USS Monomoy (AG-40)
 USS Monomoy (AG-40) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
  United States | |
| Name: | USS Monomoy |
| Namesake: | A point and island off the west coast of Cape Cod in Nantucket Shoals |
| Owner: |
1918:United States Shipping Board before 1941: Steel Products Transportation Company, Buffalo, New York |
| Builder: | Globe Shipbuilding Company, Duluth, Minnesota |
| Yard number: | 104 |
| Launched: | 29 August 1918 as Lake Arline |
| Completed: | October 1918 |
| Acquired: | 15 September 1941 as J. Floyd Massey, Jr. |
| Commissioned: | 24 December 1941 as USS Monomoy (AG-40) |
| Recommissioned: | as USCGC Monomoy (WPC-275) |
| Decommissioned: | 22 October 1943 |
| Renamed: | Monomoy, 15 October 1941 |
| Struck: | 30 October 1943 |
| Fate: | scrapped, 1951 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | commercial cargo ship |
| Displacement: | 2,580 tons |
| Length: | 261 ft (80 m) |
| Beam: | 43 ft 6 in (13.26 m) |
| Draft: | 18 ft (5.5 m) |
| Installed power: | triple expansion reciprocating steam engine |
| Propulsion: | 1,200 shp (890 kW) single shaft |
| Speed: | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 70 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
1 × 4"/50 single gun mount 4 × .50 cal. machine guns 2 × depth charge projectors |
USS Monomoy (AG-40) was a commercial cargo ship acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was outfitted with guns and depth charges and sent into the dangerous waters of the North Atlantic Ocean to report on weather conditions and to act as escort vessel when required. She was manned by a U.S. Coast Guard crew and was eventually transferred to that agency as USCGC Monomoy (WAG-275).
Built in Duluth, Minnesota
Monomoy (AG-40) was built in 1918 by Globe Shipbuilding Co., Duluth, Minnesota; acquired as J. Floyd Massey, Jr 15 September 1941 from Steel Products Transportation Company, Buffalo, New York; renamed Monomoy 15 October 1941; and commissioned 24 December 1941.
World War II Navy service
Monomoy, manned and operated by the U.S. Coast Guard, joined the Weather Patrol, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, in 1942. From her base at Boston, Massachusetts, she periodically sailed to weather stations 1 and 2, where she provided weather reports vital for the safety of convoys and air commerce.
Operating in dangerous waters, she made frequent contact with marauding submarines. Attacked by a Nazi U-boat 24 July, she returned fire, damaging the submarine, forcing it to break off action.
She continued patrolling the North Atlantic for the next 15 months, and despite enemy harassment and rough seas, was able to render valuable service to those crossing the Atlantic.
Transferred to the Coast Guard
She was formally transferred to the Coast Guard 22 October 1943, and stricken from the Naval Register 30 October. Redesignated WAG-275, Monomoy served the Coast Guard through the remainder of the war and was then transferred to the U.S. Maritime Commission. She was scrapped in 1951.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Photo gallery of Monomoy at NavSource Naval History