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LEE A. TREGURTHA Vessel dithoush the Lee A. Tregurtha, since 1976 the longest steam-powered the Gre at Lakes, recently relinquished that crown - thanks Spotli ht © in new twin diesels now installed below deck - the World War II —_——__—_———_-veteran still has quite a story to tel aid down as the tanker Samoset ‘at Bethlehem Steel Company's Sparrows Point, Md., yard during the early years of World War II, the U.S. Maritime Commission soon took over the vessel's construction, designating the tanker as a type T3-S-A1 hull. Launched in mid-1942, the U.S. Navy — the 501-footer and commissioned her USS Chiwawa (AO-68) on Christmas Eve of that ye: jawa was seopedl to transatlantic convoy duties that included fueling escort ships and building fuel reserves required for the invasions and Normandy and Southern France. While serving as such, one of the convoys to which she was attached underwent several U-boat attacks, including one from U-167, which fired a four-t torpedo spread into the convoy, two of which passed harmlessly underneath the Chiwawa. She battle star for her rt of this convoy. Chiwawa was awarded a second battle star a events occurring on a voyage from Mers-El-Kehir, Algeria to Naples, Italy in August The first half of 1945 was spent pees out of Bermuda refueling vessels in the area, along with other East Coast, Gulf Coast and Canobean activities, and she was present in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, during surr in May 1946 and stricken from the U.S. Navy registry later that year. Though the war years, the Chiwawa traveled about 164,000 miles carrying about 2.8 million barrels of various whic! transferred at sea to other vessels. The tanker was sold by the U.S. Maritime Commission to Cities Service Oil Co.in 1947. Still under the name Chiwawa, the vessel returned to civilian duties, sailing uneventfully for her new ‘owner until early 1960, when the Cleveland- a the tanker for conversion to a Great Lakes ore carrier. American Ship Building at Lorain, Ohio, cut off the bow and stern, scrapping the old midbody. A new, 510-foot midbody was built by Schlieker-Werft in Germany and towed to Lorain for insertion between the salvaged bow and stern sections, creating a new 730- foot bulk carrier with a 25,600 ton napa. srl Cliffs chtened) hg vessel Walter A. Sterling in 1963. In 1976, the bulker was | 96 feet by Al yard, increasing her capacity to 30,592 tons and, in 1978, she was eral toa ay Mloader by the same yard, reducing her capacity slightly. In late 1984, the Sterling was acquired by Ford Motor Company's subsidiary Rouge Steel Company, which renamed her William Clay Ford (2) prior to the beginning of the 1985 navigation season. Four years later, the Ford was sold to Lakes Shipping Co., a division of the Interlake Steamship Co. of Richfield, Ohio, which renamed the vessel Lee A. Tregurtha in the spring of 1989. During the Lee A. Tregurtha as she appears today. (Roger LeLievre) 58 KYS ‘06