The first USS Whippoorwill was named for the ?Whippoorwill,? a small nocturnal bird common to the eastern United States, so-called for its reiterated cry. This Lapwing Class Minesweeper was designated Minesweeper No. 35. Her keel was laid down on 12 December 1917 at Mobile, Ala., by the Alabama Dry-dock and Shipbuilding Co. She was 187'10" in length, 35'5" across the beam, had a 8?10? draft and displacement of 950 tons. Whippoorwill was propelled by a triple expansion reciprocating steam engine with two Babcock and Wilcox boilers on a single shaft. Her crew was comprised of 78 men and officers. The Whippoorwill was launched on 4 July 1918, being sponsored by Miss M. I. Evans, and commissioned on 1 April 1919, with Lt. Birney 0. Halliwill in command. Nicknamed the ?Whip? by her captain and crew, she was equipped both for mining and minesweeping, and could carry mines on her mine tracks. After fitting out, Whippoorwill departed Boston on 3 July 1919, arriving at Kirkwall, Scotland on July 14, 1919 where she participated in the clearing of the North Sea Mine Barrage as part of Division 3, Minesweeping Squadron, Atlantic Fleet. Hair-trigger mines and frequent foul weather made sweeping the barrage a difficult and dangerous mission; but, by late in the autumn of 1919, the task was completed by a miscellaneous group of new minesweepers, chartered trawlers, and submarine chasers. While participating in North Sea mine clearing operations Whippoorwill spent 63 days minesweeping accounting for 1,132 mines while steaming 8,980 miles. Returning to the United States in November 1919, Whippoorwill was later assigned to the Pacific Fleet. Having been classified as AM-35 on 17 July 1920, the minesweeper arrived at Pearl Harbor, her new homeport, on 1 March 1921. She would operate out of that base for the next 20 years, with brief periods spent as station ship at Pago Pago, Samoa, between 1931 and 1934. On January 10, 1934 Whippoorwill along with USS Schenk (DD-159), USS Breese (DM-18), USS Sandpiper (AM-51), USS Wright (AZ-I) and USS Pelican (AM-27), shared the duty of observation ships stationed at 300-mile intervals along the 2,400-mile great circle course between San Francisco and Hawaii. At approximately 2025 the six planes of Sea Plane Squadron VP-10 passed overhead, stacked in dual chevron formation. Whippoorwill's prime duty was service to the Fleet. Besides filling the role for which she was designed? sweeping and laying drill mines and recovering them for reuse ?upon occasion she towed targets and plane-guarded. Each sweep had a gunnersmate that stayed aboard ship but who worked daily refurbishing these drill mines in a building at the submarine base at Pearl Harbor where the mine school was located. Noteworthy highlights of her Pearl Harbor-based deployment came in the early 1920's, when she participated in surveys of various and sundry Pacific islands. In July 1923, for example, Whippoorwill?together with her sistership Tanager (AM-5)?accomplished the first survey of Johnston Island in modern times. During that cruise, she carried members of the joint expedition sponsored by the Department of Agriculture and the Bishop Museum of Hawaii. She also carried a Douglas DT-2 floatplane on her fantail, hoisting it into the water so that it could take off for aerial survey and mapping flights over Johnston. A little over a year later, in September 1925, the plane's pilot, Lt. Comdr. John Rodgers, would win fame as a member of the crew of the PN-9 flying boat. Whippoorwill made other cruises, carrying members of ornithological surveys to islands such as Kingman Reef, Palmyra, Christmas Island, Jarvis Island, Howland Island, and Baker Island. The islands would later assume importance as transpacific air commerce spread its wings toward the Far East and South Pacific. The monthly pay in the days prior to World War II provided a meager existence to those with families. An apprentice seamen made only $21.00 a month, a first class $84.00, and a permanent chief $103.00 per month. Only 1st class and chiefs were allowed to marry and all wives had to work to make ends meet ? some as bar maids. In 1939 the Whippoorwill was ordered to proceed to Johnson Island with a cargo of civilians and large amounts of supplies to set up a base camp for future expansion. The Whippoorwill spent Christmas of 1939 at Pearl Harbor and the crew was treated to a Christmas Dinner of cream of tomato soup, roasted young turkey, fried chicken, baked ham, candied sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, an assortment of vegetables and condiments, coffee and iced lemonade, mincemeat pie, pumpkin pie, fruit cake and, ice cream. After dinner the crew was given assorted candies, mixed nuts, cigars and cigarettes. During the Whippoorwill?s years at Pearl Harbor she would dock about once a year at the pier in downtown Honolulu. During one visit, as the Whippoorwill was attempting to dock, it?s reciprocating engine stuck on dead center. The ship headed for the pier at a considerable rate of speed. Two four-inch lines were connected to the pier?s cleats and several turns were taken around the ship?s twin bits. As the Whippoorwill headed towards the pier the deck crew surged the lines, smoking them to the point of almost catching fire. They could not halt the Whippoorwill?s forward motion. It hit the pier?s end and according to crew members made a considerable indentation in the which was never repaired and may still be there today. Navy chow has always had a reputation of being good but apparently except for holidays on the Whippoorwill that wasn?t always true. The Navy ration was 65 cents per man per day. Beans were served for breakfast on Wednesdays and Saturdays and often chicken was served that was so old one had to hold their nose to eat it. One crewmember remembers that during one of his mess cooking tours aboard the Whippoorwill the cook sent him forward to the commissary supply hold for a container of flour. He reported back empty handed and when asked where the flour was, he said that the flour was moving in the container. The cook very calmly replied that the flour was loaded with weevils but when cooked, being fresh meat, wouldn?t even be noticed. The mess decks had two long, stainless steel tables on which rubber mats were placed during rough weather to keep the plates from sliding. Some plank owners sat at the ends of the tables to intercept the trays of food sliding by so that they could get the first and largest helping. Those in the middle and ends of the tables received less to eat. This was the Navy ?of old? where petty officers were respected like the disciples of the Lord. When required they used their fists to exert their authority. It was also the days of ?Holystoning.? Each Saturday forenoon, especially in port, the teak deck was wet down with fresh water and then a strong soap solution was spread over the deck with a swab. This was followed by spreading a fine grain sand over an area of about 5 by 15 feet. About six deck hands would lay a half fired brick on the deck on one side of which had a round shallow indentation that had been chiseled by the deck hand. Into this hole a wooden handle was inserted. On command of the coxswain in charge, all would move their stones left, then right, then left, etc. until the deck had been scrubbed about a dozen times. The coxswain would then order the deck hands to shift to an adjacent area until the entire deck was cleaned. However, despite low pay and poor rations life aboard ship was generally good. This is evident, by testament of the following cachets that the crew of the Whippoorwill enjoyed their idyllic peacetime Navy life. Ultimately, however, Whippoorwill's. Hawaiian idyll ended. Refitted and modernized, the minesweeper departed Pearl Harbor on 5 May 1941, bound for the Asiatic Fleet, as war clouds gathered over the Pacific and Far East. During the previous three months the Captain and crew took every measure to insure that the Whippoorwill?s was at maximum readiness for any task within her capabilities. The foremast was removed. A stub mast aft of the bridge was installed. The towing gear was completely removed and modifications were made to the mine tracks to accommodate new equipment. Splinter protection was placed around the two 3? gun mounts, chart house, bridge, and machine guns. Lt. Comdr. Charles A. Ferriter, the ship's commanding officer, had no prior experience with mine laying and sweeping and he and his crew, when not involved in the modernization of the ship, spent most of their free time learning their new craft. Whippoorwill?s class of sweeps each had two 3? 50 caliber guns plus two Thompson submachine guns. They were required to practice yearly with the main battery and each sweep would take a turn towing the target sled. Each ship in the Division left Pearl Harbor at a different time so as assume plane-guard duty at prearranged locations, serving as a direction-finding station for patrol planes winging their way to the Philippines to reinforce the Asiatic Fleet's air wing?Patrol Wing 10. Whippoorwill set a course to pass north of Wake Island. The ships forward motion was ideal for trolling and the crew passed it?s time fishing. More than once enough fish was caught to feed the entire crew. Upon crossing the 180th meridian all newcomers were initiated into ?The Realm of The Golden Dragon.? While enroute each ship hoisted a sail up the stay on the foremast and a smaller sail to the mainmast and the boat boom to help increase speed and save fuel running the old reciprocating engines that each had. On the day that the Whippoorwill approached Wake Island the ship contacted the Pan American station there asking that the aero beacon be turned on during the period from sunset to midnight so that a confirmed position could be obtained. The Whippoorwill, steaming in darkened ship condition picked up the light around 2000 and then not long after the lights of the buildings and ship inside the harbor. Whippoorwill passed by unseen. The time allowed for the Whippoorwill to reach its first station was such that she only had to make 8-knots. This allowed ample time for the crew to continue it?s training and Captain Ferriter, with the knowledge that the ship had spent considerable time in the yard and that many of the crew were new, spent much time giving the crew battle problems. Arriving on station the Whippoorwill laid to waiting for the planes. When they did pass by the planes were about 50 miles out, using the Whippoorwill?s radio signals as a radio beacon for their navigation. The passage to Guam, in the Marianas, was uneventful and the Whippoorwill made her landfall on 23 May on Rota, the Japanese Island to the north of Guam. Prior to taking on a pilot to enter the Agana Harbour the Whippoorwill radioed ahead to the Governor and requested supplies. However, once alongside the pier a young Marine officer came aboard and advised the Captain that the Whippoorwill was to proceed to the Philippines without delay. The ship barely had time to obtain bread from a local bakery and vegetables form the local market. Enroute to Manilla the ship paused briefly to once again take station as plane guard and then set course for the San Bernardino Strait, the entrance to the Embarcodero, the inland passage to Manila ? the same route that centuries earlier was used by the Spanish Galleons carrying goods from the Orient to the Spanish colonies in the Americas. In the early evening of May 29 th the Whippoorwill sighted the light on Corregidor. Manilla Bay was alive with the bright lights of sampans and no red or green channel buoys were anywhere to be seen. To further complicate the Whippoorwill?s arrival a fierce tropical storm came on her so she turned seaward and laid to until it cleared. It turned out to be a long night and it was almost dawn on Sunday, May 30th before she was at her berth inside the breakwater at Cavite. In Manilla she became part of Mine Division 9, Mine Squadron 3, Asiatic Fleet. Mine Division 9 was comprised of the USS QUAIL (AM-15) commanded by Lt. Commander John Henry Morrill, USS TANAGER (AM-5) carrying the Division Flag Commander - Lt. Commander Morrill with Lieutenant Egbert Adolph Roth in command, USS LARK (AM-21) commanded by, Lt. Commander Hugh P. Thomson and USS WHIPPOORWILL (AM-35) commanded Lt. Commander Charles Arthur Ferriter. On May 31st the Whippoorwill moored to the USS Black Hawk for a much needed overhaul period while one by one the other ships in the Division came in. While the ship was being attended to the officers and crew got some much-needed down time, getting to know ?Manilla, Moro for ?the place by the river of flowers.? Typhoon anchorages were assigned to all ships stationed in the vicinity of Manila. During these blows the ships would drag their single anchors so they developed a method of riding to full scope of chain on one anchor and dropping a second anchor to a very short scope down wind from the first anchor. The ships never dragged when using this system. In the ensuing months, Whippoorwill performed a variety of service tasks. She towed targets for the cruisers and destroyers of the Fleet to fire at during battle practices and gunnery shoots, assisted in unmooring and mooring the Fleet's submarine and destroyer tenders from buoys, and conducted similar activities. While the Captain and crew did not mind doing the work, it hurt their pride to use the ?Whip? as a tug. That spring, Whippoorwill operated with Canopus (AS-9) during maneuvers in the Sulu Sea. When released from traveling with Canopus the Whippoorwill went to Zamboanga in Mindanao for liberty and recreation. During her transit through the Basilon Strait the ship found the waters crowded with the vintas of the sea Moros, water gypsies. Each vintas appeared to hold a family and the adults were peddlers with conch shells, sea-bead necklaces, krises, daggers, Moro mats, coconuts, pineapples or even the vintas itself if one were inclined to buy it. The children perched on the edge and floats of the vintas ready to dive for a coin. The crew discovered that they showed particular interest in undershirts and empty 5-gallon tins. The Whippoorwill spent the weekend in Zamboanga and on Monday got underway for Tutu Bay on Jolo through the Celebes Sea. During these port calls liberty was restricted to daylight only. While underway the Whippoorwill spent a lot of time allowing the crew to fish and swim. Anchoring in TuTu Bay that evening the Whippoorwill was on it?s way to Tawi Tawi the next day when it received a radio message to return to Cavite and report to Commander 16th Naval District for duty. The return to Manila in company with the Tanager was perilous especially as they transited the Sulu Archipelago during the night with its poorly shore tended lights. The passages were narrow and dangerous. Two days later the Whippoorwill and Tanager anchored in Canacao Bay. Soon thereafter, she commenced operations with the Inshore Patrol, which carried out a busy slate of operations as the Philippines feverishly prepared for the impending war with Japan. Whippoorwill operated on patrol duties and laid mines?laying a narrow field near Caballo Island, near Corregidor, at the entrance to Manila Bay. She and Tanager also laid the minefield at Subic Bay while operating out of the section base at Olongapo. Minelaying was perilous. Currents were found to be strong and variable. A line of can buoys would be laid to mark the line where the mines would go. Then one ship would start laying mines at the Corregidor end of the line. Another ship would follow shooting holes in the buoys as they passed. The buoys would sink. No one could tell where the mines were laid. After the mine laying was completed the Whippoorwill went to the Verdadero Dockyard across Canacao Bay from Cavite for an overhaul. Although all the unskilled labor and many of the lesser administrative tasks were accomplished by Filipinos, the outcome in the words of Captain Ferriter was ?entirely satisfactory. ? The naval base at Cavite had a long history, having been originally established by the Spaniards when they first settled Manila Bay. The Chinese merchants had godowns on Sangley Point across Canaco Bay from Cavite. The Spaniards called the Chinese "Sangleys." The Chinese sold their merchandise to the Spanish traders for shipment in their galleons. This continued for over 250 years until the American Colonies revolted from Spain. The engineering plant on the Whippoorwill was given a complete overhaul. The boilers were rebricked and the ship was given everything it asked for. With her overhaul completed she returned to duty with Inshore Patrol. Whippoorwill took up patrol duties in the late autumn, frequently alternating with the gunboats Asheville (PG-21) and Tulsa (PG-22). In addition to the minefields laid by the Navy, the Army also had mine fields at the entrance to Manila Bay. The Whippoorwill would take station seaward of the Army minefields and when approached by a vessel wishing entrance would give permission to enter and supply a pilot to any ship entering Manila Bay for the first time. That duty was not without its share of interesting moments. On 22 November, while on patrol station "Cast," Whippoorwill fired four shots across the bow of the sailing vessel Remedio VIII before the vessel hove to. Another time a lumber boat from the Ilocano Coast ran into the mines in the north field and was blown up. There were some passes left for small vessels, which were not mined, and these were patrolled by a small patrol boat. When an unauthorized vessel was detained the Whippoorwill was responsible for seizing the vessel and imprisoning the masters and crews. She later prevented the Army tug Harrison from entering the area and warned off other vessels on the 26th and 28th. Relieved by Tulsa on station on 30 November, Whippoorwill returned to Canacao Bay before she got underway on 3 December for sweeping operations out of Cavite. With as many mines as had been laid in Manila Bay it was crucial to insure that none had drifted into the main ship channel or one of the side channels. Five days later, at 0415 on the morning of 8 December 1941 (7 December east of the International Date Line), Captain Ferriter was handed a message board which read ?Hostilities have commenced with Japan.? The Japanese had unleashed their onslaught against American, British, and Dutch possessions in the Far East and in the Pacific. Soon after receiving the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Captain Ferriter called his crew to quarters and announced the news. Now, after months of escalating tension and feverish preparations for war, the blow had fallen. Within hours, Whippoorwill was underway, commencing her first wartime sweeping operations in Manila Bay. Around noon that day the Whippoorwill and Lark made out an enemy air formation and when it was believed that they were within range, Whippoorwill opened fire, giving the crew it?s first chance to practice loading in sight of the enemy and practice in observing bursts fired at actual planes in formation. The planes left without attacking. On the following day, 9 December, Japanese bombers caught General Douglas MacArthur's Far Eastern Air Force on the ground at its principal fields of Nichols and Clark Fields, destroying it as a viable retaliatory force. Thus, with little in the way of air cover, Cavite? the small, crowded base of operations for the Asiatic Fleet?lay naked to an attack from the sky. That night the Whippoorwill anchored in Mariveles Bay and the next morning she fueld and took on stores making all possible efforts to prepare for extended operations. Men were sent ashore; The Chief Machnist?s Mate had orders to get from commercial concerns spare parts for the Whippoorwill?s engines and the acting Commissary Steward was to get all the food supplies he could obtain. The leading Signalman was in Manila trying to corner the cigarette market as most of the crew smoked and cigarettes were scarce. The C.O. even sent his ?boy? ashore to get his laundry. The Japanese did not wait long to exploit their advantage?at 1230 on 10 December, the air raid alert was broadcast at Cavite. At 1250, the Whippoorwill weighed anchor and stood out to maneuver in Manila Bay, away from the confining waters near Cavite itself. Soon the enemy's high-level bombers were droning overhead, above the effective range of the navy yard's 3-inch batteries; every ship in the harbor opened up with their antiaircraft batteries. In the ensuing action, Whippoorwill claimed assists in splashing two bombers and sending another one crashing on shore nearby. However, the planes that did get through wreaked havoc. Stick after stick of bombs blasted the navy yard?its buildings and docks?explosions reverberated like thunderclaps. Peary (DD-226)?alongside Central Wharf for an overhaul?was hit by a bomb that struck the foremast, snapping it off above the searchlight platform and sending shards of metal down onto the bridge and fire-control platform, killing or wounding nearly every man there?including the commander and his executive officer. Meanwhile, bombs blasted and set afire the torpedo warehouse across the wharf; warheads exploded and burned. Whippoorwill crew noted that when the Cavite Navy Yard torpedo workshop was hit the tin roof blew up so high in the sky that it looked like a postage stamp. Comdr. Ferriter saw Peary's predicament and moved his ship through the burning navy yard and eased Whippoorwill near the destroyer's stern and passed a towline. Braving the burning firebrands from the blazing warehouse, the destroyermen made fast the line, and the minesweeper commenced backing. The towline stretched taut?only to part! Twice more Ferriter's command closed the immobile destroyer, both ships endangered by warheads detonating nearby. Finally, on the third try, the line held; and, with debris showering upon the minesweeper and her crippled charge, Whippoorwill pulled Peary free. Soon thereafter, Whippoorwill moored Peary to a buoy in Manila Bay and took the destroyer's wounded to the hospital at Sangley Point in her motor launch. Later that evening, the minesweeper unmoored from the destroyer and stood out, anchoring for the night farther out in Manila Bay. Interesting enough to note is that one unlucky sailor, SMSN Biagio Furnari, while on an errand ashore, received a blast of shrapnel in his left leg and the next day was forced to stay ashore when the Whippoorwill left Manilla Harbor. Furnari was placed aboard the Tanager until she was sunk by gunfire. He and the few survivors rowed to Corregidor where they fought until its surrender on May 6, 1942. On December 14, 1944 Furnari and 1,618 other allied prisoners were placed on the ill-fated Oryoku Maru which was sunk enroute to Japan on December 14, 1944. He swam ashore but was soon recaptured and taken to the Lingayen Gulf where he was put aboard another Japanese troop ship enroute to Formosa. It too was sunk enroute. In January 1945 he and only 300 of the original 1,619 allied prisoner finally reached Japan and were placed in a coal-mining prison camp in Fukuoka, Japan. Following a mine cave in where he was severely injured he was shipped to Korea where he finished out the war working in a Korean aircraft plant. The Russians released him on September 12, 1945 but on his way home his ship, the U.S.S. Colbert was hit by a mine and nearly blown in two. SMSN Furnari, who had taken the Warrant exam and passed just prior to the war went on to become a full Commander and the captain of an APA. With Philippine waters vulnerable for surface ships, those ships of the Asiatic Fleet that could do so sailed for points south. Whippoorwill headed for Borneo on 12 December and arrived at Balikpapan on the 15th. Leaving Manilla around 0300 in a heavy rainstorm she slipped by the Japanese by staying close to the beach. During her trip south the Whippoorwill went to great lengths to outmaneuver the Japanese Navy who tracked them by submarine and aircraft. In doing so the Whippoorwill ventured into waters so shallow that way could only be made using a lead line with waters more often than not less than six fathoms in depth. Four days later, the minecraft?in company with Tulsa, Asheville, and Lark (AM-21)?joined Task Force (TF) 7 and withdrew further south to the Celebes, arriving the next day. Later, Whippoorwill screened Tulsa as the two ships proceeded for Java. Arriving at Surabaya, three days before Christmas of 1941, Comdr. Ferriter went ashore and reported for orders to the Dutch naval commander there. Three days later, the minesweeper commenced local patrols and sweeps out of Surabaya and continued that duty into February 1942, often operating in company with Dutch units, before she received orders to move to Tjilatjap, a port on Java's south coast. Arriving early on 26 February, Whippoorwill and Lark put to sea at 1400 the next day to search for survivors of the seaplane tender Langley (AV-3), reportedly sunk south of Java. Three hours out of Tjilatjap, the minesweeper's lookouts sighted a strange vessel and altered course to close and identify her. The mysterious ship turned out to be Tulsa, also searching for Langley survivors. The trio of ships continued their search, the minesweepers steaming independently of the gunboat. At 2229, Whippoorwill and Lark arrived in the area in which Langley had been reported lost, passed a large oil slick, and smelled a strong odor of gasoline and oil ?mute testimony to the tragedy that had gone before. On the following day, the last day of February, the minesweepers abandoned their search and were about to put about to return to Tjilatjap. At 0507, however, lookouts noted a pulsating fire on the horizon; and the minesweepers closed cautiously. The burning vessel turned out to be the British merchantman City of Manchester?of the Ellerman Line?that had been torpedoed and gunned by the Japanese submarine I-153. Whippoorwill lowered a boat at 0550 and rescued the British sailors from their rafts and lifeboats. Ten injured men were transferred to Tulsa, which had providentially shown up on the scene of the rescue?the gunboat having a well-equipped sick bay that the minesweepers lacked. Following that rescue mission, Whippoorwill returned to Tjilatjap, arriving on 1 March, only to stand out later that day as Java, too, was becoming more untenable with each passing hour. Retiring in the face of a ruthless enemy drawing tight the noose around Java, Whippoorwill crept southward towards Australia. As she proceeded on her anxious voyage, other retiring Asiatic Fleet ships met their doom at the hands of the marauding Japanese?Asheville, Pecos (AO-6), and the destroyers Edsall (DD-219) and Pillsbury (DD-227). Whippoorwill dropped anchor at Fremantle on 9 March and operated out of Fremantle into May before she shifted to Albany, Australia. The minesweeper conducted local patrols and guardship operations in the shipping channels and harbors there from mid-May to late August when she returned to Fremantle. For the remainder of 1942, Whippoorwill operated alternatively at Exmouth Bay, Albany, or Fremantle, patrolling locally and towing targets. Whippoorwill crewmembers fondly remember the friendship of the Australian people on first arriving there. They recount how they came out to the ship to greet them in anything that would float as the Whippoorwill waited at anchorage for Medical Quarantine and Inspection. They particularly remember their first fresh water shower and shave after the long journey and having all the fresh milk that they could drink. Other crewmembers remember their liberty in Perth, Australia, and how the Aussies would greet them with a ?Good on ya Yank!? On occasion, Whippoorwill acted as reference vessel for submarines of the Southwest Pacific forces on their training cruises. The beginning of 1943 found Whippoorwill engaged in local patrol operations out of Exmouth Gulf, and she continued that duty until February, when she made another brief visit to Fremantle. On 18 and 19 February 1943, she engaged in night exercises with American submarines on maneuvers. Six days later, while underway off the coast, she encountered a cyclone, which wrenched two 300-pound depth charges from their tracks. After returning to Exmouth Gulf, she remained there through March 1943 before sailing for Fremantle and a six-day dry-docking period. Upon completion of this brief refit, she returned to Exmouth Gulf on 24 April and conducted minesweeping operations in the area. On 15 May, while enroute to Fremantle, she picked up an echo with her sonar gear and came to general quarters. She dropped depth charges but lost the contact. Arriving at Fremantle two days later, 17 May, she commenced a series of antisubmarine patrols, which lasted into November. The crew enjoyed a grand feed at Thanksgiving with roasted young tom turkey, baked ham, cranberry sauce, bread dressing and giblet gravy, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, an assortment of vegetables, hot cross buns and bread, mincemeat and pumpkin pie, iced lemonade, and fresh milk. After dinner cigarettes, candy and mixed nuts were made available to the crew. On 1 December, she began an extensive refit. During the yard work, she was reclassified an ocean-going tug and redesignated AT-169 on 1 March 1944. The long overhaul was completed on 5 March, and the ship proceeded to Brisbane. Coming under the operational control of Commander, Service Force, 7th Fleet, Whippoorwill arrived at Brisbane on 20 March. For the next 10 days, 21 to 31 March 1944, she underwent final conversion to an ocean-going tug. This involved the removal of her minesweeping gear and the addition of a heavy-duty towing engine, which had once been fitted on board Dobbin (AD-3). On 8 April, the newly refitted Whippoorwill with LST-385 under tow, got underway for New Guinea, and arrived at Milne Bay with her charge on 15 April. The tug then served Hollandia and at Mios Woendi; also receiving orders to Seadler Harbor, in the Admiralty Islands, to serve on "battle-damage standby" duty?prepared to take any battle-damaged ships under tow and out of the front lines. Much of her time was spent rescuing burning landing craft from the invasion beaches. Whippoorwill was reclassified an ocean-going tug, old, on 15 May 1944 and designated ATO-169. She then continued operations off New Guinea and in the backwater areas of the war in the Pacific including acting as a rescue tug for the invasions of Morotai, Biak, and Pellileu until receiving orders to head north for Leyte in February 1945. Later operating at Hollandia and Ulithi, Whippoorwill resumed operations in the Philippine Islands on 15 June 1945 and served as a harbor tug in the Manila Bay area through the end of the war. With her new towing gear Whippoorwill towed up to three barges at a time of aviation grade gasoline, torpedoes and warheads, and other badly needed war materials and supplies. At times she even towed mobile repair shop barges for the patrol torpedo boats (PT-boats). Touching at Leyte Gulf, Manila Bay, Zamboanga, and Samar, Whippoorwill finally rounded out her tour in the Philippine Islands on 20 December, when she departed Samar, bound for the Marshall Islands. Arriving at Eniwetok in company with Vireo (ATO-144) and Rail (ATO-139), she departed that island on 4 January 1946, bound for Pearl Harbor, arriving at the Pacific base that had once long served as her home port on the 15th. After a 10-day stay, Whippoorwill in company with Rail, got underway again on 25 January, and headed for San Francisco, Calif. Arriving at San Francisco, Calif. on 5 February 1946, Whippoorwill soon began preparation for inactivation and, on 17 April 1946, the stalwart ship was decommissioned at San Francisco. Struck from the Navy list on 10 June 1946, she was turned over to the Maritime Commission for disposal on 6 November 1946. Whippoorwill was awarded one battle star for her World War II service. Bibliography Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, DANFS 1959 ? 1991 U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, ?The Captain of The Whip ? Pearl Harbor To Australia? by Lt.Commander C.A. Ferriter, U.S.Navy Evald M. Skau En1/c, USN ? Crewmember USS Whippoorwill Minesweeper No. 35, 1919 James Babcock MMC - USN? Crewmember USS Whippoorwill Minesweeper No. 35, 1941 Wayne Ford GMC - USN? Crewmember USS Whippoorwill Minesweeper No. 35, 1937 Earl R. Bozigian SC3/c - USN? Crewmember USS Whippoorwill Minesweeper No. 35, 1941 James H. Hampe ? USN ? Crewmember USS Whippoorwill ATO 169, 1944 Tom Pifer RM1/c - USN? Crewmember USS Whippoorwill Minesweeper No. 35, 1941 Randall Jones - USN - ? Crewmember USS Whippoorwill Minesweeper No. 35, 1943 -The End -