(YO-53: tonnage 217; length 221-; beam 36-; draft 17-; speed unknown (600 hp.); complement unknown; armament 1 3-, 2 machine guns)
A deckhand or waterfront worker; a jack-of-all-trades.
Roustabout was built during the period from 1923 to 1925 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., San Francisco, Calif., as the steel, self-propelled fuel oil barge Hawaiian Standard; acquired 31 May 1941 for U.S. Navy service from her owner, Standard Oil Co. of Calif.; and commissioned 10 June 1941, Lt. Comdr. Lawrence A. Parke, USNR, in command.
Fitted out for naval service at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Roustabout was assigned for duty to the 13th Naval District. Throughout World War II, she steamed between Puget Sound ports and U.S. bases in Alaskan waters, transporting fuel oil, ammunition, food, stores, mail, and myriad other items. Roustabout frequently called at Sitka and Ketchikan, Alaska, and also visited Port Townsend, Alliford Bay, and Clayto Passage, British Columbia.
Returning to Puget Sound at war's end, Roustabout decommissioned at Bremerton, Wash., 2 February 1946. Struck from the Navy list 12 March 1946, she was transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal on 29 June 1946 at Olympia, Wash.
21 October 2005
