The USS Namekagon

My place up north is near the Namekagon River.  A nice stream I've canoed it on numerous occasions and have helped with fish surveys there twice.  It is quite scenic, and is named after a Native American chief who lived in the area and supposedly had a stash of silver nuggets that was never found after his death.  

But it is not exceptional - I actually waded across it last deer hunting season - so I was surprised recently to learn that a ship was named after it during World War Two.

The USS Namekagon was (see below, maybe still is!) a smallish tanker of the Patapsco class.  Only 1850 tons empty and a bit over 4000 fully loaded they were built for the US Navy to shuttle gasoline between various island outposts.  They were mostly named after small rivers and were commissioned late enough in the war that they did not see any real action.  The Namekagon for instance had just finished her shakedown cruise and arrived at Pearl Harbor when the war ended.

This class of ships is unusual in that many were built about as far from salt water as you can get in North America....on a backwater of the Minnesota River.  Specifically at Savage Minnesota, at the barge terminal known as Port Cargill.  In an age where we seem to have difficulty getting things done competently we look back and marvel at the fact that a bunch of barge mechanics built a class of 23 ocean going ships.  Here is the Namekagon as it made its way down the Mississippi River after its launching.

When the war ended a lot of surplus ships headed straight to the Mothball Navy or the breakers yards.  But these little tankers were pretty versatile.  The career of the Namekagon is a good example. 

After the end of the war she spent 18 months shuttling fuel to the far flung islands of the Pacific.  Then in 1947 she underwent a refit before heading to her new base in Kodiak Alaska hauling passengers and freight to stations in the Arctic and down the West Coast.  After a few more years operating out of Pearl Harbor again she went into reserve in 1957.

In 1962 she was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy and given the name HMNS Endeavour.  Now she headed to the Antarctic delivering fuel to bases there until 1971.

That same year she was leased to the Republic of China's navy and renamed again, as the ROCS Lung Chuan.  The Taiwanese eventually purchased her outright and kept her going until she was decommissioned again in 2005.  Her final disposition is said to be "unknown", so there is a slim chance that the Namekagon is still out there as an aged tramp steamer!  The first ship in the class, the USS Patapsco was converted to a fishing trawler is said to still be afloat and in use.