USS Cherokee (ID-458)

USS Cherokee was a tugboat built in 1891 by John H. Dialogue & Sons in Camden, New Jersey, as Edgar F. Luckenbach (later renamed Luckenbach No. 2). The ship was purchased by the United States Navy and delivered at New York on 12 October 1917; and commissioned on 5 December 1917. She was renamed Cherokee, the third US Navy ship of that name, after the Cherokee Native American tribe, and given the identification number 458.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Cherokee.
Luckenbach Number 2 (American Tug, 1891) In port, probably when inspected by the Third Naval District in 1917.
History
United States
Name: USS Cherokee (ID-458)
Namesake: Cherokee
Builder: John H. Dialogue & Sons
Laid down: As Edgar F. Luckenbach
Launched: 1891
Acquired: 12 October 1917
Commissioned: 5 December 1917
Fate: Sank 26 February 1918
General characteristics
Type: Tug
Displacement: 272 long tons (276 t)
Length: 120 ft (37 m)
Beam: 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Draft: 15 ft (4.6 m)
Speed: 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Complement: 42
Armament: 1 × 3 in (76 mm) gun

Outfitted for distant service at New York and at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Cherokee cleared Newport, Rhode Island on 24 February 1918 for Washington, D.C. On 26 February, in a heavy gale, she foundered about 12 miles off Fenwick Island Light Vessel, with the loss of 30 of her crew. The tanker British Admiral rescued 12 survivors, two of whom died before the tanker reached port.

References

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

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