From collection Ed Coffin Collection
Post-launch port side view of World War II Rockland built ANCHOR class salvage and rescue ship USS EXTRICATE (ARS-16).
Post-launch port side view of World War II Rockland built ANCHOR class salvage and rescue ship USS EXTRICATE (ARS-16). Note civilians among the crew lining the rail. EXTRICATE was launched from Snow Shipyards on September 12, 1942. She would have a distinguished career, serving in North Africa, Italy and France, before going to the Pacific where she was lost in a post-war typhoon. On September 12, 1942, the United States Navy rescue and salvage ship U.S.S. 'Extricate' (ARS-16) was launched at I. L. Snow Shipyards in Rockland, Maine. The 'Anchor'-class vessel was one of twenty craft specifically built for the Navy during World War II. Many other Snow-built boats were taken over by the service for a variety of small-ship tasks like net-tending and mine-sweeping. The 183-foot Extricate spent the next nine months awaiting acceptance by the Navy. After her commissioning in July 1943, Extricate went to New York to collect her salvage gear before sailing to Norfolk to join a convoy for the Mediterranean. Her first assignment was as a harbor fire fighting ship at Naples. In this role, the crew of Extricate fought a successful three-day battle to save SS 'Iredell' carrying highly flammable aviation gas. She next cleared the harbor at Bari, Italy where 17 ships had been sunk when a German air raid blew up two ammunition ships. Extricate took part in invasion of Southern France and afterwards performed harbor clearance in Marseilles. In late December 1944, ARS-16 went to Charleston, South Carolina for a refit. She transferred to the Pacific in February 1945 where ARS-16 performed salvage duties at Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, Ulithi and Okinawa. After war's end, the ship was struck by two typhoons. The second storm beached her and it was decided to abandon her and blow up the hull. The attached image is a photo from the collection of the Penobscot Marine Museum. It shows Extricate shortly after her launch. Note civilians among the crew lining the rail. -- Joe Mosier 2019 note: for a full history see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Extricate_(ARS-16)
