Tackle (ARS-37)
1943-1945
(ARS-37: displacement 6,500; 1ength 310'2"; beam 44'6"; draft 22'6"; speed 10 knots; complement 65; armament 1 3-inch, 6 20 millimeter, 2 .50 caliber machine guns)
Tackle (ARS-37), ex W. R. Chamberlain, Jr., built in 1912 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va., was owned and operated by W. R. Chamberlain and Co.
The ship was acquired through the War Shipping Administration in 1943. She was renamed Tackle (ARS-37) on 8 June 1943; taken over by the Navy at Oran, Algeria, on 19 June 1943; and commissioned on 5 August 1943 at Palermo, Sicily. Tackle was assigned to the Salvage Force, Eighth Fleet, and operated between Algerian ports until early 1944. She took a load of salvage equipment to Bizerte, Tunisia, on 30 March and moved to Palermo, Sicily, on 4 April. The ship shuttled between Sicily, Naples, and North African ports until mid-August.
Tackle sailed with Task Force 84, on 21 August 1944, to participate in the landings in southern France. She arrived at Baie de Cavalaire on the 24th and moved to Port de Bouc on 1 September. On 4 September, Tackle was being towed to the fueling and watering berth in the Basin Petrolier by the French tug Provencal. At 1425 hours, a mine exploded between the two ships. The French tug was sunk, and Tackle suffered considerable damage to her port side and engine rooms, and had one man killed and another injured. She was towed to Toulon on the 8th for temporary repairs and, five days later, thence to Palermo. Permanent repairs were completed there on 20 October, and she sailed for Toulon five days later.
Tackle made a voyage from Algeria to Marseilles in November 1944 and spent December shuttling between Algerian ports. On 30 January 1945, she returned to Marseilles. Her designation was changed to ARS(T)-4 on 1 February. The ship steamed to Palermo on the 13th. While she was there, her designation was changed to IX-217. She returned to Algeria on 20 March.
Tackle stood out of Oran on 17 April 1945 en route to the United States. She arrived at Norfolk on 18 May; and, on 27 June, it was determined that the ship was unfit for further naval service. Tackle was decommissioned on 13 September and stricken from the Navy list on 11 October 1945.
Tackle received two battle stars for her World War II service.
