USS Cocopa
Introduction '''USS ''Cocopa'' (ATF-101)''' was an  fleet ocean tug that served on active duty with the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1978, seeing action in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. After thirty-four years of service, she was sold to the Mexican Navy, where she was still in service as of 2009.
World War II ''Cocopa'' was named after an Arizona Indian tribe. She began her naval career with the Atlantic fleet during the waning months of World War II, making two passages across the Atlantic with barges in tow, followed by a third passage to Trinidad. Her second convoy was attacked by a German U-boat, with ''Cocopa'' barely escaping destruction. ''Cocopa'' was next ordered to the Pacific theater, witnessing the final days of the war between July and August of that year. V-J day found the ship in Leyte, Philippines.
Interwar service Following World War II, ''Cocopa'' shuttled between the Philippines, Shanghai, Okinawa and Hong Kong on occupation duty, before returning to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in January 1947 for an overhaul. From 1948–49 she plied Alaskan waters.June 30, 1951, having returned to the Far East, ''Cocopa'' accepted what many writers have termed the last Japanese surrender from World War II. Lieutenant Commander James B. Johnson accepted the capitulation of Captain Katsusaburo Usui and nineteen other Japanese soldiers who had been living on the island of Anatahan, in the Northern Mariana Islands since June 12, 1944.The ship repatriated these men and their personal effects to Guam, from whence they were ultimately returned to Tokyo, Japan on July 6, 1951.However, other Japanese holdouts continued to surrender over the next few decades, though in much smaller numbers.
Korean War ''Cocopa'' saw action in the Korean War during the summer of 1953.During this period she served off both Korean coasts; in one operation, she towed , a Royal Canadian Navy destroyer that had run aground on the island of Pang Yang-Do, just off the North Korean coast well north of enemy-held Wonsan harbor. At the time of the armistice, she went to Wonsan to aid in the removal of a Marine garrison occupying a small islet at the harbor's mouth. During the Korean War, USS ''Cocopa'' received one battle star for her service.After the war, ''Cocopa'' conducted numerous Pacific Ocean and Alaskan cruises. Her home port was changed from Pearl Harbor to San Diego in 1961.
Operation Castle In March 1954, ''Cocopa'' was one of the ships tasked to support Operation Castle, a series of high-energy (high-yield) nuclear tests by Joint Task Force SEVEN (JTF-7) at Bikini Atoll. Official reports indicated that crewmembers suffered the highest doses (2.2 rem) of radiation endured by any of the navy ships present at this operation.
Vietnam War USS ''Cocopa'' in Vietnamese waters in 1967.During the Vietnam War, ''Cocopa'' saw service in five campaigns: ''Advisory'' (1963), ''Vietnam Defense'' (1965), ''Counteroffensive Phase II'' (1967), ''Summer-Fall 1969'', and ''Ceasefire'' (1972). In 1965, ''Cocopa'' hosted Detachment Charlie of Beach Jumpers Unit One, Team Twelve, operating as the "Yankee Station Special Surveillance Unit". This outfit consisted of one officer and five enlisted men, whose mission was to jam Soviet electronic intelligence trawlers monitoring U.S. operations in the Gulf of Tonkin. Team members utilized random wave jamming with noises (including bagpipe recordings) to counteract Russian SIGINT activities. ''Cocopa'' also assisted in towing, recovery and similar operations throughout her tours in Vietnam.
Awards *American Campaign Medal*European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal*Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal)*World War II Victory Medal*Navy Occupation Service Medal*National Defense Service Medal with star*Korean Service Medal with one battle star*Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal*Vietnam Service Medal with five campaign stars *United Nations Korea Medal*Republic of Korea War Service Medal*Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Mexican Navy service On 30 September 1978, ''Cocopa'' was decommissioned and sold to Mexico under the Security Assistance Program, where she was recommissioned in the Mexican Navy as '''ARM ''Seri'' (RE-03)'''. As of 2009 the ship remains on active duty with that force.
References ===Bibliography===*  Task Force 77.Contains brief, detailed info on ''Cocopa's'' Korean War service. *  Official Damage Report of the Grounding of HMCS Huron. Describes role of the ''Cocopa'' (referred to in this report as "the tug") in towing the damaged ''Huron''. *
External links *  USS ''Cocopa''. Offers several photos from the ''Cocopa's'' service, circa 1952-78. *  Last Defenders of the Japanese Empire. Photo of 19 Japanese soldiers on Anatahan surrendering to Lt. Cmdr. J.B. Johnson, captain of the ''Cocopa''. *  My Journey to Vietnam, by Steven Karoly. Personal account by a ''Cocopa'' cook of a stormy voyage to Vietnam in 1972. *  Adventures of the ''Cocopa'' Personal photographs taken by the ship's electronic technician, 1973 to 1978.