USS Neosho (AO-143)
| 300px USNS Neosho (T-AO-143) in 1985 | |
| Career | 100x35px |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Neosho |
| Builder: | Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts |
| Laid down: | 2 September 1952 |
| Launched: | 10 November 1953 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. Philipps |
| Commissioned: | 24 September 1954 |
| Decommissioned: | 25 May 1978 |
| In service: | 25 May 1978 |
| Out of service: | 1992 |
| Reclassified: | T-AO-143, 1978 |
| Struck: | 16 February 1994 |
| Motto: | "Lifeblood of the Fleet" |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping, 2 February 2005 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Neosho-class oiler |
| Displacement: |
11,600 long tons (11,786 t) light 38,000 long tons (38,610 t) full |
| Length: | 655 ft (200 m) |
| Beam: | 86 ft (26 m) |
| Draft: | 35 ft (11 m) |
| Propulsion: |
2 geared turbines 2 boilers 2 shafts 28,000 shp (20.9 MW) |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Capacity: | 180,000 bbls |
| Complement: |
USS : 324 USNS : 106 Civilian mariners, 21 Navy |
| Armament: |
• 2 × single 5"/38 caliber dual purpose guns • 6 × twin 3"/50 caliber dual purpose guns |
USS Neosho (AO-143) was the lead ship of her class of fleet oilers of the United States Navy, in service from 1954 to the early 1990s.
The fourth Neosho was laid down 15 August 1952 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard at Quincy, Massachusetts, and named Neosho on 29 September 1953. She was launched on 10 November 1953, sponsored by Mrs. Phillips, wife of Rear Admiral John S. Phillips, the last commanding officer of the USS Neosho (AO-23), which survived the Attack on Pearl Harbor. AO-143 was commissioned on 24 September 1954, Captain Norman E. Smith in command.
Contents
Service history
Neosho was the first of a class of U.S. Navy fleet oilers designed to combine speed and large cargo capacity for underway replenishment. She entered service at Norfolk, Virginia, in the Atlantic Fleet on 8 December 1954. A unit of ServLant, she operated along the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean until 7 September 1955, when she got underway for her first Mediterranean deployment. Since that initial deployment, Neosho rotated regularly between the 6th and 2nd Fleets. By 1967 she had taken part in over 2,500 replenishments to transfer more than 640 million gallons of petroleum products under both normal and crisis operational conditions.
In the fall of 1956, during her second 6th Fleet deployment, she supported units of that fleet as they stood by in case they were called on to intervene in the Suez Crisis and the tense period which followed. In the fall of 1962 she provided logistical support to the ships during the Cuban Missile Crisis enforcing the Naval Quarantine of Cuba. Less than three years later, in 1965, she serviced Atlantic Fleet ships during the political turmoil in the Dominican Republic which led to the U.S. intervention in "Operation Power Pack".
In January 1968, Neosho emerged from overhaul at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth, Virginia, to commence another three year employment cycle beginning with refresher training and local operations, followed by two seven month Mediterranean tours sandwiching duty with the 2nd Fleet, and ending, in late 1970, with another overhaul.
Military Sealift Command, 1978–1992
Neosho was decommissioned on 25 May 1978, and placed in service with the Military Sealift Command as USNS Neosho (T-AO-143), continuing her service with a civilian crew. She was placed out of service in 1992, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 16 February 1994.
Disposal
Neosho was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) on 1 May 1999 for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, Virginia. The ship was returned to U.S. Navy custody six years later and sold for scrapping on 2 February 2005. The scrapping was completed at International Shipbreaking of Brownsville, Texas on 8 November 2005.
References
- This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Photo gallery of USS Neosho (AO-143) at NavSource Naval History
- USS Neosho (AO-143) Veteran's website
- Wildenberg, Thomas (1996). Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy, 1912-1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/GSBO/index.html. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
See also
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