A note from a seaman who served

We arrived on Guam in the summer of 1945 with a draft of 400 replacement sailors aboard the USS General Mann and was assigned to the harbor tug USS Saguanash, YTB-288.
He states that the tug was performing harbor duties at Guam including following minesweepers that were cutting loose mines and exploding the mines with the tugs .50 caliber machineguns. The tug was then assigned to a convoy that was heading to Japan and as she could not make the trip under her own power she was being towed by an oiler . After leaving Guam she hit a storm and the tug began taking on water. Ships crew determined that the hull planking (wooden hull construction) was sprung from all the concussions from the mines they were exploding. They attempted to radio for help, however water had shorted out the electrical system and the radio would not work. At approximately 0200 on November 8 she sank by the bow. All 11 crewmembers were able to abandon ship and spent the next 28 hours on the tugs raft during the storm before being rescued by the oiler that had been towing them.

Anthony (Antonio) V. Manuele