UNDERWAY! 2025 Wall Calendar / W.W. II SPECIAL EDITION

NOW AVAILABLE -
CLICK HERE
For RATING SHIRTS - Click on your Rating Abbreviation below:
AB AC AD AE AG AK AM AO AQ AS AT AW AX AZ BM BT BU
CE CM CS CT DC DK DM DP DS DT EA EM EN EO ET EW
FC FT GM GS (53-61) GS (78-Now) HM HT IC IM IS IT JO LI LN LS
MA (48-67) MA (72-Now) ME ML MM MN MR MS MT MU NAVY NC ND OM OS OT
PC PH PM PN PR QM RD (WW2) RD (48-72) RM SD SF SH SK SM
SO ST SV SW TM UT WT YN NAVY DIVER
Click on your Rating abbreviation above:


U.S.S. MAUNA KEA

(AE-22)

WE SAIL TO SERVE

Click to view crew list
 

The USS MAUNA KEA (AE-22), a Suribachi-class ammunition ship, was commissioned on 30 MAR 1957. After fit out and shake down training MAUNA KEA served with the Pacific Fleet for her entire career. Always true to her motto, "We Sail to Serve", she deployed to the Western Pacific numerous times to keep fully armed. At the end of her service career MAUNA KEA was the oldest ship in commission in the US Navy and flew the "Navy Jack". USS MAUNA KEA served her country for 38 years and 3 months, until decommissioned on 30 JUN 1995. First laid up at the the NISMF at Suisun Bay, CA, the hulk of the MAUNA KEA was disposed of during a Sinkex in July 2006 off of Hawaii.

The USS MAUNA KEA (AE-22) deployment history and significant events of her service career follow:

AE-22 Deployments - Major Events

Add a AE-22 Shellback Initiation Add a AE-22 Deployment - Major Event
Month Year to Month Year Deployment / Event
MAY1955-Keel Date: 6 MAY 1955
MAY1956-Launch Date: 3 MAY 1956
MAR1957-Commissioned: 30 MAR 1957
JUN1957-JUL1957Guantanamo Bay
NOV1957-MAR1958West Pac
JUL1958-DEC1958West Pac
SEP1958-SEP1958Taiwan Straits (Quemoy Matsu)
JAN1959-JAN1960West Pac
JUN1959-Shellback Initiation - 13 JUN 1959 - Pacific Ocean
JAN1962-JUL1962West Pac
MAY1964-NOV1964West Pac
JAN1965-SEP1965Dry Dock
DEC1966-AUG1967West Pac-Viet Nam
JAN1967-DEC1973West Pac-Viet Nam
MAR1968-OCT1968West Pac-Viet Nam
MAY1968-MAY1968Entered DaNang Harbour May 15th - 16th
MAY1968-MAY1968West Pac-Viet Nam
DEC1968-APR1972Dry Dock
APR1969-NOV1969West Pac-Viet Nam
JUN1969-Shellback Initiation - 21 JUN 1969 - Pacific Ocean
JUN1969- Shellback Initiation - 21 JUN 1969 - Pacific Ocean
JUL1969-Shellback Initiation - 5 JUL 1969 - Pacific Ocean
FEB1970-APR1970Dry Dock
MAY1970-NOV1970West Pac-Viet Nam
JUN1971-MAY1972West Pac
JUL1972-SEP1973West Pac-Viet Nam
AUG1972-APR1973Dry Dock
JAN1974-SEP1974West Pac
MAY1975-NOV1975West Pac
APR1976-Shellback Initiation - 13 APR 1976 - Pacific Ocean
OCT1976-MAY1977West Pac
DEC1976-MAY1977West Pac
MAY1977-JAN1978Dry Dock
AUG1978-MAY1979West Pac
FEB1979-SEP1979West Pac
FEB1981-APR1981Dry Dock
JAN1983-JAN1986Mediterranean-Indian Ocean
JAN1984-AUG1984West Pac
JAN1984-AUG1984West Pac
JAN1984-AUG1984West Pac
JUL1984-JAN1985Mediterranean-Indian Ocean
JUL1984-DEC1984West Pac
SEP1986-APR1987Dry Dock
NOV1987-MAY1988West Pac
AUG1989- Shellback Initiation - 20 AUG 1989 - Pacific Ocean
AUG1989-FEB1990West Pac
AUG1989-Shellback Initiation - 20 AUG 1989 - Pacific Ocean
FEB1990-JUL1990West Pac
OCT1991-DEC1991Desert Shield
AUG1992-FEB1993West Pac
SEP1992-DEC1992Panama Canal
JUN1995-Decommissioned: 30 JUN 1995

AE-22 General Specifications

Class: Suribachi-class ammunition ship

Named for: Mauna Kea

Complement: 23 Officers and 324 Enlisted

Displacement: 9758 tons

Length: 511 feet

Beam: 72 feet

Flank Speed: 20 knots

Final Disposition: Sunk as target during RIMPAC 12 July 2006



USS MAUNA KEA (AE-22)



Mauna Kea (AE-22) was laid down at the Bethlehem-Sparrows Point Shipyard Inc., Sparrows Point, Md. 6 May 1955; launched 3 May 1956; sponsored by Mrs. Charles R. Brown; and commissioned 30 March 1957, Capt. Kenneth Loveland in command.

Following shakedown, Mauna Kea, designed for rapid replenishment of ammunition at sea, reported for duty with ServRon 1 in the eastern Pacific. Into the fall of 1957 she serviced the 1st Fleet and in November made preparations for her first WestPac deployment. Sailing west, she reported to SevRon 3 at Sasebo, Japan, in December and commenced distributing the bullets of beans, bullets, and black oil to the ships of the 7th Fleet. From that time until 1965, she rotated between duties with the above‑noted service squadrons, participating while with the 7th Fleet, in SEATO exercises and in joint exercises with Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese Nationalist Forces.

On 28 February 1965, the ammunition ship arrived at the Lockheed Shipbuilding & Construction Co. yards, Seattle, Wash. There having reverted to in commission in Reserve status, Mauna Kea commenced FAST (Fast Automatic Shuttle Transfer System) conversion. Completion of this conversion, which would enable her to transfer a bird from her hold to the magazine of a missile‑firing ship in 90 seconds and allow her greater versatility in servicing the fleet with the addition of a heliopad for vertical repenishment capabilities, was delayed for 8 months, because of strikes and lack of necessary parts, until June 1966. Then followed a fitting out period and intensive postconversion shakedown exercises, which continued into the fall. By November she was again an active unit of the Pacific Fleet's Service Force and on 28 December she departed her home port of Concord, Calif., for her ninth WestPac deployment.

Traveling westward, Mauna Kea arrived at Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, 9 January 1967 to join ServRon 7. Four days later she departed Subic Bay for her first trip to the line off Vietnam. For the next six months she rearmed carrier groups on Yankee Station and cruisers and destroyers in the Corps' areas off South Vietnam. At the end of July, she headed north to Japan for a brief visit at Yokosuka before getting underway for California. Arriving at Concord, 22 August, she underwent availability and then commenced participation in fleet and local exercises along the California coast. On 20 February 1968 she departed for her second tour of duty off Vietnam, returning 14 October, for leave and upkeep, after which she will, into 1969, continue servicing the 1st Fleet until setting out for the western Pacific and another tour with the 7th Fleet.

[Note: The above USS MAUNA KEA (AE-22) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS MAUNA KEA (AE-22), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]