USS Asher J. Hudson (SP-3104)

USS "Asher J. Hudson" (SP-3104), later renamed "Yuma" was completed in 1891 at Camden, New Jersey, by John H. Dialogue and Sons, inspected in the 8th Naval District on 1 July 1918 and, on the 24th, was ordered taken over by the Navy. Accordingly acquired from the Alabama Coal Transport Co. of New Orleans, Louisiana, "Asher J. Hudson", classified as SP-3104, was commissioned at the Naval Station, New Orleans, on 1 August 1918, Ens. Alva Carlton, USNRF, in command.

The tug stood downriver from New Orleans on the following afternoon and reached her assigned section base at Burrwood, La., on the morning of the 3rd. That afternoon, she tried out her recently installed minesweeping gear and, on the 5th, swept the approaches to the southwest pass of the Mississippi River, in company with "Barnett". During the remainder of August, "Asher J. Hudson" conducted five sweeps, in company with "Barnett", of the important passes of the shipping lanes leading to the "Father of Waters."

"Asher J. Hudson" maintained this routine of sweeping and patrol operations through the armistice of 11 November 1918 that stilted the guns of World War I, interspersing her active periods with upkeep at the section base of Burrwood or the naval station at New Orleans. Detached from the "minesweeping flotilla" of the 8th Naval District on 6 December 1918, "Asher J. Hudson" was relegated to the simple duties of a district tug.

Records indicate that the vessel was reclassified as "YT-37" on 17 July 1920 during the fleet-wide assignment of alphanumeric hull designations, and sank on 28 October 1920 from an undetermined cause while alongside a pier at the naval station at New Orleans. Although she was raised later and renamed "Yuma" on 24 November 1920, she apparently never resumed active service. Listed as decommissioned on 30 March 1921, "Yuma" was sold to the Crown Coal and Towing Co., New Orleans, on 5 August 1921. Her name was simultaneously struck from the Navy List.

Reverting to her original name, "Asher J. Hudson", the tug performed towing services for another three decades, first with the Crown Coal and Towing Co., and later with the Sabine Towing Co., of Port Arthur, Texas. Her name disappeared from merchant registers about 1963.

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