AT-105 / ATF-105 Moctobi

After shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, Moctobi wasassigned to duty in the Pacific
with ComServPac. Departing Norfolk 1 September, she stopped at New Orleans
where she took in tow a section of ABSD‑3; thence, she sailed
for the Marshalls 8 September. She reached Eniwetok via Majuro 21 November
and steamed to Hawaii, arriving Pearl Harbor the 29th. On 12 December
she sailed in convoy to Eniwetok with another ABSD section.
After touching at Eniwetok the 29th, she departed 2 January 1945 for Guam.
She dropped off ABD‑16 at Guam 9 January; sailed for Ulithi the same day;
and reached that important advance base two days later.

Assigned to Service Squadron 10, Moctobi operated out of Ulithi until the end
of the war in the Pacific. There she carried out the harbor duties necessary
to prepare ships of the hard‑hitting task forces for their strikes against
the enemy. During the Iwo Jima campaign she served on a standby basis
with the Support Force and at the conclusion of the campaign
towed Marl (IX‑160) from Saipan to Ulithi.

On 30 March 1945 Moctobi sailed with units of the fast tanker fleet
and joined the Logistic Support Group off Okinawa. During the next 47 days
she provided at sea logistics support for ships of the 5th Fleet,
thence returned to Ulithi 12 to 16 May. After completing a run to Leyte Gulf
and back, she departed Ulithi 3 July with other ATFs and joined the
Logistics Support Group for support of the 3d Fleet Bombardment Force.
She served at sea during the closing weeks of the war and arrived Yokosuka, Japan,
after the cessation of hostilities. She began supporting occupation operations
29 August and aided in the landing of initial occupation forces in the Tokyo area.
She towed American and Japanese ships and supported demolition operations
of Jap suicide boats and submarines along the eastern coast of Honshu.

Moctobi sailed for Okinawa 14 October and for more than 2 months aided in
salvaging and refloating many ships damaged by the recent vicious typhoons.
On Christmas Eve she sailed for Pearl Harbor with ARD‑29 in tow.
Upon arriving, she reported to ComServPac for continued duty out of Pearl Harbor.
She returned to the west coast in May 1946 and later that year deployed
once again to the Far East. She operated in the Philippines until June 1947,
thence sailed to the United States. She began preinactivation overhaul at
San Francisco 1 December and decommissioned 30 June 1948.
Assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet 27 August, she was berthed at Alameda, Calif.

On 8 November 1950 Moctobi recommissioned at San Francisco, Lt. John M. Geortner
in command. Following refresher training off the west coast, Moctobi steamed
to the Far East. Between February and November 1951 she was underway
almost constantly, touching Midway, Eniwetok, Kwajalein, Guam, Subic Bay, Sasebo,
Yokosuka. Inchon, Pusan, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Taechong Do, Korea.
In September she conducted salvage operations on the ROK PF‑62 off Abru Somu
Island, North Korea. She towed the damaged ship to Pusan thence to Yokosuka
for repairs. She returned to Pearl Harbor in December for overhaul,
thence between April and September 1952 made several towing trips to
Johnson Island and the Marshalls.

In November Moctobi steamed to the northern Pacific for duty in the Aleutians.
During the next several months she carried out towing and SAR duty from Dutch Harbor
to Attu. She returned to Pearl Harbor in June 1953. Following operations between
Hawaii and the west coast, she made another WestPac deployment in March 1954.
Tug and towing assignments sent her from Japan to the Philippines and from Korea
to French Indochina. In September she steamed via Pearl Harbor to San Francisco,
and during the next year she carried out tows along the west coast
and to Pearl Harbor.

Moctobi maintained a busy tug and towing schedule throughout the Pacific
for more than a decade. Although homeported in Pearl Harbor, she ranged the Pacific
from the west coast to the Far East while supporting the might of American seapower
in the Pacific. She carried out towing duties to American bases throughout
the Pacific and when requested she provided emergency at sea tows for ships in distress.
In addition she carried out SAR patrols and undertook special operations
of a classified nature for the Atomic Energy Commission.

Following a 3‑month deployment to the Aleutians in mid‑1963,
Moctobi steamed to Seattle, Wash., 15 October to prepare for an unusual towing
assignment. On 28 October she departed for Honolulu, Hawaii, with the four-masted
sailing ship Falls of Clyde (see DANFS, vol. 111, p. 733) in tow. During the trip,
which took 21 days, Moctobi encountered several severe storms with 40‑
not winds and 20‑foot seas. However, she delivered the
wroughtiron‑hulled ship, safely to tugs off Honolulu 21 November.

Since 1963 Moctobi has continued to carry out tug and towing assignments,
as well as additional duties given to this busy ATF, with skill and dispatch.
Whether operating in the waters of the north Pacific or in the Far East, she has
supported the mighty ships of the U.S. Navy in the continuing struggle to maintain
the freedom of the seas for the forces of freedom. Into 1969 she continues to range
the length and breadth of the Pacific while operating out of Pearl Harbor.

She was built in 1878 by Russell and Company in Port Glasgow, Scotland,
launched as the first of six iron-hulled four-masted ships built for Wright
and Breakenridge's "Falls Line." She was named after the Falls of Clyde,
a waterfall up the River Clyde. She was built to the highest standard -
Lloyd's Register A-1 - for general worldwide trade. Her maiden voyage took her
to Karachi, and her first six years were spent engaged in the India trade.
She then became a tramp pursuing general cargo such as lumber, jute, cement,
and wheat from ports in Australia, California, India, New Zealand,
and the British Isles.

After twenty-one years under the Union Jack, Falls of Clyde was purchased
for US$25,000 by Captain William Matson of the Matson Navigation Company,
taken to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1899, and registered under the Hawaiian flag.
When the Republic of Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1900,
it took a special act of the United States Congress to secure the foreign-built
ship the right to fly the Stars and Stripes.

To economize on crew, Matson rigged Falls of Clyde down as a barque,
replacing the five yards on her aft mast with two easier-managed fore-and-aft sails.
At the same time, he added a deckhouse, charthouse, and rearranged
the after quarters to accommodate paying passengers.
From 1899 to 1907, she made over sixty voyages between Hilo, Hawaii,
and San Francisco, California. She carried general merchandise from San Francisco
and sugar from Hawaii, and passengers both ways. She developed a reputation
as a handy, fast, and commodious vessel; her voyages averaged 17 days each way.

In 1907, the Associated Oil Company (which later became Tidewater Oil) bought
Falls of Clyde and converted her to a bulk tanker with a capacity of 19,000 barrels
(three million liters, 800,000 gallons). In this configuration she sailed
from Gaviota, California, with kerosene, which she discharged in Honolulu
at the Oahu Railway and Land Company's Pier 16. On her return voyages,
she carried bulk molasses to California, where it was used for cattle feed.

In 1927, the bark was sold to the General Petroleum Company,
her masts were cut down, and she served as a floating fuel depot
in Alaska until 1959. She was sold to William Mitchell, who towed her to Seattle,
Washington, intending to sell her to a preservation group. Mitchell's plan fell
through and subsequent efforts by Karl Kortum, director of the San Francisco
Maritime Museum, and Fred Klebingat, who had sailed in her as chief mate in 1915,
to place her in Long Beach, California, or Los Angeles, California, were similarly
disappointed.

In 1963, the bank holding the mortgage on Falls of Clyde decided to sell her
to be sunk as part of a breakwater at Vancouver, British Columbia.
Kortum and Klebingat aroused interest in the ship in Hawaii, and within days of the
scheduled scuttling, raised funds to buy the ship. At the end of October 1963,
Falls of Clyde was taken under tow by fleet tug USS Moctobi.
In honor of their historic tow, the crew of the tug kept their logs in verse,
the first entry reading:

As we sail across the Set
The Falls of Clyde keeps us company
Moctobi's engines grit and grind
To keep old Clyde close behind.
On 18 November, they arrived in Honolulu, recording

Today, hauling cargo to Hawaii was seen a proud white ship.
We couldn't help remembering Clyde and all her similar trips.
Yes this one is quite differenct than those of earlier times,
When she carried black oil and molasses to many different climes
Today the cargo is memories and sea stories yet untold
Which when moored tomorrow may be brought up from the hold.
Tomorrow at Honolulu her final trip will end,
And we will bid aloha to our gallant seagoing friend.
The crew was concerned about the reaction these verses might receive from Commander,
Service Force, Pacific Fleet. Upon their arrival at Honolulu they received a message
reading:

Your towing debut is finally Pau
The Clyde's at home forever now.
Your sitreps were noted with interest each day
As Moctobi pulled the long, rough way.
This grand old lady is destined to be
A memorable relic for all Hawaii
By your fine effort the task is won.
Welcome home, and to all a well done.
-- VADM Roy Johnson, Deputy, CINCPACFLT
In May 1964, on behalf of his crew, the commanding officer of Moctobi,
Lieutenant Leo Connolly, accepted the Distinguished Service Award
for Community Relations from the Chamber of Commerce of Honolulu.

Falls of Clyde was given to the Bernice P. Bishop Museum.
She opened to the public in 1968. Her restoration as a full-rigged ship
was assisted by the grandson of the original builder, Sir William Lithgow,
whose Glasgow shipyard donated masts and other fittings. In 1973 she was
entered into the National Register of Historic Places. In mid-2004,
Falls of Clyde is still located at Pier 7, Honolulu Harbor,
part of the Hawaii Maritime Center.