History
United States
Name
  • USS Resolute 16 May 1943–9 June 1943
  • USS Evea 9 June 1943–11 November 1944
Namesake
Acquired16 May 1943
RenamedUSS Evea 9 June 1943
ReclassifiedLarge harbor tug, YTB-458, 15 May 1944
Fate
  • Transferred to French Navy 11 November 1944
  • Later returned to United States and sold
General characteristics
TypeTug

USS Evea (YT-458), originally the sixth USS Resolute (YT-458), later YTB-458, was a United States Navy tug in commission from 1943 to 1944.

Design and construction

In the early 1940s a series of Allaquippa-class district tugs (YT) were ordered from Gulfport Boiler & Welding Works of Port Arthur, Texas by General Motors for transfer before completion to the United States Navy.[1] These tugs had a displacement off 300 tons and were 102 feet 3 inches length overall, 95 feet length between perpendiculars, 24 feet in beam and with a draught of 10 feet. They were powered by a 1000 bhp diesel-electric engine, supplied by General Motors, and driving a single propeller.[2]

World War II service

Five of the Allaquippa-class tugs were completed for the British Royal Navy and supplied under the Lend-Lease Act. The last of these, Yard No. 194 from Gulfport, was designated BYT 5 by the U.S. Navy, given the name Resolute on completion and transferred to the U.K. on 26 March 1942. She served in the Mediterranean as a salvage tug.[1][3]

She was acquired by the U.S. Navy at the Moroccan Sea Frontier on 16 May 1943 and placed in service as the harbor tug USS Resolute (YT-458).[4] She was renamed USS Evea (YT-458) on 9 June 1943. Assigned duty in North African waters, she was reclassified as a "large harbor tug" and redesignated YTB-458 on 15 May 1944. During her service in the Mediterranean area she was involved in the Sicilian occupation (9–15 July 1943), the Salerno Landings (9–21 September 1943), and the Invasion of Southern France (15 August – 25 September 1944).[4]

French Navy

Evea was transferred to the French Navy under Lend-Lease at Marseille in autumn 1944 and renamed Malabar (A 709).[5][6] France later nominally returned Evea to the United States, after which she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and sold to France.[4] On 26 November 1946 the tug sailed from Toulon for Singapore towing the French Navy steam tug Tulear, destined for service at Saigon.[5] Malabar was then deployed as a port tug at Diego Suarez, Madagascar, where she arrived on 26 March 1947.[5]

On 19 July 1967 Malabar capsized and sank while assisting the 51,270 DWT British tanker Mobil Enterprise outside the port of Diego Suarez. In the accident ten of her crew lost their lives.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Gulfport Shipbuilding, Port Arthur TX". Shipbuilding History. Tim Colton. 4 March 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  2. ↑ Hannan, Bill (1985). Fifty Years of Naval Tugs. Liskeard, Cornwall: Maritime Books. p. 138. ISBN 0-907771-25-4.
  3. ↑ Colledge, J J (1970). Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index. Vol.2 (1st ed.). Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. p. 298. ISBN 0-7153-4396-3.
  4. 1 2 3 "Evea (YTB-458)". NavSource Online. NavSource Naval History. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Roche, Jean-Michel (2013). Dictionnaire des Bâtiments de la Flotte de Guerre Française de Colbert à Nos Jours: Tome II (in French). ISBN 978-2-9525917-3-7.
  6. ↑ The date of transfer is given as 19 October by Roche and 11 November in DANFS
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