USNS Navajo (T-ATF-169) was a United States Navy Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command which was in service from 1980 to 2016.

[4] Her unrefueled range at 13 knots was 10,000 miles (16,000 km)[3] Navajo's aft deck was largely open to accommodate a number of different roles.

[4] The towing system could accommodate either wire rope or synthetic-fiber hawsers and produce as much as 90 short tons of bollard pull.

An engine room fire disabled USNS Taluga northwest of San Diego in April 1981.

[10] The large, open aft deck of the Powhatan-class tugs, combined with the 10-ton crane made them capable platforms for salvage missions.

[12] On 1 September 1992, Navajo towed USS White Plains into deeper water after the ship broke her moorings and went aground in Apra Harbor, Guam during Typhoon Omar.

Navajo served as a dive platform for Navy crews collecting and detonating the rounds in September 2000.

[15] Navajo was used as a dive platform in a joint US Navy/Indian Navy salvage exercise, SALVEX 2009, in November 2009.

[18] On 28 July 2012 the ship was conducting training near the entrance to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii when a parted mooring line caused the ship to dump 8,000 pounds of expensive anchor, chain, and heavy rope on the ocean floor 150 feet below.

[19] In May 2016, Navajo towed the missile tracking barge Mobile Area Targeting Support System (IX524) into Pearl Harbor.

[20] Vessels which are retired from Navy service are often towed to various inactive ship maintenance facilities where they are held in reserve.

"Rim of the Pacific" (RIMPAC) is a multinational naval exercise hosted every two years in Hawaiian waters.

[35] RIMPAC 2008: Navajo towed ex-Horne from Suisun Bay, California to waters off Hawaii where she was sunk.