View source for USS Samoset

{{short description|Tugboat of the United States Navy}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Samoset (ATA-190).jpg
|Ship caption= {{USS|Samoset|ATA-190}} underway from Naval Station Norfolk, circa 1963.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header         = 
|Ship country        = United States
|Ship flag           = {{USN flag|1945}}
|Ship name           = {{USS|Samoset|ATA-190}}
|Ship namesake       = 
|Ship ordered        = 
|Ship awarded        = 
|Ship builder        = Levingston Shipbuilding Co., Orange, TX
|Ship original cost  = 
|Ship yard number    = 
|Ship way number     = 
|Ship laid down      = 29 September 1944
|Ship launched       = 26 October 1944
|Ship sponsor        = 
|Ship christened     = 
|Ship completed      = 
|Ship acquired       = 
|Ship commissioned   = 1 January 1945
|Ship decommissioned = 12 September 1969
|Ship recommissioned = 
|Ship maiden voyage  = 
|Ship in service     = 
|Ship out of service = 
|Ship renamed        = 
|Ship reclassified   = Auxiliary Fleet Tug ATA-190,15 May 1944
|Ship refit          = 
|Ship struck         = 1 July 1978
|Ship reinstated     = 
|Ship homeport       = 
|Ship identification = 
|Ship motto          = 
|Ship nickname       = 
|Ship honors         = 
|Ship fate           = Transferred, cash sale, to Haiti under the Security Assistance Program, 1 October 1978
|Ship notes          = 
|Ship badge          = 
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=Haiti
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Haiti|naval}}
|Ship name= ''Henri Christophe''
|Ship namesake= [[Henri Christophe]]
|Ship acquired=1 October 1978 (purchase)
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship decommissioned= 
|Ship homeport= 
|Ship identification=MM20
|Ship recommissioned= 
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=Removed from service as of 1993
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header         = 
|Header caption      = 
|Ship class          = {{sclass|Sotoyomo|tugboat}}
|Ship type           = 
|Ship tonnage        = 
|Ship displacement   = 534 t.(lt) 835 t.(fl)
|Ship length         = {{convert|143|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam           = {{convert|33|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship height         = 
|Ship draft          = {{convert|13|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth          = 
|Ship hold depth     = 
|Ship decks          = 
|Ship deck clearance = 
|Ship ramps          = 
|Ship ice class      = 
|Ship power          = 
|Ship propulsion     = diesel-electric engines, single screw
|Ship speed          = {{convert|13|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range          = 
|Ship endurance      = 
|Ship boats          = 
|Ship capacity       = 
|Ship complement     = 45
|Ship sensors        = 
|Ship EW             = 
|Ship armament       = *one single [[3"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}]] dual purpose gun mount
*two twin [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm]] AA gun mounts
|Ship armor          = 
|Ship notes          = 
}}
|}
ATA-190, originally projected as ATR-117, was laid down on 29 September 1944 by the Levingston Shipbuilding Co., [[Orange, Texas]]; launched on 26 October 1944; and commissioned on 1 January 1945.

Following shakedown, ATA-190, an auxiliary ocean tug, proceeded to [[Panama]]; thence, with YN-108 in tow, continued on to [[Pearl Harbor]]. Arriving on 4 March, she departed 10 days later; and, on 9 April, she delivered her tows, a YF and a barge, to [[Guam]]. Joining ServRon 10 there, she got underway again on the 20th; and, by the end of the month, had delivered a pontoon barge to [[Kenmu Wan]], [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]]. On 3 May, she shifted to the [[Hagushi]] anchorage. On the 5th, she proceeded to [[Kerama Retto]]. On the 6th, she sailed southeast; and, during the remaining months of [[World War II]], she took tows from the [[Caroline Islands|Carolines]] and the [[New Hebrides]] to the [[Philippines]] and, from the latter, escorted a convoy of landing craft to Okinawa.

When the war ended in mid-August, the ATA was at [[San Pedro Bay, Philippines]]. In early September, she moved up to Okinawa again, then proceeded to [[Japan]], anchoring off [[Wakayama, Wakayama|Wakayama]] on the 8th. For the next month, she assisted the minecraft sweeping the entrance to [[Kii Suido]] and participated in harbor clearance salvage operations in the wake of a typhoon. In October, she shifted to [[Nagoya]]; again assisted in opening shipping lanes to peacetime traffic, then commenced guide-and-pilot-vessel duties in that area.

In December, ATA-190 shifted to [[United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka|Yokosuka]]; assisted in rebuilding facilities there; and, in March 1946, she got underway for the [[United States]]. Steaming via Okinawa, [[Peleliu]], [[Subic Bay]], and Pearl Harbor, she arrived in [[San Francisco Bay]] on 29 July; transited the [[Panama Canal]] in mid-September; and moored at [[Norfolk, Virginia]] on the 26th.

The ATA, assigned to the [[10th Naval District]], commenced towing operations out of [[Puerto Rico]] at the end of October. For the next three years, she operated primarily in the [[Caribbean]], with occasional tows to, and temporary duty at, ports on the southeast coast of the United States. Named ''Samoset'' on 16 July 1948, she was assigned to the [[5th Naval District]] in November 1949 and arrived at her new homeport, Norfolk, in mid-December. From that time, through the 1950s, and until August 1969, she provided towing services for that district; for various commands of the Atlantic Fleet; and in support of Office of Naval Research and Oceanographic Office projects.

On 12 August 1969, ''Samoset'' was ordered inactivated. A month later, on 12 September, she was decommissioned at Norfolk; and, on 3 December 1970, she was transferred to the custody of the Maritime Administration and berthed in the James River as a unit of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, where she remained until being sold to [[Haiti]] on 1 October 1978 as '''Henri Christophe'''.

ATA-190 earned one battle star for World War II service.

==References==
* {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s3/samoset-iii.htm}}
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/38/38190.htm NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive USS Samoset (ATA-190)]

{{Sotoyomo class tug}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samoset}}
[[Category:1944 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Orange, Texas]]
[[Category:Sotoyomo-class tugs]]
[[Category:Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Haitian Navy]]