Tolowa (ATF-116)
1944-1970
An Athabascan Native American tribe of northwestern California that formerly occupied the coast from the Klamath River to the Oregon border.
(ATF-116: displacement 1,589; length 205'0"; beam 38'6"; draft 15'4"; speed 16.5 knots (trial); complement 85; armament 1 3-inch, 2 40-millimeter; class Abnaki)
Tolowa (AT-116) was laid down on 28 July 1943 at Alameda, Calif., by the United Engineering Co.; re-designated ATF-116 on 15 May 1944; launched on 17 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. B. D. Bales; and commissioned on 26 December 1944, Lt. Eugene G. Sheasby, USNR, in command.
Tolowa held shakedown training in the San Diego-San Pedro, Calif., area in January and February 1945. On 27 February, she got underway for the Territory of Hawaii with a barge in tow and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 12 March. Eleven days later, she proceeded via Eniwetok, in the Marshall Islands, to Ulithi, in the Western Carolines. Tolowa left Ulithi on 7 May bound for the Philippines with the concrete barge Cinnabar (IX-163) and the open lighter YC-755 in tow. She delivered her charges at Leyte on 13 May and returned to Ulithi to deliver a concrete ship and a barge to Leyte.
Joining a convoy of 12 tugs, 20 tows, and two escorts en route to Okinawa on 8 June 1945, Tolowa reached Kerama Retto on 12 June and embarked a fire-fighting team. The ship then took station off Ie Shima as an emergency salvage and fire-fighting tug. She operated in those waters until the end of hostilities in August.
On 11 September 1945, Tolowa headed for the Philippines and operated there until late in October, when she took two tows from Subic Bay to Hong Kong. She returned to Subic Bay on 2 November and, six days later, headed again for Chinese waters. After operating out of Shanghai and Tsingtao from 16 November 1945 to 1 April 1946, she called at Sasebo en route back to the Philippines. On 16 April, Tolowa began the long return voyage to the U.S. She called at Eniwetok, Kwajalein, Johnston, and Oahu before arriving at San Diego on 9 July. The ship proceeded to San Pedro the next day, remaining there until 6 August when she got underway for the east coast to be inactivated.
After a stay at New Orleans, La., from 12 September to 9 November 1946, Tolowa shifted to Orange, Texas, where she was decommissioned on 27 January 1947. Restored to operational condition by the sailors of the Beaumont (Texas) Naval Reserve Ship Activation Maintenance and Repair Division, as reported by the Navy Times [28 February 1962], Tolowa was transferred to the government of Venezuela, manned by the Beaumont reservists and 18 Venezuelan Navy sailors who would learn of their new ship during the journey to Venezuela. The ship was renamed Felipe Larrazábal (R-11).
Tolowa was stricken from the Navy list on 11 November 1970.
Tolowa received one battle star for her World War II service, for her participation in the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto (24 March-30 June 1945).
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
26 June 2020
