USS ''Lancewood'' (AN-48/YN-67) was an built for 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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In service in the Pacific during the war, she earned one

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

. After her February 1946 decommissioning, she was sold to France as ''Commandant Charcot''. Her fate is not reported in

secondary source In Scholarly method, scholarship, a secondary sourcePrimary, secondary and tertiary ...

Career

''Lancewood'' (YN-67) was laid down as ''Ironwood'' 15 October 1942 by

Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding Company Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding Company was established in 1942 to build ships needed for World War II. As part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program the US Navy provided some of the capital to start Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding at Stockton, Califo ...

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

; renamed ''Lancewood'' 3 April 1943; launched 2 May 1943; and commissioned 18 October 1943. After

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, ...

off the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

coast, ''Lancewood'' was assigned to the

12th 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 ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Reclassified ''AN-48'' on 20 January 1944, she tended nets and repaired net lines until departing San Francisco 1 December. Loaded with fleet moorings, she steamed via

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; Spanish: " St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

, to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, where she arrived the 16th. ''Lancewood'' sailed for the western

Pacific Ocean 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 ...

24 January 1945. After touching

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

and

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, she reached a holding area off

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

20 February and 3 days later began pulling damaged landing craft off the beaches to facilitate unloading operations. She placed moorings, laid nets, and salvaged landing craft off Iwo Jima until 12 April when she departed for the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

. ''Lancewood'' served at

from 19 April to 10 June; then she proceeded to

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest i ...

, where she arrived 12 June for duty as net repair ship. She began to remove net defenses 30 August, then steamed to Yap Island 2 September for the surrender of Japanese forces there the following day. She remained at Yap until 7 September, returned to Ulithi the 8th, and resumed net removal operations. Loaded with net panels, ''Lancewood'' sailed to

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

14 to 17 October and unloaded her cargo. Departing 26 October, she steamed via Midway Islands and

for the U.S. West Coast, arriving San Francisco 25 November. Remaining at San Francisco, she decommissioned 11 February 1946. Berthed at

Suisun Bay, California Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the ent ...

, she was sold 28 April 1947 to Robert A. Martinolich, San Francisco, and transferred 3 May to the

U.S. Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

for simultaneous delivery to her purchaser, the

French government The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...

, and commissioned as ''Commandant Charcot''.

Honors and awards

''Lancewood'' received one

for World War II service.

References

*
NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - YN-67 Ironwood / Lancewood - AN-48 Lancewood
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancewood (AN-48) Ailanthus-class net laying ships of the United States Navy Ships built in Stockton, California 1943 ships World War II net laying ships of the United States Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the French Navy Auxiliary ships of the French Navy