USS ''Ailanthus'' (AN-38/YN-57) was an

net laying ship A net laying ship, also known as a net layer, net tender, gate ship or boom defence vessel was a type of naval auxiliary ship. A net layer's primary function was to lay and maintain steel anti-torpedo or anti-submarine nets. Nets could be laid ...

which served with the U.S. Navy in the western Pacific Ocean theatre of operations during World War II. She was assigned to the U.S. Pacific Fleet with her protective anti-

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

nets. She ran aground at Lash bay,

Tanaga Island Tanaga Island ( ale, Tanax̂ax; russian: остров Танага) is an island in the western Andreanof Islands, in the southwest part of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. The island has a land area of , making it the 33rd largest oceanic island i ...

in the

Aleutians The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large vo ...

26 February 1944 and was declared a total loss. She was only six months old. Seabees of Naval Construction Battalion 45 assisted the ship's crew evacuate safely.

Built in Washington

''Ailanthus'' (YN-57) was laid down on 17 November 1942 at

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

, by the

Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company was established in 1942 to build ships needed for World War II. Yard construction began on 1 March 1942. As part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program the US Navy provided some of the capital to star ...

; launched on 20 May 1943; sponsored by Miss Billie Jean McNatt; and placed in commission at

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, on 2 December 1943.

World War II service

The net tender completed fitting out and, during the second half of December, conducted

shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...

training. On the last day of 1943, she reported for duty in the

13th Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Command ...

. On 20 January 1944, she was reclassified a net laying ship and redesignated ''AN-38''. Early in February, ''Ailanthus'' moved north to Pleasant Island,

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, where she arrived on 4 February. Reassigned that same day to

Service Squadron A Service Squadron (ServRon) was a United States Navy squadron that supported fleet combat ships and US Navy Auxiliary ships. Service Squadrons were used by the US Navy from their inception in 1943 to as late as the early 1980s. At the time of th ...

6, U.S. Pacific Fleet, she began to carry out net laying duties. However, her career proved very brief. Having delivered a cargo of perforated steel plating ( Marston Mat) to a Navy Seabee contingent building an airfield on the westernmost island of Attu, ''Ailanthus'' was caught in a violent winter storm, and on 26 February 1944, slipped her anchorage and was driven hard aground, suffering extensive damage. While still stranded, ''Ailanthus'' was reassigned to the newly constituted

17th Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Comman ...

(the Alaskan portion of the old

to which she had originally been assigned). Finally, she was declared a total loss, and her name was struck from the

Navy List A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...

on 9 June 1944.

References

*
NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive – YN-57 / AN-38 Ailanthus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ailanthus Ailanthus-class net laying ships of the United States Navy Ships built by Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company 1943 ships World War II net laying ships of the United States World War II shipwrecks in the Bering Sea Maritime incidents in February 1944