USS ''Anacapa'' (AG-49) was a

Q-ship Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open f ...

in 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 ...

. She was named for Anacapa, an island near the coast of

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 ...

Construction

The ship was built by Pusey & Jones Corp. in 1919 at

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

. She was operated by a number of different owners under a number of different names including ''Castle Town'' (1919), ''Lumbertown'' (1936) and ''Coos Bay'' (1942). Before acquisition by the Navy, she was being operated as a

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

ship by the Coos Bay Lumber Co. She was acquired by the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

and converted for naval service as a

and placed in commission as ''Anacapa'' (AG-49) on 31 August 1942. ''Anacapa'' was converted as project "Love William" under which she would appear to be a

merchant vessel A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are us ...

while actually carrying concealed weapons to attack enemy

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 ...

World War II Pacific Ocean operations

The ship was manned by Navy personnel, but all carried merchant marine papers and dressed like merchant seamen. ''Anacapa'' cruised off the west coast of the US acting as a decoy to attract enemy submarine attack. Like other Q-ships, she carried empty oil drums and large logs both to simulate

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

and to provide additional

buoyancy Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus the p ...

if torpedoed. ''Anacapa'' was not successful in engaging any Japanese submarines. However, she rescued 38 survivors of the torpedoed tanker ''Larry Doheney'' near Mendocino, California in October, 1943. It is also believed that she damaged two friendly submarines with depth charges when they were improperly operating in her vicinity. "Her skipper, Comdr. Albert M. Wright of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, recalled several occasions when subchasers, not in on the secret, came alongside to warn that she was in dangerous waters and ordered her to follow them to port. 'After dark or in bad visibility,' Wright said, 'we would reverse course and intentionally lose them. It was a dirty trick, and I hope commanding officers weren't too severe on their deck officers when they learned they had lost us.'" Late in 1943 she was relieved of Q-ship duty and served out the rest of the war as an armed transport, based first at

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 ...

and later at

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. Her ports of call included

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, Truk,

Nukufetau Nukufetau is an atoll that is part of the nation of Tuvalu. The atoll was claimed by the US under the Guano Islands Act some time in the 19th century and was ceded in a treaty of friendship concluded in 1979 and coming into force in 1983. It has a ...

, Adak, Attu, and

Dutch Harbor Dutch Harbor is a harbor on Amaknak Island in Unalaska, Alaska. It was the location of the Battle of Dutch Harbor in June 1942, and was one of the few sites in the United States to be subjected to aerial bombardment by a foreign power during Worl ...

. The ship was originally built with a relatively shallow draft and flat bottom to allow her to navigate far upstream in the rivers of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

in order to load

and logs. This made for a rough ride in the open ocean, but it also proved quite valuable in the

island-hopping Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea is to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to ca ...

campaign in the South Pacific as ''Anacapas shallow draft allowed her to deliver cargo to islands without improved ports. She was often the first ship in to re-supply

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

on Pacific islands as soon as major combat had ceased.

Decommissioning

''Anacapa'' returned to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...

in March, 1946, was decommissioned, transferred to the

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 ...

, and saw further service as a

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are u ...

. Initially, she was given back her old name of ''Coos Bay'' (1946), but was later renamed ''George Olson'' in 1947. She was wrecked and sunk under that name while hauling lumber in the Columbia River on 30 January 1964, although the wreck is sometimes confused with the wreck of the George L. Olson, a wood-hulled lumber vessel that sunk in the Columbia River in 1944. The USS Anacapa was awarded the American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory MedalNavSource
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References

Bibliography

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anacapa Q-ships of the United States Navy Ships built by Pusey and Jones Lumber ships World War II naval ships of the United States 1919 ships