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Contact Info
Home Town San Juan
Date of Passing Jul 01, 1995
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Merchant Marine Captain Sixto Mangual operated ships for the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) and Military Sealift Command. Most of the ships were designated United States Naval Ship or USNS, the prefix designation given to non-commissioned ships that are property of the United States Navy. These are usually auxillary support vessels owned by the US Navy and operated by Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), and now Military Sealift Command (MSC), that are in service and crewed by civilians rather than Navy personnel. In comparison, US Navy ships commissioned into service have the designation USS and are crewed by US Navy personnel; commissioned and held in property by the United States Government.
Captain Mangual was buried with Full Military Honors for his lifetime of Naval Service.
Captain Sixto Mangual served more than 30 years with MSTS, his ships included: USNS LST-694, USNS New Bedford (AKL-17)
USNS General Maurice Rose (T-AP-126)
USS Gen. R. Blatchford (AP-153), USNS Mizar (T-AGOR-11)
USNS Sagitta (T-AK-87), Sampson, Stewart, and Vela
Other Comments:
AKL-17, New Bedford, 1955 to 1963 - Used as a cargo supply ship for the Texas Towers, a network of advanced radar stations located off the Eastern Seaboard. In 1957, Capt. Sixto Mangual was commander of the AKL-17 and in 1961 it was rechristened the USNS New Bedford. The New Bedford, sailing out of State Pier, was keeping vigil when Texas Tower No. 4 collapsed off the New Jersey coast during a January 1961 nor'easter.
Captain Mangual operated MSTS ships for more than thirty years and included supplying the "Texas Towers", searching for missing submarines (USS Thresher SSN-593 and USS Scorpion SSN-278), and recovery of the H-Bomb off the coast of Spain. He was appointed a member of the Norwegian Royal Ancient Society of Polar Bears for having reached the "Top of the World" during various oceanographic operations within the Arctic Circle.
FS-289, T-AKL-17 / IX-308 New Bedford (USNS)
Date
Not Specified
Last Updated: Jun 7, 2010
Comments
The queen of the fleet is the USNV New Bedford (IX-308). She was built in Whitestone, N.Y. in 1945 by Wheeler Shipbuilding Company. Originally built for the Army and designated FS-289, she was transferred to the Navy in 1950, and designated as USS New Bedford (AKL-17). The ship was subsequently converted for torpedo testing, redesignated as the IX-308, and assigned Service Craft status (in-service active). Her claim to fame was being the set for the 1955 movie "Mr. Roberts" starring Henry Fonda, James Cagney and Jack Lemmon. The IX-308 is 176 ft., 6 in., long; has a beam of 32 ft., 6 in.; and a draft of lift.
