Your guess that POINT ARENA was the ocean-going tugboat in which your father served appears to be correct. POINT ARENA was a type V4-M-A1 tugboat, 186 feet in length, one of 49 tugs of that class. She was built for the United States Maritime Commission (which contracted for the construction of merchant marine vessels but not warships) by the Pennsylvania Shipyard of Beaumont, Texas, completed in December 1943. (That’s right, a shipyard in Texas named Pennsylvania.) She survived World War II and was scrapped in 1972 in Tacoma, Washington. See http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/inactive/bethbeaumont.htm and scroll to hull number 283. The vessel was named for the Point Arena lighthouse, located on the Pacific coast in northern California.
I suspect that the “M.T.” you have in the name is actually “M.V.” meaning “motor vessel.” These tugboats were powered by diesel engines and therefore the additional designation that you have of “S.S.” (meaning “steamship”) would be incorrect.
For a more detailed summary of type V4 tugboats, see www.towingline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/V4-M-A1.pdf. POINT ARENA is the last-mentioned vessel on this page. There is no picture of the vessel available on this page although the photographs of her sister ships found on the page are probably nearly identical to the appearance of POINT ARENA. I can find no information on the size of the crew for this class of tugboat, although similarly-sized tugs had crews of 75-85 men.
There was also a cargo ship named POINT ARENA, built in 1918 and which presumably served in World War II. However the ship was renamed as early as 1927 so it could not have been the ship in which your father served.
I hope the above information is useful.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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