USS ''Echo'' (IX-95), an

unclassified miscellaneous vessel The IX (unclassified–miscellaneous) hull classification symbol is used for ships of the United States Navy that do not fit into one of the standard categories. Similar lists of 'miscellaneous' ships can found at : and :. Ship status i ...

, was the only ship of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to be named for the

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label= Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

. A sailing scow, she was used as a supply ship in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1944.

History

A twin-masted

scow A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. S ...

(flat-bottomed schooner) of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

registry, ''Echo'' was built in

in 1905 by William Brown, of

kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...

timber. She was originally topsail rigged. Twin diesel engines were installed in 1920. She was transferred to the US Navy under reverse Lend-Lease from New Zealand and commissioned on 4 November 1942. Sailing from

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

on 11 November 1942, ''Echo'' delivered cargo at Noumea en route to

Efate Efate (french: Éfaté) is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. It is also known as Île Vate. Geography It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanu ...

in the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

. Based on this island at

Port Vila Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate. Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...

, she served as a supply ship for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in the New Hebrides and adjoining island groups as well as placing and supporting

Coastwatchers The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II ...

. On 14 February 1944, just prior to her departure for New Zealand, the Army awarded her crew a commendation. She arrived at

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

on 12 March 1944, was decommissioned three days later, and returned to the New Zealand Government.

Film and TV series

In 1942–44 she was used by US forces in the Pacific, and her story was the basis for the 1960 film with Jack Lemmon, ''The Wackiest Ship in the Army'' and the 1965 TV series of the same name. The storyline involved a secret mission with an Australian Coastwatcher, played by

Chips Rafferty John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 190927 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until his death ...

Postwar

She was in use carrying cargo from Marlborough to Wellington until 1965, and hence was not available for the film. She was then used from 1972 as clubrooms by the Marlborough Cruising Club, but she deteriorated, and was nearly broken up in 1990. She was preserved, but in poor condition, at

Picton, New Zealand Picton ( mi, Waitohi) is a town in the Marlborough Region of New Zealand's South Island. The town is located near the head of the Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui, north of Blenheim and west of Wellington. Waikawa lies just north-east o ...

as the ''Echo Gallery'', a scow museum and bar. After the bar closed and the ship deteroriated more, Port Marlborough bought the ship from its private owners, and she was broken up in April 2015.Demolition work on historic Echo begins in Picton (Marlboro Express, retrieved 2015-08-27)
/ref>

External links

History, with photo in wartime service and contact detailsDetails of 1959 newsreel film

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Echo (Ix-95) Unclassified miscellaneous vessels of the United States Navy Merchant ships of New Zealand Ships built in New Zealand 1942 ships Schooners of the United States Navy Picton, New Zealand