistakenly became a target when a "Navy jet aircraft" made an attack run on her at 1206, unleashing three 500&nbsp;lb bombs on the ship and her crew. One bomb struck the mast and exploded in the air close aboard to starboard, showering the tug with fragments. The second bomb fell along the port side, sliced beneath the ship and exploded underwater off the starboard side, "engulfing" ''Cree'' in a wall of water. The third slammed into the ship on the port bow, passing through seven bulkheads in the forward part of the ship, before becoming wedged into the passageway between the chief petty officer's quarters and sick bay, though failing to detonate. The damage to the ship was severe, including holing of the mast, destruction of two life rafts, severing of the emergency power cable and fragment damage above the [[01 level]]. Below decks, the ship's gyro was destroyed by the bomb forward, which also damaged the diving locker and bulkheads. The underwater explosion, however, caused the most serious damage, blasting several holes in bulkheads and splitting seams. Motor room B-2 became "a tangled mass of warped frames," with equipment "wrenched from mountings and broken lines." Flooding in excess of 2,000 gallons per minute was reported.

Going to [[General Quarters]], the crew responded immediately, but during their efforts to save the ship, discovered the live bomb where it wedged forward, just {{convert|20|ft|0}} from where the repair party was stationed. Moving aft away from the 500 pounder, the repair party was temporarily relieved by an [[Bomb disposal|EOD]] team from {{USS|Enterprise|CVN-65|3}} rushed to ''Cree''. Within 45&nbsp;minutes the team was on board and able to defuse the bomb (first the EOD team called for a ship's electrician to tape up wires around the bomb. They were afraid that any current left in the wires might set the bomb off. Once the wires were taped they defused the bomb). Seven men of the repair party braved "rising water, leaking fuel and oil from broken lines," as well as the absence of light, entering Motor Room B-2 to battle the flooding for two hours before getting it under control.

Additional ships rendering assistance included {{USS|Long Beach|CGN-9|6}}, guided missile destroyer {{USS|John Paul Jones|DDG-32|6}} and tug {{USS|Moctobi|ATF-105|6}}, providing portable pumps, gasoline and "other supplies." Taken under tow that evening by ''John Paul Jones'', which transferred her to ''Moctobi'' early the next afternoon, ''Cree'' returned to San Diego on the 19th, her exhausted crew having battled for 27 hours to keep their ship afloat.

The ship was struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy List]] on 21 April 1978, and finally sunk as a target on 27 August 1978.

==Gallery==
<gallery widths=180>
Image:USS_Cree_(ATF-84)_insignia.jpg|USS ''Cree'' Insignia
File:Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club emblem (United States Navy), in the 1960s (NH 85751-KN).png|Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club Insignia
</gallery>

==Awards==
* Two World War II [[battle star]]s
* Three Korean War battle stars
* [[American Campaign Medal]]
* Two [[Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal]]s
* [[World War II Victory Medal (United States)|World War II Victory Medal]]
* Two [[National Defense Service Medal]]s
* Three [[Korean Service Medal]]s
* [[Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal]] (Vietnam)
* [[United Nations Korea Medal|United Nations Service Medal]] (Korea)
* [[Korean War Service Medal|Republic of Korea War Service Medal]]

==References==
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c15/cree.htm}}

==External links==
* {{navsource|09/39/39084|USS Cree (ATF-84))}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070210131343/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/e4/enterprise-viiid.htm history.navy.mil: Account of bombing accident]
* [https://archive.today/20121212211216/http://www.msc.navy.mil/factsheet/t-atf.asp Military Sealift Command Fact Sheet: ''Powhatan'' class]
* [http://members.cox.net/riverrat1969/ Vietnam and Russian Trawler chasing]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000602173931/http://geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/1397/tgyc.html  Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club info]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20010125050300/http://www.tamaroa.org/history.htm More about the ''Navajo'' Class]}}

{{Navajo class tugs}}
{{1978 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cree (ATF-84)}}
[[Category:Cherokee-class fleet tugs]]
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States|Cree (ATA-84)]]
[[Category:Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States|Cree (ATA-84)]]
[[Category:Ships built in San Francisco]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1978]]
[[Category:1942 ships]]