USS Chilula

USCGC Chilula (WMEC-153) underway 2 July 1960, location unknown. The Coast Guard used her primarily for search and rescue.
History
United States
Name	USS Chilula (ATF-153)
Namesake	Chilula
Builder	Charleston Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.
Laid down	13 June 1944
Launched	1 December 1944
Commissioned	5 April 1945
Decommissioned	8 February 1947
Reclassified	Fleet ocean tug ATF-153 15 May 1944
Recommissioned	USCGC Chilula (WAT-153) 3 October 1956
Decommissioned	19 June 1991
Reclassified	Medium Endurance Cutter Chilula (WMEC-153) 1 May 1966
General characteristics
Class and type	Navajo-class fleet tug
Displacement	1,240 long tons (1,260 t)
Length	205 ft (62 m)
Beam	38 ft 6 in (11.73 m)
Draft	15 ft 4 in (4.67 m) 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m)(max. 1966)
Propulsion	Diesel-electric four General Motors 12-278A diesel main engines single screw 3,000 shp (2,237 kW)
Speed	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Complement	U.S. Navy, 86 U.S. Coast Guard, 7 officers, 1 warrant, 68 enlisted (1961)
Armament	U.S. Navy 1 × 3 in (76 mm) gun 2 × single 40 mm AA guns 2 × single 20 mm guns AA guns 2 × depth charge tracks U.S. Coast Guard 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun

USS Chilula (ATF-153) was a Navajo-class fleet tug constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. Her purpose was to aid ships, usually by towing, on the high seas or in combat or post-combat areas, plus "other duties as assigned."

Design

International radio call sign of USS Chilula (ATF-153)
November	Papa	India	November

Chilula was laid down 13 June 1944, at Charleston Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. in Charleston and launched on 1 December 1944. She was a Cherokee-class fleet ocean tug that was powered by four Allis Chalmers generators driven by four General Electric diesel engines. She had a single propeller.

History

U.S. Navy service

Chilula was commissioned by the United States Navy on 5 April 1945 and left Norfolk, Virginia on 14 May bound for Algiers, Louisiana, arriving 19 May. She took section 58 of ABSD-7 in tow and sailed on 27 May to Cristobal, Panama. Between 7 June and 14 June she towed sections of ABSD through the Panama Canal. Leaving Balboa, Panama on 16 June she arrived at Eniwetok Atoll on 31 July for towing duty. On 8 September Chilula left for Tokyo Bay, Japan arriving there on 20 September and until 11 January 1946 operated out of Yokosuka, Japan. On 11 January she departed Yokosuka with YO-17 in tow with a destination of Tsingtao, China. On 3 April, Chilula sailed from Yokosuka for Orange, Texas and was placed out of commission in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet on 8 February 1947.

Coast Guard service

She was transferred to the United States Coast Guard on 9 July 1956 as USCGC Chilula (WAT-153). Her hull number was subsequently changed to WATF-153 later in 1956 and then WMEC-153 in 1966. She was initially assigned to Morehead City, North Carolina and was used for law enforcement and search and rescue duties. In October 1963, Chilula located and took under tow in sixty foot seas the mothballed destroyer escort USS Fogg during Hurricane Ginny and returned her to Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Coast Guard decommissioned her on 19 June 1991 and returned her to the U.S. Navy.

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• "Chilula, 1956 (WMEC-153)". www.history/uccg/mil. U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
• Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946–1990. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-0-87021-719-7.