Named after an Indian tribe in
northeastern
Argentina along the
Pelcomayo
River.
(AT-86: Displ. 1,240T, L. 205, Beam 386, Draft 143, Speed
16kt, Complement 97, Armament 1 3, 240mm, 2 20mm, Class Navajo
Keel laid 27 June
1942 by United Engineering Co., San Francisco, California; Launched 14 October
1942; Sponsored by Miss Evelyn B. Piper; and Commissioned 29 May 1942, Lt.
William G. Baker in command.
Following shakedown off
San Diego, Mataco early proved her endurance when
she towed a floating drydock 47 days nonstop from
San Francisco to
Brisbane,
Australia, arriving 1 October 1943. This passage accounted for 6,800 of
55,000 miles steamed for her first year. She underwent her first air attack in
the
Ellis
Islands 17 November and 3 days later stood by to
aid ships invading the Gilberts. Training and target towing in Hawaiian waters
preceded her joining TF 53 fir the invasion of the
Marshalls. She stood off Kwajelein 31 January 1944
to screen transports, to free beached landing craft, and to send her divers to
recover documents from sunken Japanese ships. She carried out escort and towing
missions in the
Marshalls and to the Gilberts,
Marianas and
Pearl Harbor until 3 December, when Ulithi became her
base for the next six months. In January
1945 she carried out a major salvage assignment at
Leyte. In February she made a tow to
Saipan and
Guam, and in April she joined the assault on
Okinawa. There on 2 April, an aerial torpedo
passed harmlessly beneath her keel.
Redesignated ATF-86 on 15 May 1944,
she pitched in on the enormous amount of salvage work to be done around
Okinawa, and at wars end, began tows to Japan. She returned home as she had
come to war, towing a drydock from
Guam
via Pearl Harbor to
San Francisco, where she moored 25 July. Five months
later, 19 December, she returned to the Western Pacific on the first of the
annual deployments to the Seventh Fleet which alternated with west coast and
Alaskan duty. She was in the
Philippines at the outbreak of the Korean conflict
and after investigating smuggling in the Ryukyus, sailed to
Korea where she performed combat salvage and
air-sea rescue missions beginning with the 15 September
Inchon landings. In mid-October she rounded the
peninsula, extending those services to
Wonsan. Target towing missions in
Japan and between
Guam and
Pearl Harbor completed this tour, and she arrived in
San Diego 12 August 1951.
Mataco began her next Western
Pacific deployment
10 January 1952 and during the next 14 months supported
United Nations forces in
Korea, in October twice rendering fire support
at Pippa Katsu. The next
year, she reported for 3 continuous years of Far Eastern service, and from 1956
to 1966, made five additional 7th Fleet cruises as well as serving
in Alaskan waters.
On 29 February 1967 she began a tour which brought her the
first time to the coast of embattled
Vietnam. On 21 April Mataco brought VRF‑890
in tow to Vung Tau, and in may took up trawler surveillance on Yankee Station. After
towing a damaged LST from Da Nang to
Guam in July, she trained Korean navy men in
salvage in Chinhae, the returned to
San Diego 6 November. The hard-working fleet tug
remained on active unit of the Pacific Fleet into the 1970s. She was
decommissioned and later struck from the Naval Register 30 September 1977.
Mataco received five battle stars
for World War II service and four for Korean service.