USS Almaack (AKA-10) - Towed To Gibraltar For Repairs

Towed To Gibraltar For Repairs

Daybreak revealed HMS Glaisdale (L44), an escort vessel, standing by the sinking Ettrick, picking up survivors. Almaack arranged for Glaisdale to take on board some of her men, and transferred 8 officers and 185 men to the escort ship; 12 officers and 112 men remained on board to handle the ship and man the guns. HMS Brilliant arrived at 1540 to provide antisubmarine protection, and at 1340 the following day a British tug, Jaunty, accompanied by two trawlers, arrived to take the damaged cargo ship—at that point some eight miles (13 km) from the coast of Portugal— in tow, ultimately arriving at Gibraltar at 2300 on 17 November 1942.

Drydocked on 3 December at Gibraltar, Almaack was then placed on a waiting list for temporary repairs to enable her to return to the United States. While she lay in limbo at the British Crown Colony, she was reclassified to an attack cargo ship, AKA-10, on 31 January 1943.

Placed in drydock again on 3 March 1943, Almaack remained there until the last day of March; towed thence to Casablanca, French Morocco, the cargo ship began her long voyage home, astern of the fleet tug USS Arapaho (ATF-68), on 3 May.