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USNS Catawba (T-ATF 168)

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USNS CATAWBA is the third POWHATAN - class ocean tug.

The CATAWBA is equipped with a 10-ton capacity crane and a bollard pull of at least 54 tons. A deck grid is fitted aft which contains 1 inch bolt receptacles spaced 24 inches apart. This allows for the bolting down of a wide variety of portable equipment. There are two GPH fire pumps supplying three fire monitors with up to 2,200 gallons of foam per minute. A deep module can be embarked to support naval salvage teams.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USNS CATAWBA. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

• Click here to view the list.

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USNS CATAWBA History:

USNS CATAWBA entered service with the Military Sealift Command at a moment when the Navy was modernizing its ocean-going tug and salvage capability for global, sustained operations. Laid down at Marinette, Wisconsin, on December 14, 1977, launched on September 22, 1979, and delivered to the Navy on May 28, 1980, the POWHATAN-class tug was built around twin 20-cylinder EMD diesels, controllable-pitch propellers in Kort nozzles, and a deep-after deck fitted to accept portable salvage systems. From the outset she combined high bollard pull with precise low-speed handling, and her embarked crews - civil service mariners with embarked Navy detachments as required - used that combination to move damaged ships, support diving operations, and provide a mobile platform for specialized equipment.

In the early 1980s, CATAWBA ranged widely across the Pacific in support of fleet operations and exercises, demonstrating her utility as a mobile tug and salvage base. In March 1983, she took part in the major U.S.-Republic of Korea spring exercise cycle, reflecting the Navy's focus on readiness and alliance assurance on the Korean Peninsula during a period of heightened regional tensions. The following years saw a mix of towing, range support, and logistics tasks throughout the Western Pacific.

One of CATAWBA's most photographed missions came in 1986 at Subic Bay in the Philippines. In the summer of that year, she towed the decommissioned submarine ex-GRAYBACK (LPSS 574) from the anchorage to a sink-exercise area in the South China Sea, the hull painted bright orange for conspicuity before its final use as a target. The evolution highlighted the tug's ability to control large, unpowered hulls in confined waters and through coastal traffic lanes.

After the end of the Cold War, CATAWBA's tasking increasingly reflected the Navy's growing emphasis on regional crises, humanitarian response, and maritime security. In April 1993, she moored at Mombasa, Kenya, to embark a containerized deep-ocean recovery system for operations off Somalia during the United Nations mission there. Acting as the at-sea hub for a Navy deep-submergence vehicle and embarked divers, she supported the search and recovery of a U.S. Marine Corps CH-46E SEA KNIGHT that had crashed offshore. The wreckage was brought to the surface on May 1, 1993. The work required precise station-keeping, careful rigging, and around-the-clock diving support in marginal sea states, and it illustrated how the MSC tug could be rapidly configured for specialized salvage.

CATAWBA's forward presence in the Arabian Gulf placed her at the center of several high-profile contingencies in 2000. On August 23, 2000, after GULF AIR FLIGHT 072 crashed into the sea near Bahrain during a go-around, Bahraini authorities requested U.S. assistance. CATAWBA and other Fifth Fleet units supported the response with divers, small craft, and at-sea logistics while local services led recovery and investigation in shallow waters close to the airport approach. Two months later, as the investigation into the terrorist attack on USS COLE (DDG 67) concluded in Aden, Yemen, CATAWBA executed the critical open-ocean tow on October 29, 2000, bringing the damaged destroyer clear of the harbor to rendezvous with the heavy-lift ship BLUE MARLIN for transport to the United States.

During the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom in early 2003, CATAWBA operated in the Northern Arabian Gulf as part of the coalition's maritime support and security posture. The ship provided towing and standby salvage coverage for the surge of combatants and auxiliaries operating in constrained waters, while embarked Navy divers supported coalition requirements as needed during the intense air and maritime campaign around the Al-Faw Peninsula and approaches to the Shatt al-Arab.

As the U.S. Navy and regional partners shifted toward sustained maritime security cooperation later in the decade, CATAWBA became a routine participant in multilateral exercises in the Gulf. From May 12-14, 2008, she joined EXERCISE GOALKEEPER III alongside U.S., Bahraini, British, New Zealand, Emirati and Qatari ships, working formation maneuvering, maritime security procedures, and command-and-control integration. In February 2009, after the release of the hijacked cargo ship MV FAINA by Somali pirates, CATAWBA provided fuel and fresh water at sea and supported the humanitarian inspection conducted by escorting U.S. forces while the merchant vessel prepared to continue to port.

By the early 2010s, the tug was a familiar fixture in U.S. FIFTH FLEET's mine countermeasures and salvage ecosystem. In May 2013, she appeared in imagery of the INTERNATIONAL MINE COUNTERMEASURES EXERCISE, working alongside U.S. and partner MCM forces to validate tactics for ensuring the free flow of commerce through the region's constrained straits. In October-November 2014, she served as a platform for mine warfare validation work during regional events, including towing evolutions and support to diver and unmanned systems detachments.

CATAWBA's salvage pedigree was underscored again in mid-2015. On July 22, 2015, following the loss of a U.S. Navy F/A-18F SUPER HORNET into the Gulf, the tug served as the primary surface platform for the recovery evolution, embarking Navy diving and salvage teams and lifting gear to locate and raise wreckage in deep, warm, high-salinity waters. The operation demanded careful deck management to handle heavy-lift gear and continuous small-boat operations.

Through these years, she maintained a forward base at Manama, Bahrain, under Military Sealift Command Central, enabling rapid response anywhere from the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea. Routine periods of voyage maintenance and pierside repair in Bahrain or regional yards punctuated the tempo of exercises, towing assignments, and contingency support, keeping the tug's propulsion, towing winches, and crane systems ready for short-notice tasking.

Although Navy planning documents announced intent to inactivate the class by the early 2020s, CATAWBA remained active thereafter, reflecting continuing demand for a robust, adaptable ocean-going tug with the deck space and stability to host modular salvage systems and embarked dive teams. Into the mid-2020s, she continued to appear in Fifth Fleet imagery and exercise documentation, a reminder that even in an era of unmanned systems and networked fleets, a powerful tug with a trained crew and the right gear retains unique value when ships must be moved, wreckage recovered, or specialized maritime work done in difficult conditions.

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