Waxsaw AN-91

Waxsaw

(AN-91: d. 785, 1. 168'6", b. 33'10", dr. 10'10", s.
12.3 k.; cpl. 46; a. 1 3"; cl. Cohoes)

Waxsaw (AN-91)—originally classified as YN-120 —was laid down on 31 May 1944 at Duluth, Minn., by the Zenith Dredge Co., launched on 15 September 1944 sponsored by Mrs. J. L. Conlon, wife of the general manager of the Zenith Dredge Co. shipyard; and commissioned on 6 May 1945, Lt. Kearny R. Garrison, USNR, in command.

The new netlaying ship sailed for Boston, Mass., on 11 May, and arrived there on the 29th, after steaming via Cleveland, Ohio, Ogdensburg, N.Y., the St. Lawrence Seaway; Cornwall, Ontario, Montreal and Quebec, Quebec Province; and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Following shakedown out of Melville, R.I., from 13 to 30 June, the netlayer put into Boston for post-shakedown availability.

Waxsaw headed for the Panama Canal on 10 July, expecting her ultimate destination to be Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. However, upon her arrival at the Small Craft Training Center, San Pedro, Calif. she was ordered to the Naval Net Depot and Training School, Tiburon Bay, Calif., for 18 days of refresher training. Arriving there on 10 August, the ship remained in the San Francisco region on temporary duty in connection with the removal of the net line protecting San Francisco after the Japanese surrender in mid-August. Completing that duty on 24 September Waxsaw underwent an availability at Alameda, Calif before she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet.

On 12 October 1945, the netlayer headed for the east coast in company with sistership Tunxis (AN-90). Attached to Service Force, Atlantic Fleet, on 3 November, Waxsaw operated at Green Cove Springs, Fla., establishing moorings at the St. John's River area for the Reserve Fleet units until late in 1949, when she was shifted to her new home port of Norfolk, VA.

Based there at the time of the outbreak of the Korean War in the summer of 1950, Waxsaw not only took part in extensive netlaying operations in Hampton Roads but also towed targets and participated in various training exercises in ensuing months.

For the next nine years, Waxsaw operated with the Atlantic Fleet off the eastern seaboard of the United States, ranging from Nova Scotia to Key West. Her home ports during this time included Norfolk, Key West, and Charleston. During those years, Waxsaw performed a variety of service functions; participated in mine-hunting exercises, laid nets and buoys during Atlantic Fleet amphibious exercises including amphib" ious maneuvers off Onslow Beach, N.C., cleared objects from the channel entrance at Hampton Roads, and even briefly operated at Charleston as a salvage vessel equipped with compressors, a recompression chamber and other deep-sea diving gear. She also took part in NATO exercises off Nova Scotia and served at the Mine Defense Laboratory at Panama City, Fla.

Decommissioned on 23 March 1960, Waxsaw was ultimately transferred under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program to Venezuela in October 1963. Renamed Puerto Miranda (H-30), the netlayer served with the Venezuelan Navy as a survey ship into the late 1970's. Struck from the Navy list in December 1977, the ship was deleted from the Venezuelan Navy list apparently soon thereafter.