USS ''ATA-216'' was an of the United States Navy built in 1944. Originally laid down as the net tender ''Allthorn'' of the , she was redesignated before being launched. The ship was commissioned on 30 October 1944. ''ATA-216'' had a brief naval career, and was decommissioned on 26 March 1946.

Construction

Originally planned as the ''Allthorn'' (YN-94), she was laid down on 31 October 1943 at Slidell, Louisiana by the Canulette Shipbuilding Company. On 20 January 1944 she was redesignated as an auxiliary net laying ship, ''Allthorn'' (AN-70), and launched on 27 May. On 12 August her name was cancelled, she was again repurposed, to the ATA-214-class auxiliary ocean tug ''ATA-216'', and commissioned as such on 30 October 1944.

Naval service

''ATA-216'' served in the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and, after the surrender of Japan, briefly in the Occupation Service in the Far East, until 20 October 1945. The tug was decommissioned on 26 March 1946 and later struck from the Navy List.

Commercial service

In 1948 the tug was sold to unidentified American interests and renamed ''Kara Gay'', and then registered in 1951 to Walter H Wilms & Company of Portland, Oregon, allocated

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

262382, and renamed ''El Sol''. After three years she was bought by the Portland Tug & Barge Company, and then resold in 1956 to the New York City-based De Long Corporation, which registered her in Panama, still with the same name, ''El Sol''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ATA-216 ATA-214-class tugs Ships built in Slidell, Louisiana 1944 ships World War II auxiliary ships of the United States