USS Watseka (YT-387)

USS Watseka (YTM-387) was a medium harbor tug of the YTM-192 class in the service of the United States Navy during World War II. She may be one of the Naval vessels named for a woman since Watseka was the name of a Potawatomi woman. However, the Naval Historical Center lists the namesake as: "Possibly a variant spelling of Watsaghika, a former village of the Iruwaitsu Shasta Indian tribe of northern California, at the extreme west end of Scott Valley."[1]

History
United States
Name: USS Watseka
Acquired: by purchase, 1943
Decommissioned: March 1946
Reclassified: YTM-387, 15 May 1944
Fate: Sold, 1 July 1972
General characteristics
Type: Tugboat
Length: 100 ft (30 m)
Beam: 25 ft (7.6 m)
Draft: 10 ft (3.0 m)

Watseka was purchased in 1943 from Ira S. Bushey and Sons of Brooklyn, New York, and assigned to the 8th Naval District, New Orleans, Louisiana, as YT-387. On 15 May 1944, her designation was changed from YT-387 to YTB-387. While in reserve, she was redesignated YTM-387, in February 1962.[1]

Placed in reserve, out of service, and berthed with the Columbia River, Oregon, group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet from March 1946, she was subsequently sold on 1 July 1972. As a civilian tug, she operated under the names Deborah W, Beaver, Seahorse,[2] SB IX, Seahorse, Glen Cove.[3]

References
  1. "Watseka". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command.
  2. "Harbor Tugs". Harbor Tugs. NAFTS. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  3. "U.S. Shipbuilding History, Shipbuilding records, Tim Colton", Shipbuilding History website.



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