View source for USNS New Bedford

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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[Image:USS Camano (AKL-17).jpg‎|300px]]
|Ship caption=''New Bedford'' at anchor, circa 1944-current, location Ballard Shipyards}}
{{Infobox Ship Career
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|Ship country=USA
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1995}}
|Ship name=USNS ''New Bedford''
|Ship namesake=[[New Bedford, Massachusetts]]
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|Ship builder=Wheeler Shipbuilding Company
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|Ship laid down=as ''FS-289'' for the U.S. Army (1944)
|Ship launched=1945
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed=1945
|Ship acquired=by the U.S. Navy, July 1, 1950
|Ship commissioned=July 1, 1950 as USNS ''New Bedford'' (IX-308)
|Ship recommissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=October 28th, 1994
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship in service=1945
|Ship out of service=4 April 1995
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified= ''AKL-17'', June 1950
|Ship refit= ''IX-308'', ''USNS New Bedford'' in 1963
|Ship struck=October 28th, 1994
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|Ship fate=sold, 1996
|Ship status=In Purchase Agreement
|Ship notes=was used in the movie ''[[Mister Roberts (1955 film)|Mister Roberts]]''
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|Ship class={{sclass|Camano|cargo ship}}
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|Ship tonnage=620 tons
|Ship displacement=414 tons(lt)
|Ship tons burthen= 940 tons(fl)
|Ship length= 177 ft
|Ship beam= 32 ft
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|Ship draft= 10 ft
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|Ship propulsion= Two 500 hp GM Cleveland Division 6-278A 6-cyl V6 [[diesel engine]]s, twin screws
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|Ship speed= 12 knots
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|Ship complement= 26 officers and enlisted
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{{otherships|USS New Bedford}}

'''USNS ''New Bedford'' (FS-289/AKL-17)''' was a [[Camano-class cargo ship|''Camano''-class]] [[cargo ship]] constructed for the [[U.S. Army]] as '''''FS-289''''' shortly before the end of [[World War II]].

==U.S. Army==
Built as the U.S. Army U.S. Army Freight and Supply Ship ''FS-289'' at Wheeler Shipbuilding, Whitestone New York in 1944<ref>{{cite web | author=Shipbuilding History | title=U.S. Army Coastal Freighters (F, FS, T) | url=http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/smallships/armyfreighters.htm  | accessdate=2011-09-23}}</ref> she served with a U.S. Coast Guard crew operating in Hawaii during the remainder of the war<ref>{{cite web | author=USCG Historian | title=World War II Coast Guard-Manned U.S. Army Freight and Supply Ship Histories | url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/FS_Vessels.asp  | accessdate=2011-09-23}}</ref>. 

==U.S. Navy==
Acquired and converted to a [[Camano-class cargo ship|''Camano''-class]] [[cargo ship]]by the US Navy, 1 July 1950 Placed in service as USNS ''New Bedford'' (''AKL-17'')<ref>{{cite web | author=Gary P. Priolo | title=Light Cargo Ship (AKL-17) | work=NavSource Naval History | url=http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/14/1417.htm | accessdate=2011-09-23}}</ref>. 

''New Bedford''{{'}}s [[Shakedown (testing)|shakedown]] cruise initially took her across the central [[Pacific Ocean]] to [[Midway Islands]], [[Guam]] and [[Saipan]]. Attached to the [[Service Force, Pacific Fleet]], ''New Bedford'' carried supplies between Navy bases throughout the central Pacific. The ''New Bedford'' is also the sister ship of the ill-fated [[Pueblo]], which was captured by the North Koreans in 1968 and whose crew was imprisoned for 11&nbsp;months.

The ship then served out of the port of New Bedford servicing the U.S. Air Force Texas Towers with equipment, food, petroleum, oils, and lubricant and other required supplies.<ref>{{cite web | author=National Air Defense Radar Museum | title=The Texas Towers | url=http://radomes.pandapawuniverse.com/C_TexasTowers.php  | accessdate=2011-09-23}}</ref>. On 14 January 1961 the ship delivered supplies and stood by the ill fated Texas Tower #4 and was struggled in the storm trying to reach the tower as it was wrecked. It was lost with all 28 hands at 7:20pm on January 15th, 1961.<ref>{{cite web | title=Wreck of Texas Tower 4 | url=http://wikimapia.org/7402333/Wreck-of-Texas-Tower-4  | accessdate=2011-09-23}}</ref>

The ship was placed out of service in 1963 and then was reclassified Miscellaneous Unclassified, (IX-308) where it was deployed to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Keyport, Washington  for torpedo testing duty and assigned service-craft status. The (''IX-308'') served as a Torpedo Test Firing Vessel and during this assignment she steamed over 310,000 nautical miles{{Citation Needed}}. She was equipped with both surface and underwater launchers and associated fire control equipment. She supported proofing, acceptance testing and research work on Keyport's ranges since that time.

During these past 31&nbsp;years, the ''New Bedford'' has: 1) fired over 7200 units (torpedoes, targets, etc.); 2) recovered more than 900 units; 3) planted more than 5425 range buoys; 4) retrieved over 4650 range buoys; 5) made server port calls to [[Vancouver]] and [[Nanaimo]], [[British Columbia]] and two trips to [[San Diego]].

==Inactivation and sale==
The IX-308's out-of-service ceremony incorporated elements of the vessel's presumed history. The torpedo station people had come to the assumption that this ship, not her sister ship the ''Hewell''<ref>{{cite web | author= Navy History & Heritage Command-Ships History Branch | title=''Hewell'' | work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS) | url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h6/hewell.htm | accessdate=2011-09-23}}</ref>, was used in the movie<ref>{{cite web | author= Ramon Jackson | title=Not the USS ''Hewell'' (AKL 14) in the movie? Think again. | work=Army FP/FS Vessels | url=http://patriot.net/~eastlnd2/rj/fs/fs.htm#Hewell | accessdate=2011-09-23}}</ref>. The proceedings were highlighted by audio clips taken directly from the film. Those present heard memorable film quotes just as they had been spoken by the actors in the film so many years ago.

The ceremony was not limited to the ship's film history, but also touched on its long military career. The Mayor of the City of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the Honorable Rosemary Tierney, was in attendance along with retired Navy Captain Frederick R. Purrington.

The out of service ceremony commenced flawlessly, but did not end without one final act of good humor. Code 80's Steve Schultz appeared as Ensign Pulver at the end of the proceedings. He sprinted down the bow of the vessel with a palm tree. Schultz, or rather Pulver, launched the unsuspecting palm over the pier in one final act of defiance as well as in celebration and honor of the ''New Bedford'' IX-308.

In total, the USNS ''New Bedford'' served for nearly five decades in the Army and Navy. October 28, 1994 finally saw the flag lowered on the vessel, thus ending its military career. 

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{NVR|http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrservicecraft/details/IX308.htm}}
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/14/1417.htm NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - FS-289 - AKL-17 New Bedford]

==External links==
* [http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/FS_Vessels.asp  World War II Coast Guard-Manned U.S. Army Freight and Supply Ship Histories]
* [http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~slowbell/trough27.htm A Movie Sea-story That Bugged Me (Detailed look at how an AKL was temporarily modified and turned into a movie set)]
* [http://patriot.net/~eastlnd2/rj/fs/fs.htm#Hewell Not the USS ''Hewell'' (AKL 14) in the movie? Think again. (Discussion on claims FS-289 / T-AKL-17 / IX-308 was exterior movie set for film Mister Roberts vice actual ship, the USS Hewell (AKL-14/AG-145).)]

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{{Design 381 coastal freighters}}
{{Camano class cargo ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Bedford (IX-308)}}
[[Category:Ships of the United States Army]]
[[Category:Design 381 coastal freighters]]
[[Category:Ships built in New York]]
[[Category:1945 ships]]
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Camano class cargo ships]]