Trabajador (1931)

Trabajador was a 111 foot (33.8 m) tug launched in 1931 by Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Co., Ltd. for Visayan Stevedore-Transportation Company and registered as a United States vessel in Iloilo, Philippines.[1]

History
Name: Trabajador
Owner: Visayan Stevedore-Transportation Co.[1]
Port of registry: Iloilo, Philippines (United States registry)[1]
Builder: Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Co., Ltd., Hong Kong[1]
Launched: 1931[1]
Identification: ON 181513[1]
Honours and
awards:		 1 Battle Stars
Notes: Commandeered by United States Navy and assigned to the 16th Naval District on 13 December 1941.[2]
General characteristics
Type: Tug[1]
Tonnage: 249 GRT[1]
Length: 111 feet 0 inches (33.8 m)[1]
Beam: 26 feet 1 inch (8.0 m)[1]
Draft: 10 feet 6 inches (3.2 m)[1]
Decks: 1[1]
Installed power: 131 NHP[1]
Propulsion: 6 cyl. Diesel, Union Diesel Engineering Co., Oakland, California[1]

Commercial service

In 1935 the Trabajador took part in a rescue of survivors from British freighter Silver Hazel that was wrecked in San Bernardino Strait. Fifty-two of the fifty-four passengers and crew aboard were rescued.[3][note 1]

United States Navy service

The tug was commandeered by United States Navy and assigned to the 16th Naval District on 13 December 1941 under command of Lt. (jg.) Trose E. Donaldson, USNR as the war came to the Philippines.[2] Although the tug was not formally commissioned by the U.S. Navy, it still served in Manila Bay with the Base Section of the Navy's Inshore Patrol.[2]

Trabajador, assisted by the USS Finch, dumped unused mines into Manila Bay as Corregidor came under air attack on 29 December 1941 and continued the operation through the next day.[4] With the move of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three to Sisiman Bay[note 2] on the Bataan Peninsula the tug became tender to the PT boat squadron.[2][5] For a brief time the tug was the "luxury" vessel for the PTs with a real galley, wardroom and even a mess boy that baked pies.[6] After the squadron had left with General MacArthur as a passenger thirty-two men were left behind including Lt. (jg.) Edward G. DeLong who assumed command of Trabajador on 25 February 1942.[7] DeLong himself left Corregidor 2 May and made it to Mindanao where he was later captured and executed in prison camp.[8]

Trabajador, likely sunk by fire delivered from Japanese artillery near Corregidor, was awarded a battle star.[2]

Postwar

The tug remained on the bottom of Manila Bay until after the end of World War II. When the ship was salvaged it was renamed Resolute and continued operations in the Philippines into the late 1970s.[2]

Footnotes
  1. U.S. destroyers USS Bulmer and USS Peary are also mentioned in the news article. In another article, the coastwise Philippine vessel Governor Taft and Japanese Chicago (Chicago Maru (1910)) are mentioned.
  2. "Sisiman Cove" in U.S. Naval references of the time, but now geographically known as "Sisiman Bay" just to the east of Mariveles. 14.425485°N 120.526927°E / 14.425485; 120.526927

References
  1. Lloyd's Register 1933–34.
  2. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Trabajador.
  3. Daily Trojan 1935.
  4. Cressman 1999, 1941, 29 December.
  5. White 1942, p. 91.
  6. Smith 2005, p. 174.
  7. Smith 2005, pp. 139, 174.
  8. Smith 2005, p. 139.

Sources
  • Cressman, Robert J. (1999). "The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II". Contemporary History Branch, Naval Historical Center (now Naval History & Heritage Command). Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  • "Destroyers Save Survivors of Boat Wreck". Daily Trojan. 27 (37). 13 November 1945. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  • Naval History And Heritage Command. "Trabajador". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  • Lloyds. "Lloyd's Register 1933–34" (PDF). Lloyd's Register (through PlimsollShipData). Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  • Smith, George W. (2005). MacArthur's Escape : John "Wild Man" Bulkeley and the Rescue of an American Hero. St Paul, MN: Zenith Press. LCCN 2005298302.
  • White, William L. (1942). They Were Expendable. London: H. Hamilton. LCCN 43008243.
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