USS Canotia

History
United States
Name	USS Canotia
Namesake	A tree of the bittersweet family
Builder	Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Everett, Washington
Laid down	as Canotia (YN-66)
Launched	4 July 1944
Sponsored by	Mrs. F. Schmitz
Commissioned	31 July 1944 as USS Canotia (AN-47)
Decommissioned	18 February 1946, at San Diego, California
Reclassified	AN-47, 20 January 1944
Stricken	date unknown
Fate	Sold, 21 April 1947, fate unknown
General characteristics
Class and type	Ailanthus-class net laying ship
Tonnage	1,100 tons
Length	194 ft 7 in (59.31 m)
Beam	37 ft (11 m)
Draft	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Propulsion	Diesel-electric, 2,500 hp (1,864 kW)
Speed	12.1 knots (13.9 mph; 22.4 km/h)
Complement	56 officers and enlisted
Armament	1 × 3"/50 caliber gun 2 × 20 mm guns
Service record
Operations:	World War II
Awards:	1 battle star

USS Canotia (AN-47/YN-66) was an Ailanthus-class net laying ship which served with the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific Ocean theatre of operations during World War II. Her career was without major incident, and she returned home after the war bearing one battle star to her credit.

Canotia (AN-47) was launched 4 July 1944 by Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Everett, Washington; sponsored by Mrs. F. Schmitz; commissioned 31 July 1944 and reported to the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Canotia departed San Francisco, California, 6 October 1944 for Pearl Harbor, where she arrived 16 October. She provided target service to ships training at this great base until 5 February 1945, when she was outward bound for action waters.

Arriving at Eniwetok 15 February, she reported for duty with the U.S. 5th Fleet, and sailed to Iwo Jima, where she had mooring and salvage duty from 28 February to 12 April. The first portion of this duty came as bitter action raged ashore, and enemy air attacks still menaced American shipping.

After routine repairs at Guam, Canotia arrived at Ulithi 14 June to install and maintain nets. After the Japanese surrender, Canotia cruised the small islands of the western Caroline Islands searching for American and Allied ex-prisoners of war, or Japanese soldiers.

She received the surrender of the garrison on Lamotrek, and destroyed a Japanese supply dump on Olimarao. Between 23 September and 1 October, she removed net defenses at Ulithi and Kossol Roads.

On 26 October, cleared for San Diego, California, where she was decommissioned 18 February 1946, and sold 21 April 1947.

Canotia received one battle star for World War II service.

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - YN-66 / AN-47 Canotia