Wallacut

(YTB-420: dp. 345 (f.); 1. 100'0", b. 25'0"; dr. 9'7";
s. 12 k.; cpl. 8; cl. Sassaba)

Wallacut (YTB-420) was laid down on 14 August 1944 by the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, MD. launched on 28 October 1944, sponsored by Miss Sally Koshorek, completed on 23 March 1945; delivered to the Navy and placed in service on 31 March 1945.

The large harbor tug departed Curtis Bay on 8 April 1945 and, after stops at Norfolk, Charleston, Miami, Key West, New Orleans, and Balboa in the Canal Zone reached Eniwetok on 21 July. She remained there for two weeks; then moved on—via Guam and Saipan—to Okinawa where she arrived on 3 September, the day after Japan's formal surrender ceremony. She served at Okinawa until June 1947 when she headed, via Guam and Kwajalein, to Pearl Harbor where she was placed out of service, in reserve, in August.

Wallacut remained in reserve until American involvement in the Korean conflict increased the Navy's need for active ships. The tug returned to active service on 11 August 1950 and departed Pearl Harbor for the Far East on 3 October. After stops at Kwajalein Guam, and Sasebo, the tug reached Korean waters on 16 November. She served at Hungnam in December during the evacuation of United Nations troops following the intervention of Chinese communist troops. At the completion of her part in that operation, the tug stopped over at Pusan briefly before returning to Sasebo on the 27th.

Records of her service for the period following December 1950 are almost nonexistent. All that is known is that she continued to be listed as an active unit of the 1st Fleet until 1960 when she was assigned to the Commander, Naval Forces, Far East. Perhaps she might have spent the interim in the Orient, her 1st Fleet assignment notwithstanding. Within a year though, she was reassigned simply to the Pacific Fleet and her duty location or locations are unrecorded. In February 1962, she was redesignated a medium harbor tug, YTM-420. As such, the tug continued to serve the Pacific Fleet until January 1973, when she was placed in reserve and berthed at Guam in the Marianas. After three years of inactivity at Guam, she was struck from the Navy list in June 1976. As of April 1977 she was slated to be sold sometime that summer.