Naval History and Heritage Command

A county in Virginia and the town which serves as its seat of government. It is the northernmost of the two Virginia counties that occupy the southern portion of the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia peninsula that constitutes the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

I

El Toro-a tug constructed in 1891 at Newport News, Va., by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.-was acquired. by the Navy on 26 March 1898, renamed Algonquin; and commissioned on 2 April 1898, Ens. W. S. Crowley in command.

After being outfitted at the New York Navy Yard, the tug reported for duty with the North Atlantic Squadron at its base at Key West, Fla., on 13 April. On 15 June 1898, she was renamed Accomac. The vessel served at Key West through end of the year. In January 1899, she was reassigned to the Cuban occupation forces and was based at Havana, Cuba.

Between late 1900 and December of 1911, the small ship successively served as a yard tug at Port Royal, S.C.; Key West, Fla.; and Pensacola, Fla. On 4 December 1911, Accomac arrived at the Boston Navy Yard where she spent the remainder of her active career. In July 1920, when the Navy adopted the alphanumeric system of hull designations, Accomac received the hull number YT-18. At about the same time, she was renamed Nottoway. On 5 October 1942, her name was cancelled, and she became simply YT-18. On 15 May 1944, the tug was redesignated a small harbor tug, YTL-18. She served at Boston as a yard tug through the end of World War II. YTL-18 was placed out of service at Boston on 3 April 1946, and her name was struck from the Navy list on 17 April 1946. On 15 October 1946, she was sold to Mr. Arthur M. Hall, of Boston, Mass., presumably for scrapping.