USNS Lone Jack (T-AO-161)

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Name: USNS Lone Jack
Builder: Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania
Laid down: 11 July 1944
Launched: 21 October 1944
Acquired: 28 November 1956
In service: 15 January 1957
Out of service: 7 October 1957
Struck: 7 October 1957
Fate: Transferred to the US Army, 10 June 1966
Scrapped, April 1971
General characteristics
Type: Cumberland-class fleet oiler
Displacement: 5,782 long tons (5,875 t) light
21,880 long tons (22,231 t) full
Length: 523 ft 6 in (159.56 m)
Beam: 68 ft (21 m)
Draft: 30 ft (9.1 m)
Propulsion: Turbo-electric, single screw, 8,000 hp (5,966 kW)
Speed: 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity: 140,000 barrels
Armament: None

USNS Lone Jack (T-AO-161) was a type Type T2-SE-A1 tanker laid down under Maritime Commission contract (USMC number 1783) by the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. of Chester, Pennsylvania (hull number 450) on 11 July 1944. The ship was launched on 21 October 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Julia W. Bruwier, and delivered to Cities Service Oil Co. of New York City on 31 October 1944.

Service history

Merchant tanker, 1944–1956

During and after World War II SS Lone Jack steamed the sealanes as a merchant tanker. Prior to 1956 she was acquired by the Maritime Administration as a "trade in" ship and was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Beaumont, Texas.

Suez Crisis activation, 1956–1957

After the opening of hostilities between Great Britain, France, and Israel on one side and Egypt on the other late in October 1956, the United States moved to stabilize this dangerous threat to world peace in the Middle East. The 6th Fleet steamed to the eastern Mediterranean, and following the closing of the Suez Canal on 1 November, the Maritime Administration reactivated Lone Jack for emergency tanker service. Acquired by the Navy on 28 November, she was transferred to Military Sea Transportation Service at New Orleans, Louisiana, placed in service as USNS Lone Jack (T-AO-161), on 15 January 1957.

Lone Jack was operated under General Agency Agreement by Marine Transport Lines, Inc., of New York City. From January to October 1957 she carried oil shipments from ports in the Persian Gulf to American bases in Japan and the western Pacific. During April and May she circumnavigated the globe while carrying fuel to the Mediterranean and the Far East.

In reserve and transfer to the Army, 1957–1966

Lone Jack was placed out of service, struck from the Naval Vessel Register, and transferred to the Maritime Administration on 7 October 1957, she entered the Maritime Reserve Fleet at Olympia, Washington. On 10 June 1966 she was transferred to the Army for use as a floating power station along the coast of South Vietnam. Lone Jack was broken up at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in April 1971.

References