Sagamore II (Tug No. 20)
1918-1947
(AT-20: dp. 1,000; l. 156'8"; b. 30'; dr. 16'; s. 13 k.; cpl. 44; a. 2 3", 1 mg.; cl. Bagaduce)
An Indian term for a lesser chief or tribal chief among certain North American Indians.
II
The second Sagamore was ordered on 24 May 1917 from Buffalo Dry Dock Co., Buffalo, N.Y., as a steel, oceangoing tug under War Shipping Board account for the United States Navy; named Comanche on 28 July 1917; renamed Sagamore on 30 October 1917; transferred to the Navy on 5 December 1917 at Buffalo in uncompleted condition; taken to the Boston Navy Yard and commissioned on 18 June 1918, Lt. (jg.) Glaus K. R. Clausen in command.
Sagamore was completed on 16 July 1918 and assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS). She then operated on the United States east coast into 1919, towing barges from Norfolk to New York, Boston, and Portsmouth, N. H. She was detached from NOTS on 27 January 1919 and assigned to the Train, Atlantic Fleet. Sagamore deployed southward to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during February 1919 and again during March of the same year.
Sagamore remained in active service between the two world wars, operating all along the eastern seaboard. Her principal oceangoing duty was the towing of inactive vessels and small craft between various Navy Yards and naval operating bases. Sagamore towed submarines, "Eagle" boats, yard craft, and, during October 1927, the armored cruiser, Pueblo (ACR-7). She took part in rescue and salvage operations on the submarine, Squalus (SS-192), during 1939.
During World War II, Sagamore continued to perform essential towing duty from her home yard, New York, to Norfolk, Philadelphia, New London, and bases as far north as Argentia, Newfoundland. Sagamore was reclassified ATO-20 in view of her advancing age but remained in constant employment until decommissioned on 31 August 1946 at New York Navy Yard. Struck from the Navy list on 28 January 1947, Sagamore was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 24 December 1947.
