USS Yew (AN-37)

History
United States
Name: USS Yew (YN-32)
Namesake: Yew tree
Builder: John H. Mathis & Company, Camden, New Jersey
Laid down: 22 May 1941
Launched: 4 October 1941
Sponsored by: Miss Alice E. Morgan
In service: 1 July 1942
Reclassified: AN-37, 1 January 1944
Commissioned: 1 January 1944
Decommissioned: 30 November 1944, Oran, Algeria
Fate: transferred to the French Navy, 30 November 1944
Struck: 28 April 1949
History
France
Name: Scorpion (A728)
Acquired: 30 November 1944
Fate: sold to Malaysian owners; struck a reef off Cikobia Island, Fiji, 30 July 1978, while under tow from the former Locuste; both ships sunk
General characteristics
Class and type: Aloe-class net laying ship
Displacement:
  • 560 long tons (570 t), light
  • 850 long tons (860 t), full
Length: 163 ft 2 in (49.73 m)
Beam: 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m)
Draft: 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Propulsion: direct drive diesel, single propeller
Speed: 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h)
Complement: 48 officers and enlisted
Armament:
  • 1 × single 3"/50 gun mount
  • 2 × 20 mm (0.79 in) guns

USS Yew (YN-32/AN-37) was an Aloe-class net laying ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was later transferred to the French Navy as Scorpion (A728). She was sold to Malaysian owners but sank while under tow from the former French ship Locuste (A765) when that ship struck a reef off Cikobia Island, Fiji, on 30 July 1978 and also sank.

Career

Yew (YN-37) was laid down on 22 May 1941 at Camden, New Jersey, by John H. Mathis & Company; launched on 4 October 1941; sponsored by Miss Alice E. Morgan, daughter of Comdr. A. L. Morgan, USN (Ret.); and placed in service on 1 July 1942.

Records for Yew's service are practically nonexistent. The fragmentary evidence available shows that the ship was reclassified AN-37 on 1 January 1944. The net tender was ultimately decommissioned at Oran, Algeria, on 30 November 1944 and simultaneously transferred to the French Navy under lend-lease.

She served as Scorpion (A728) until she was nominally returned by the French on 21 March 1949 but was sold outright to the French on the same day. Her American name, Yew, was struck from the Navy List on 28 April 1949.

Scorpion served the French Navy into the mid-1970s before she was sunk at Cikobia Island, Fiji, 30 July 1978.

References


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