Transcript Slide 1

WORLD WAR II
ERA
Suamico Class – May 1942
Cimarron Class – June 1938
Chiwawa Class – June 1942
Kennebec Class – April 1941
Atascosa Class – Sept. 1942
Chicopee Class – Sept. 1941
Escambia Class – April 1943
Mattaponi Class – Jan. 1942
Mission Buenaventura Class – May 1944
Big Horn Class – April 1942
TANKER HISTORY
Some of these may only have worked as Oil Transports – Not performing UNREP.
Many tankers were
converted to CVE’s
The two Block Island Aircraft
Carriers (CVE 21and CVE 106)
were unlike any other two ships by
the same name. CVE 21 (along
with 5 other CVE’s) was originally
actually a C3 tanker hull being
constructed to deliver oil to our
allies in Europe. The scourge of
the German submarine activities,
taking the great toll of the convoys
underway far out to sea, became
a major priority to all of the allied
nations due to the fact that the
majority of the sinkings were
taking place far out of the range of
any allied aircraft. President
Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Churchill got together and the
United States entered into a
agreement to convert several
tanker hulls into small aircraft
carriers to be provided to Great
Britain to roam the vast areas of
the Atlantic Ocean seeking out
these submarines.
Following some early development starting at about 1900 for transferring coal, the
technique of underway replenishment (UNREP) was perfected by the United States Navy in
the late 1930's
UNREP was used extensively as a logistics support technique in the Pacific theatre of World
War II. Since it allowed extended range and striking capability to naval task forces the
technique was classified so that enemy nations could not duplicate it. It is now used by most,
if not all, blue-water navies.
USS Cimarron, first of the Navy's many World War II era T3-S2-A1 type oilers. She was built at Chester,
Pennsylvania. She went into commission in March 1939 and transported oil along the west coast and to
Hawaii during her first year of service.
In mid-1940, Cimarron entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard to receive her armament and other features
required for her intended combat support employment. Upon completion of this work in the Spring of 1941,
she began operations in the Atlantic that lasted until March 1942, when she transited the Panama Canal to
join the Pacific Fleet.
Profile from: Auke Visser's Famous T - Tankers Pages
Plans from: Auke Visser's Famous T - Tankers Pages
T2 Tanker Main Deck
T2 Tanker Cargo Hold
Four Hulls were used for Escort Carriers
The second Kennebec (AO-36) T2 type, was launched as Corsicana 19 April 1941 by Bethlehem Steel
Shipbuilding Corp., Sparrows Point, Md.; sponsored by Mrs. E. Rolfe Brown;
Renamed Kennebec 9 January 1942; she was acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission 13
January 1942; and commissioned 4 February 1942, Comdr. S. S. Reynolds in command.
Kennebec departed 11 February 1942 and joined the Service Force of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The fleet
oiler arrived New Orleans 27 February and commenced oil runs from Gulf ports to depots along the
Atlantic coast and South America.
Kennebec was almost constantly at sea, supplying the fleet from Brazil to Newfoundland with vital fuel oil,
kerosene, diesel oil, and aviation gasoline. She departed Norfolk 4 May for fueling operations in the
Caribbean, then resumed coastal oil runs throughout the summer.
The second Chicopee (AO-34) was built in 1941 by Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pa., as
Esso Trenton; sponsored by Mrs. N. L. Lank; acquired by the Navy 3 January 1942; and commissioned 9
February 1942, Commander G. Bannerman in command.
After a short period as station tanker at Casco Bay, Maine, Chicopee made several oil runs between ports
on the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast. She departed Norfolk 8 June 1942 for Argentia, Newfoundland,
and served as station tanker there from 12 June until 8 July when she sailed to Reykjavik, Iceland,
returning to Norfolk 25 July.
Mattaponi (AO-41) T2-A type, built under Maritime Commission contract, was laid down originally as Kalkay
(M.C.hull No. 149) by the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pa., 9 September 1941; launched as
Mattaponi, 17 January 1942; sponsored by Mrs. E. Macauley; and commissioned 11 May 1942, Comdr. Martin
J. Gillan, Jr., in command.
Mattaponi spent almost all of World War II in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theaters. From her commissioning
until December 1942 she plied the waters off the east and gulf coasts carrying fuel from the Texas oil ports to
the Navy’s fuel storage depots at Craney Island, Yorktown, Newport, Boston, and Casco Bay.
On 12 December she departed New York Harbor for the first of 21 wartime transatlantic convoys. As a vital link
in the war effort, she carried, in addition to her cargo fuels, landing craft, aircraft, provisions, mail, medical
supplies, and passengers. Her medical complement as well as her engineers and mechanics were often called
on, at sea and in port, to remedy malfunctions, human and mechanical, on board other ships.
Big Horn (AO-45) was built in 1936 by Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pa., as Gulf Dawn;
purchased by the Navy 31 March 1942, converted into a Q-ship by Boston Navy Yard, and commissioned
16 April 1942, Commander J. A. Gainard in command.
Big Horn operated in the eastern North Atlantic as a Q-ship from July 1942 to January 1944 without
success. She was transferred to the Coast Guard 17 January 1944 and operated as a weather patrol
vessel out of Newfoundland until returned to the Navy 1 February 1945.
Upon her re-acquisition by the Navy, Big Horn was redesignated IX-207 and assigned to Service Force,
Pacific Fleet. She arrived at Pearl Harbor 8 April and proceeded to the Southwest Pacific where she served
as a shuttle tanker, mainly between Ulithi and the Philippines. She got underway for Japan 28 September
1945 and served as station tanker at Nagoya, Japan (3 October 1945-26 February 1946).
Suamico (AO-49) T2-SE-A1 type, was laid down as Harlem Heights on 27 September 1941 by the Sun
Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pa.; launched on 30 May 1942; sponsored by Mrs. W. Potter; delivered
to the Navy on 27 June 1942; converted to a fleet oiler at Brooklyn, N.Y., by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; and
commissioned on 10 August 1942, Comdr. R. E. Butterfield in command.
Suamico completed her fitting-out at Norfolk. She departed Hampton Roads on 28 September and, after
sailing via Aruba Island off Venezuela, she transited the Panama Canal. She arrived in Noumea, New
Caledonia, late in November and then shifted to Suva Harbor, Fiji, in early December to unload her liquid
cargo. She departed Suva on the 7th and, later that month, arrived in San Pedro, Calif.
Three were built in Portland, Oregon
Chiwawa (AO-68) T3-S-A1 type, was launched 25 June 1942 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Sparrows Point,
Md., under a Maritime Commission contract as Samoset; sponsored by Mrs. H. G. Smith; acquired by the
Navy 24 December 1942; commissioned the same day, Commander H. Fultz in command; and reported to
the Atlantic Fleet.
Chiwawa cleared Norfolk 13 February 1943 to load oil at Aruba, and returned to New York 25 February to
join a convoy for Casablanca, Morocco, which sailed 4 March. Attacked by a wolf-pack east of the
Azores, the convoy lost four ships, but aircraft from Port Lyautey, Morocco, drove the U-boats away, and
the remainder of the convoy arrived safely 21 March.
Chiwawa put out of Casablanca in convoy 11 April for Norfolk, arriving 28 April after a quiet passage.
Between 4 May and 17 July she ferried oil on the east coast, loading at Aruba, Netherlands West Indies,
and Port Arthur, Tex., and discharging her cargo at Bermuda; Argentia, Newfoundland and Norfolk. She
made three convoy crossings, to Scotland, Wales, and Casablanca, between 17 July and 4 December,
then resumed operations to Port Arthur and Aruba, except for the period 25 January-8 March 1944, when
she again crossed to North Africa.
Built as Esso Columbia at Chester, Pa., by the Sun Shipbuilding
and Dry Dock Co. for the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey;
launched on 7 September 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Harold G.
McAvenia; Renamed by the Navy Atascosa and designated AO66 on 16 September 1942; purchased by the Navy on 12 October
1942: and commissioned on 9 November 1942, Lt. Comdr.
Melvin H. Bassett in command.
Following her commissioning at Baltimore, Md., the oiler sailed to
Hampton Roads, Va., for a month of sea trials, she then got
underway on 19 December for Port Arthur, Tex., where she took
on a cargo of fuel oil and gasoline and then returned to Norfolk on
3 January 1943.
Those are PT boats on deck. This is how small boats and airplanes were transported to the
Pacific or Mediterranean. See: AO-32 and AO-38 descriptions on NavSource OnLine
Escambia (AO-80) T2-SE-A2 type, was launched 25 April 1943 by Marinship Corp., Sausalito, Calif.;
sponsored by Mrs. Joseph Cooper; and commissioned 28 October 1943, Lieutenant Commander J. M.
Paulsson, USNR, in command.
After a December 1943 voyage from the west coast to Pearl Harbor with oil cargo, Escambia departed
San Francisco 21 January 1944 for Majuro, arriving 9 February. For the next month she fueled ships at
Roi and Majuro as the Marshall Islands were assaulted.
From 15 March to 30 August, she sailed out of Espiritu Santo, fueling the fast-carrier task force in their
raids on the Palaus and during the Hollandia operation.
Mission Buenaventura T2-SE-A2 type, was laid down 29 March 1944 under a Maritime Commission
contract by Marin Ship Corp., Sausalito, Calif.; launched 28 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Fred W. Boole;
and delivered 28 June 1944. Chartered to Deconhill Shipping Co., for operations, she spent the remainder
of the war supporting our victorious forces in the Pacific. She was returned to the Maritime Commission in
March 1946 and on 30 March was laid up in the Maritime Commission Reserve Fleet at Mobile, Ala.
Acquired by the Navy on 18 November 1947, she was activated and transferred to the Naval Transportation
Service for service as Mission Buenaventura (A0-111). When the Naval Transportation Service was
absorbed by the new Military Sea Transportation Service, she continued her duties as USNS Mission
Buenaventura (T-AO-111). She continued her worldwide service until 4 April 1960, when she was
transferred to the Maritime Commission for lay up at Mobile, Ala.