USS Pinola (ATA-206)

Ex-Pinola in South Korean Naval service as ROKS Do Bong (ATA-3) moored pierside, date and location unknown.
History
United States
Builder	Gulfport Boiler and Welding Works, Port Arthur, TX
Reclassified	Auxiliary Fleet Tug ATA-206, 15 May 1944
Laid down	26 October 1944
Launched	14 December 1944
Commissioned	USS ATA-206, 10 February 1945
Decommissioned	4 October 1946
Renamed	Pinola (ATA-206), 16 June 1948
Recommissioned	10 January 1949
Decommissioned	6 April 1956
Fate	Transferred under the Military Assistance Program to South Korea, 2 February 1962
South Korea
Name	ROKS Do Bong (ATA-3)
Acquired	2 February 1962
Decommissioned	1970s
Fate	Unknown
General characteristics
Class and type	Sotoyomo-class auxiliary fleet tug
Displacement	534 t.(Long tons) 835 t. Full load
Length	143 ft (44 m)
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Draft	13 ft (4.0 m)
Propulsion	diesel-electric engines, single screw
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	45
Armament	1 × single 3"/50 caliber gun mount 2 × twin 40 mm AA gun mounts

The USS Pinola (ATA-206) was a Sotoyomo-class auxiliary fleet tug launched in 1945 and serving until 1956. The ship was transferred to the Republic of Korea in 1962.

The ship was planned and authorized as Rescue Ocean Tug ATR-133 but redesignated "Auxiliary Fleet Tug ATA-206" on 15 May 1944.^[1] The hull was laid down by the Gulfport Shipbuilding Corporation, Port Arthur, Texas 26 October 1944; launched 14 December 1944; and commissioned as ATA-206 10 February 1945.

ATA-206 completed shakedown 10 March 1945, then steamed to Gulfport, Mississippi to pick up YF-754 for towing to San Diego. Thence she proceeded to Hawaii and departed Pearl Harbor 11 May towing AED-21 to Guam. She sailed from Apra Harbor 5 July to operate from Chimu Wan Harbor, Okinawa, where she arrived with a dump scow and another barge in tow the 15th. Towing and salvage operations in the vicinity of Buckner Bay kept her busy for the remainder of the war. On 22 July she salvaged an Army dredge off a coral reef in Buckner Bay and later refloated a gasoline tanker aground on a coral reef in Chimu Wan Harbor.

She sailed for Subic Bay in the Philippines 30 January 1946, and picked up a lend-lease dredge for towing to Melbourne, Australia. On 20 February, while being towed, that dredge sank of an unknown cause and the tug returned to San Pedro Bay in Leyte Gulf. Here she took YD-121 in tow for a long voyage past the Marianas and Marshall Islands to Pearl Harbor.

She returned to San Diego and decommissioned 4 October 1946. She was named Pinola 16 June 1948.

Pinola recommissioned 10 January 1949 and was assigned to Service Squadron 1, U.S. Pacific Fleet, to serve primarily towing target sleds for surface gunnery exercises for the Fleet Training Group based at San Diego, Calif. This service was interrupted by a cruise to Sasebo, Japan for operations in Service Squadron 3, 2 August 1954 – 27 March 1955.

The Pinola was decommissioned on 6 April 1956 and was transferred to the Republic of Korea on 2 February 1962 under the Military Assistance Program, and served into the 1970s as ROKS Do Bong (ATA-3). Her ultimate fate is unknown.

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.