The USS Manhasset (AG-47/YAG-8), later known as USCGC Manhasset (WIX-276), was originally built in 1923 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation at Sparrows Point, Maryland, as the merchant vessel Wilton. Acquired by the U.S. Maritime Commission from Eastern Steamship Lines in 1941, the ship was transferred under a time charter to the U.S. Navy on January 2, 1942. She was subsequently renamed Manhasset and reclassified from YAG-8 to AG-47 on May 30, 1942. Constructed as a merchantman, the vessel was converted into a weather patrol ship by Sullivan Drydock and Repair Corp. in Brooklyn, New York. She was equipped with specialized meteorological instruments suitable for her new role. Commissioned into service on August 8, 1942, Manhasset was assigned to the North Atlantic, where she served as a weather patrol vessel, convoy escort, and patrol craft during World War II. Her duties included gathering crucial weather data to support Allied operations in Europe and conducting anti-submarine patrols in an increasingly dangerous environment dominated by German U-boats. Throughout her service, Manhasset operated primarily out of Argentia, Newfoundland, and Boston, Massachusetts, undertaking approximately one patrol per month, each lasting around three weeks. Notably, on April 27, 1943, she depth-charged a suspected German U-boat near Greenland with no confirmed results. During the intense Battle of the North Atlantic in May 1943, she supported the convoy ONS 5, one of the largest convoy battles of the war, which involved multiple U-boat wolfpacks and resulted in the loss of 13 merchant ships but the sinking of five U-boats by Allied escorts. Manhasset also engaged in anti-submarine operations, including a series of depth charge attacks on a suspected U-boat near a torpedoed vessel, though no confirmed damage was observed. She continued her weather patrols until the end of the war, after which she was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard on October 22, 1943, and her name was struck from the Navy List shortly thereafter. Decommissioned by the Coast Guard on October 15, 1945, she was sold into merchant service in 1946. Her final fate was a wreck on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, on July 4, 1947, marking the last major shipwreck on the island, with no loss of life. The USS Manhasset played a notable role in wartime Atlantic operations, contributing vital weather data and anti-submarine efforts during critical phases of WWII.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.