USS Macaw (ASR-11)

History
Name:	USS Macaw
Laid down:	15 October 1941
Launched:	12 July 1942
Commissioned:	12 July 1943
Struck:	25 March 1944
Fate:	Sunk, 13 February 1944
General characteristics
Class and type:	Chanticleer-class submarine rescue ship
Displacement:	1,780 long tons (1,809 t)
Length:	251 ft 4 in (76.61 m)
Beam:	42 ft (13 m)
Draft:	14 ft 3 in (4.34 m)
Speed:	16.5 knots (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h)
Complement:	122 officers and enlisted
Armament:	2 × 3"/50 caliber guns 2 × dct

The USS Macaw (ASR-11) was a Chanticleer-class submarine rescue ship in the United States Navy.

Macaw was laid down 15 October 1941 by the Moore Dry Dock Co., Oakland, California; launched 12 July 1942; sponsored by Miss Valnessa Easton of Berkeley, Calif.; and commissioned exactly one year later, Lt. Comdr. Paul Willits Burton in command.

Departing California 28 August 1943, after shakedown and training exercises, Macaw steamed in convoy to Espiritu Santo, arriving 2 October. Thence proceeding to Funafuti, via Wallis Island, she charted previously unknown reefs. She anchored off Funafuti on the 16th and remained until 13 November when she was ordered back to Pearl Harbor. After six weeks in Hawaii, Macaw departed for Midway Island.

Macaw ran aground on a reef at Midway Atoll on 16 January 1944 while attempting to assist the submarine USS Flier (SS-250), which had herself run aground earlier that day. On the night of 12–13 February 1944, Macaw slipped off the reef in heavy seas and sank. During the sinking her commanding officer, Paul Burton, and four crewmen died after abandoning ship.

Macaw was struck from the Navy list 25 March 1944.

Macaw was awarded one battle star for World War II service.

In 2003 the wreck of Macaw was surveyed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.^[1]

References

1. Wreck of USS Macaw

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links

• Photo gallery at Navsource.org
• On Eternal Patrol - USS Macaw