USS ''Otus'' (AS-20) was a

submarine tender A submarine tender is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and ...

in service with 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 ...

from 1941 to 1946. In 1945, she was converted to an

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...

repair ship and redesignated ARG-20. Decommissioned in 1946, she was scrapped in 1970.

Construction

The ship was laid down under

United States 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 ...

(MC) Contract 3 June 1940 by the

Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Gov ...

Kearny, New Jersey Kearny ( ) is a town in the western part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Newark. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 40,684,Lykes Brothers Steamship Company Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., also called Lykes Lines, was a cargo shipping company acting from the beginning of the 20th century to 2005 having its main business in the trade to and from the United States. History In 1898 the sons of Dr. Howell Tys ...

of New Orleans and delivered to the company on 27 December 1940 after successful trials for the MC and Lykes. The ship was intended for service between the U.S. Gulf ports and ports in United Kingdom and Mediterranean. To meet requirements for river and canal navigation modifications were made for visibility on the bridge and masts were telescopic to meet Manchester Ship Canal height requirements. The ship was designed to accommodate a crew of eighteen deck department, sixteen engine department and nine in the steward's department for a total of forty-three crew with two owner's staterooms approximating liner cabins suitable for passengers. Characteristics as built were length overall,

length between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

, beam (molded), loaded draft, , , with a displacement of 12,875 tons. Propulsion was a De Laval steam turbine driving a bronze, variable-pitch, three-bladed propeller in diameter. Two 250 kW De Laval steam turbine generators provided electrical power. The launch can be seen in stock footage used in the opening scenes of the 1964 film '' The Incredible Mr. Limpet''.

Navy acquisition

The ''Fred Morris'' was acquired by the Navy on 1 March 1941 and commissioned as USS ''Otus'' (AS–20) on 19 March 1941. The lone ship in her class, she was named for

Otus Otus may refer to: * Otus (education), a K-12 educational technology company * HMS ''Otus'', two ships in the Royal Navy * ''Otus'' (bird), genus of owls * Otus (mythology), giant in Greek mythology, brother of Ephialtes, one of Aloadae * Otus ...

, a mythological son of Iphimedia (wife of Aloeus) and

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...

Submarine tender (1941-1945)

Assigned to the Asiatic Fleet as a

, she was anchored in Mariveles Bay,

Philippine Islands The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, on 7 December 1941. On 10 December 1941 she was slightly damaged during the Japanese air raid on the

Cavite Navy Yard Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest o ...

, when several bombs landed near her starboard side. Not wanting to risk one of the few tenders in his command, Admiral Hart, Commander Asiatic Fleet ordered ''Otus'' to leave the Philippines. Departing 10 December she arrived at

Port Darwin Port Darwin is the port in Darwin, Northern Territory, in northern Australia. The port has operated in a number of locations, including Stokes Hill Wharf, Cullen Bay and East Arm Wharf. In 2015, a 99-year lease was granted to the Chinese-owned ...

, Australia on 28 December. Remaining at Port Darwin through January 1942 ''Otus'' steamed to

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

and

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

, Ceylon, during February and the first part of March. She returned to Australia on 10 March, where she tended submarines at Fremantle until departing for the United States on 25 July. Arriving Mare Island Naval Shipyard 24 August, ''Otus'' underwent an extensive overhaul until 23 January 1943. After a brief stop 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 R ...

she returned to Australia 22 February where she remained, steaming from port to port as the demand for her services dictated, until 1 September. From September 1943 until December 1944 ''Otus'' served at four different sites in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

furnishing tender services for escort vessels, minecraft, and amphibious craft as well as submarines. Departing Hollandia Bay 25 December, ''Otus'' arrived at San Pedro Bay,

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao ...

, Philippines on 6 January 1945 and commenced providing routine upkeep and emergency repairs to the ships of the Southwest Pacific Area.

Repair ship (1945-1946)

On 25 June 1945 her classification was changed to ARG–20 (Repair Ship, Internal Combustion Engines). On 1 December 1945 ''Otus'' left San Pedro Bay en route to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. Arriving 2 January 1946, she was assigned the duty of deactivating vessels. She carried out this work at both Portland and Astoria until 29 June 1946, when she steamed to Seattle to commence inactivation overhaul.

Decommissioning and fate

''Otus'' decommissioned 20 August 1946 and was sold the following day. She was struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

25 September 1946. In 1970 she was at

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. Europea ...

with the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

. The ship was finally sold for scrap, 2 November 1970, to Zidell Explorations Inc. of Portland, OR. ''Otus'' received 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 ...

for service in

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 opposing ...

References

External links

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive: USS Otus (ARG-20)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otus (Arg-120 Type C1-B ships Ships built in Kearny, New Jersey 1940 ships Submarine tenders of the United States Navy Repair ships of the United States Navy World War II auxiliary ships of the United States